NUTRITION & LIFESTYLE MEDICINE CONFERENCES
Zero commercial funding!
See Why P-POD? 18 conferences done! New events, flexible attendance options coming Sept. 14 & 26-28, & Oct. 5, 2025!
Hurricane Helene closed our nonprofit's Asheville site, so we moved. All year-end donations are now TRIPLE-matched!
Why P-POD?
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P-POD is the finest U.S. conference of fewer than 100 speakers for explaining the impact that plant-based nutrition, combined with lifestyle medicine and health equity, can have on chronic disease in society.
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The P-POD nonprofit has always accepted absolutely zero funding, sponsorship or influence from commercial sources.
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P-POD's registration fees per day are lower than those for most fully accredited professional conferences in the U.S.
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Most of the distinguished researchers, clinicians and educators who speak at P-POD are women, and close to half are people of color.
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Since the 2014 founding, every P-POD Conference has provided continuing education credits to physicians, nurses, dietitians, physician associates and other practitioners.
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P-POD was the third conference event producer in the world fully accredited for pre-credentialing of Lifestyle Medicine Diplomates, that remains so certified today.
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P-POD's innovative curriculum of 15 Core Topic Areas is of unusually high relevance and value for healthcare practitioners, educators and activists today.
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Any nutrition conference should represent Registered Dietitians well among its speakers, and P-POD has done that: 84 RDNs in 18 conferences since its founding.
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We believe that as health professionals we should recognize and advocate for the human rights of all persons equally, regardless of their age, race, gender, gender identification, ethnicity, national origin, religious identification or geographic location.
Mission
Plant-based Prevention Of Disease, Inc., known as “P-POD”, is incorporated as a North Carolina nonprofit corporation dedicated strictly to educational purposes, and recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as a tax-exempt Section 501(c)(3) organization. P-POD serves the general public as well as providing accredited continuing education to practitioners and students in health-related professions. The annual national P-POD Conference is devoted to the advancement of public health in the U.S., via an evidence-based investigation of how society’s major chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, cancer and diabetes, may largely be prevented, and in many cases treated, via lifestyle changes among individuals and in communities.
P-POD conferences draw upon the scientific research literature and clinical experience in human nutrition, to identify protective mechanisms and health benefits that may be provided via plant-based dietary choices and allied lifestyle measures. P-POD also supports the work of health care practitioners by exploring how nutritional advisement may effectively be integrated into clinical medical practice, using strategies for sustainable behavior change among patients and community members. P-POD accepts no funding or influence from commercial sources, and is committed to maintaining affordable event admission fees so that a broad diverse spectrum of attendees may participate.
Find Out More about Our Nonprofit:
A Message of Welcome
The organization's educational activities serve the general public, all members of which are eligible to participate. Participants of any gender, sexual orientation, race, color, national origin and ethnic origin will always be welcomed.
P-POD wants all attendees to feel safe, welcome and comfortable. We intend to maintain a conference environment that is respectfulness-based and harassment-free, and to take appropriate responsive action if difficulties are brought to our attention.
No commercial funding or influence
Thanks to the support and encouragement of our nonprofit collaborators throughout the past.
Acknowledgements
Our major national nonprofit collaborators and supporters in our early years were: Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies (CNS) and Vegetarian Nutrition Dietetic Practice Group (VNDPG) of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. We are deeply appreciative of special support provided by PCRM toward our 2017 conference, and by VNDPG's Speakers Bureau enabling various presenters at many conferences. We have gratefully welcomed other noncommercial co-sponsorships of our conferences: for 2015 through 2018, from Dietitians in Integrative and Functional Medicine (DIFM) Dietetic Practice Group (of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics); for 2017, from the Section of Integrative Medicine and the Integrative Medicine Specialty Clinic at the University of New Mexico, and New Mexico Nurses Association; and for 2014, from the Department of Health and Wellness, University of North Carolina Asheville.
We predict that throughout the future our commercial-sponsorship-free 501(c)(3) nonprofit will draw 80% of needed funding from our affordable conference registration fees. Thus we’ll seek 20% of necessary funding via small grants from nonprofit sector organizations and small donations from individuals. We humbly appreciate small grants for our 2017 through 2024 conferences from Nalith, Inc., for our 2016, 2018 and 2019 conferences from VegFund, for our 2019 conference from Greenbaum Foundation, and for our 2016 conference from A Well-Fed World. We are also grateful for the remarkable generosity of individuals who, some anonymously, have donated to our work. Our scholarship program particularly depends upon donations, and would not exist without the timely contributions, during its infancy, from Nalith, Inc., CNS, Sara Murray and an anonymous foundation.
We have depended upon close coordination of our activities with the Navajo Nation in 2017, and with North Carolina Dietetic Association and its Western District in 2014. We have welcomed cross-promotional relationships with Oncology Nutrition DPG and Sports, Cardiovascular and Wellness Nutrition (SCAN) DPG (of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics), in 2015 and 2016, and collaborations with Indians in Nutrition and Dietetics starting in 2017, and with Plant Based Nutrition Support Group (Michigan) in 2020. We also appreciated local assistance provided by Triangle Vegetarian Society, Durham and Weaver St. Co-op Markets, Asheville Vegan Society and French Broad Food Co-op, in earlier years. And, above all else, we could never have made our conferences a reality without the tireless efforts of large numbers of volunteers.
P-POD CPEU dietetics credits have always been approved by the Commission on Dietetic Registration, and for Continuing Medical Education (CME) purposes, our conferences were provided jointly by Plant-based Prevention Of Disease, Inc. and Mountain Area Health Education Center from 2014 to 2020, and approved by St. Joseph Mercy Ann Arbor from 2021 through June 2022. We are delighted that, beginning with October 2022, CME for P-POD Conferences is provided jointly with Morehouse School of Medicine. We are proud that our CME credits starting in 2018 have been approved by the American Board of Lifestyle Medicine as In-person CME (now named "Event CME") for their certifying examinations for Diplomate of the American Board of Lifestyle Medicine and Diplomate of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine. We welcome the Continuing Nursing Education accreditation support of the Virginia Nurses Association beginning with 2019, following that previously from New Mexico Nurses Association. We were also pleased to accept for 2017 the collaboration of the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) continuing education program.
Waste Reduction
As part of P-POD’s mission, we strive to use environmentally sound practices.
As a professional conference serving hundreds of attendees, we recognize that our greatest sources of waste are:
Paper and Printed Materials
We encourage our registrants to refer to our online agendas.
Printed agendas are available upon request; when possible our materials are printed on 100% recycled paper.
Food and Ware
We encourage attendees to bring their own thermoses or water bottles if possible. We have long strived diligently in collaboration with university caterers to avoid the preventable waste of disposable foodware.