AWJ, Plus Extra Credit

Catherine DeAngelis, editor of JAMA, will be the featured speaker at A Woman’s Journey. (Photo credit: Myranda Zarlengo)

Munson should know. She’s attended the conference six times. “It’s such a wonderfully presented, woman-focused meeting,” Munson says of the preeminent health conference staged each year by Johns Hopkins Medicine. “You get 32 seminars to select from. Unfortunately, there’s only time to attend four.”

But like many other employees, Munson, who is a nutritionist in the Clinical Trials Unit, has discovered a double benefit in attending AWJ. Over the years, she’s been able to earn continuing education units (CEUs) to maintain professional certification.

Collecting credits at the daylong conference in Baltimore is a relatively inexpensive and convenient alternative to attending out-of-town meetings that require time off work. The number of credit hours attendees can earn (usually between four and six) depends on the professional association. Last year Sandra Moore, radiography program director in the School of Medical Imaging, snapped up four. “I enjoyed the conference, and getting credits in the bargain was a real bonus.”

This year some 1,000 women, most from the Baltimore-Washington area, are expected to attend A Woman’s Journey. Catherine DeAngelis, former associate dean for academic affairs and the first female editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association, will divulge her personal journey as plenary speaker. Neuroscientist Jonathan Pevsner, a noted expert on Leonardo da Vinci, will discuss the artist’s brain studies.

Among the most popular seminars, judging from early registration returns, is “Mind-Body Healing,” one that explores how meditation, relaxation and “cognitive restructuring” can result in positive change. Some, like “Making American Drugs Safer” and the stem-cell-related “Promise of Discovery,” cover headline-grabbing topics. These and all the other seminars will be taught by Johns Hopkins faculty.

—Lydia Levis Bloch

CEUs are available to social workers, professional counselors, health educators, pharmacy techs, dietitians, nurses and radiologic technologists. AWJ’s major corporate sponsors: American Cancer Society, American Radiology Services, Arthritis Foundation, CareFirst BlueCross/ BlueShield, JH Cosmetic Center, Forest Pharmaceuticals, Klinger Advanced Aesthetics and Wachovia Corp.

Join the Journey When: Saturday, Nov. 12, 8:15 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. Where: Baltimore Marriott Waterfront, 700 Aliceanna Street. Cost:$85 (10 percent discount for Hopkins employees; $75 for full-time students with ID.) Info: 410-955-8660, or www.hopkinsmedicine.org/awomansjourney. Online registration available.