American Academy of Pain Management Board Votes to Change Name

The American Academy of Pain Management (AAPM) will be changing its name to the American Academy of Integrative Pain Management in an effort to emphasize its focus on promoting integrative approaches to pain management.

“Among the professional pain management organizations in the country, we believe that we stand apart as the only organization that has always focused on supporting clinicians providing integrative pain care, and secondarily, we also wanted to better distinguish ourselves from other organizations with similar names and acronyms,” Bob Twillman, PhD, executive director of AAPM, told Clinical Pain Advisor via email.

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AAPM’s board of directors voted at recent mid-year meeting to change the organization’s name. This action still needs to be approved by the association’s members. A ballot will be issued to collect votes.

“Once we have the requisite number of votes, and assuming the members agree, the name change will be official,” Dr Twillman said.

From the positive responses AAPM has received so far from its members, the board’s vote will more than likely be approved.

“The academy is really re-inventing itself, to some extent, by greatly expanding opportunities for education related to integrative pain management, increasing both the number and frequency of our print and electronic publications, and continuing to provide unparalleled policy advocacy services focused on achieving balance in pain management policy,” he said. “We expect to continue expanding these opportunities over the next few years, and we hope that more clinicians from all disciplines will join us to help us grow.”