Category: IMCJ

  • OmegaQuant Awarded NIH Grant to Investigate Fatty Acid Biomarkers for Age-Related Macular Degeneration and Glaucoma

    OmegaQuant Awarded NIH Grant to Investigate Fatty Acid Biomarkers for Age-Related Macular Degeneration and Glaucoma

    The leader in fatty acid testing and research OmegaQuant Analytics, has been awarded a NIH Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant to investigate whether patterns of fatty acids in the blood can help predict the future risk of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and glaucoma.

    According to the CDC, AMD and glaucoma are two of the most common and debilitating eye diseases, affecting an estimated 20 million and 4 million people in the United States, respectively. The economic impact of these conditions is substantial and growing as our population continues to age, with an estimate of over $373 billion in annual lost productivity by 2050 in the United States alone.

    Although established risk factors—including smoking, high blood pressure, obesity, high cholesterol, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, poor diet, sun exposure, age, sex, and genetics—can help identify individuals at greater risk, their combined predictive ability remains limited. Earlier identification of people at increased risk could create opportunities for more targeted monitoring and preventive strategies before significant vision loss occurs.

    The newly funded project, “Developing blood fatty acid-based algorithms as early predictors of macular degeneration and glaucoma: Applying machine learning to harmonized data from prospective cohort studies,” will investigate whether red bloodcell fatty acid patterns can provide additional predictive information beyond traditional risk factors.

    Research has suggested that circulating fatty acids, particularly omega-3 fatty acids, may provide valuable information about eye health risk. However, the potential roles of other fatty acids—including trans, omega-6, saturated, and monounsaturated fatty acids—remain less clear. The new study will take a broader approach by examining patterns across multiple fatty acids rather than focusing on a single family.

    Using Machine Learning to Identify New Risk Patterns

    During Phase I, researchers will harmonize fatty acid measurements, eye health outcomes, and other health data from several well-established prospective cohort studies: the Framingham Heart Study (FHS), Women’s Health Initiative Memory Study (WHIMS), Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA), and Boston Puerto Rican Health Study (BPRHS).

    Together, these cohorts will provide data from up to 19,922 individuals, including information on AMD or glaucoma outcomes over an average of more than 10 years of follow-up.

    Using statistical and machine-learning approaches, researchers will evaluate whether baseline red blood cell fatty acid patterns can predict the development of AMD and glaucoma. The project is designed to generate new potential fatty acid-based risk metrics.  The study will also explore relationships between fatty acid patterns and optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) measures, such as retinal thickness and vessel density.

    Building Toward Earlier Identification

    The ultimate goal of the research is to determine whether a blood fatty acid profile—used alone or alongside established risk factors—could improve the ability to identify individuals at increased risk for AMD or glaucoma.

    If Phase I demonstrates proof-of-concept feasibility, the findings could provide the foundation for larger prospective studies and further refinement and validation of the predictive models in Phase II.

    “Our goal is to determine whether the fatty acid patterns we can measure in a blood sample contain information that could help identify eye disease risk years before serious vision loss occurs,” said Dr. Bill Harris, Principal Investigator, Founder of OmegaQuant, and President of the Fatty Acid Research Institute (FARI).

    OmegaQuant is well positioned to translate this research into a practical testing approach. For more than 15 years, the laboratory has specialized in fatty acid measurement and interpretation. Further, it supports a large and growing customer base of researchers, clinicians, businesses, and individuals, including an increasing number of optometrists, ophthalmologists and other eye health experts.

    “If we can develop and ultimately validate these fatty acid-based risk profiles, they could provide clinicians with another tool for identifying patients who may benefit from earlier monitoring or preventive intervention,” Dr. Harris added.

    The Phase I project represents an important first step toward determining whether fatty acid biomarkers can enhance current approaches to predicting eye disease risk. Ultimately, OmegaQuant aims to develop a clinically useful blood fatty acid profile that can complement existing risk factors and support earlier, more personalized approaches to protecting eye health.

    Source: OmegaQuant Analytics

  • Hidden hormone spikes may reveal high blood pressure condition

    Hidden hormone spikes may reveal high blood pressure condition

    A common but often overlooked cause of high blood pressure may be hiding in plain sight – and data from a pioneering wearable device could hold the key to its earlier diagnosis, according to new research.

    The study, published in the journal Science Translational Medicine, concerns a condition called primary aldosteronism – a hormone disorder which affects up to one in five people with high blood pressure and puts them at higher risk of developing heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and other major health problems.

    Researchers from the University of Bristol and the University of Manchester in the UK, the University of Bergen in Norway, and partners in Stockholm and Athens found that patients with the disorder experienced bursts of hormone production during the day as well as in the night while asleep, when routine blood testing is rarely carried out.

    Thanks to an ingenious portable device, developed at the University of Bristol, the hormone levels of patients were able to be monitored round-the-clock in their homes rather than a hospital or research unit. This means hidden irregularities could be uncovered, which may normally go undetected by current testing methods, leading to earlier detection of health conditions.

    Study co-lead author Dr Thomas Upton, Clinical Research Fellow in Automated Sampling Clinical Fellow at the University of Bristol, and Senior Clinical Fellow at Bristol Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said: “Primary aldosteronism is an important cause of high blood pressure and the most common cause of secondary hypertension we see in our blood pressure clinic. It could be affecting millions of people in the UK. However, due to the way hormones change during the day and the current complexity of the diagnostic process, diagnosis is often delayed or never made at all.

    “In our study, patients were monitored at home during normal activity, and this allowed us to see how hormones changed over time in realistic settings. This approach could potentially revolutionise how we diagnose hypertension and ultimately reduce cardiovascular disease – particularly heart disease and strokes – that could have been prevented.”

    The proof-of-concept investigation continuously monitored hormone levels every 20 minutes in 60 patients from Bristol, Bergen, Stockholm, and Athens, over a 24-hour period. The patients all wore a lightweight device – which is the size of a mobile phone and attaches at the waist – allowing hormones to be measured from the skin, while they carried out normal daily activities, including sleeping at night.

    Called U-RHYTHM, the technology was adopted and advanced by the spinout company Dynamic Therapeutics in 2023.

    Study senior author Dr Eder Zavala, UKRI Future Leader Fellow at the University of Manchester, said: “By continuously monitoring hormones over 24 hours, we were able to reveal a previously hidden pattern of nocturnal hormone bursts. This gives us a much clearer understanding of the disease and could ultimately help doctors detect it earlier and treat patients more effectively.

    “A more detailed mathematical and computational analysis of daily hormonal profiles could eventually also help uncover earlier and more subtle forms of the disease, opening new opportunities to improve outcomes for patients living with high blood pressure.”

    Computational analysis of data from the device allowed researchers to track changes in aldosterone, the hormone responsible for regulating salt and water balance in humans, along with two closely related hormones known as 18-hydroxycortisol and 18-oxocortisol.

    Existing tests may be missing patients because the study results showed aldosterone levels do not stay high all the time. Furthermore, the researchers found that even among some of the most severe cases of the disease, there were periods when hormone levels dipped below the minimum thresholds used to diagnose the condition.

    Rather than finding persistently raised hormone levels, the researchers discovered repeated night-time bursts of hormone secretion while the day-night rhythm remained intact.

    These hormone spikes, produced by the adrenal glands, were particularly prominent in patients whose disease was caused by a problem in only one adrenal gland rather than both. The abnormal hormone patterns disappeared after surgical removal of the affected adrenal gland, providing further evidence that the bursts were directly linked to the disease.

    Study co-author Prof Stafford Lightman, Professor of Medicine at the University of Bristol and inventor of the U-RHYTHM technology, added: “The findings suggest that clinicians may need to rethink how they look for the disorder which the Endocrine Society clinical practice guidelines now recommend should be considered for all people with hypertension, also known as high blood pressure.

    “Future diagnosis could move away from single time point blood tests and towards tracking the body’s hormone rhythms over time, particularly the overnight patterns that appear to hold crucial clues to disease. Further research is needed to define the best clinical pathways, using dynamic hormone measurement, to ensure early diagnosis of this common and potentially curable cause of high blood pressure.”

    The research was funded by EU Horizon 2020, the Trond Mohn Foundation, the UKRI Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), Medical Research Council, University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation, the Swedish Medical Research Council and Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation.

    The findings support the University of Bristol’s research ‘Grand Challenge’ focus on Understanding and Preventing Cardiovascular Disease and builds on NIHR-funded initiatives aimed at earlier identification of people with hypertension and other cardiovascular risk factors.

    Paper

    ‘Tissue corticosteroid rhythms are dysregulated predominantly during sleep in primary aldosteronism’ by M.A. Grytaas et al. in Science Translational Medicine

  • Abbott and NACHC launch nationwide Food for Health initiative to make nutritious food a core part of healthcare

    Abbott and NACHC launch nationwide Food for Health initiative to make nutritious food a core part of healthcare

    Abbott (NYSE: ABT) and the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) announced a multi-year “food is medicine” effort – called the NACHC and Abbott Food for Health Initiative – aimed at making healthy, nutritious food a core part of primary healthcare at Community Health Centers (CHCs) across the U.S.

    Studies show good nutrition is essential for health and plays a critical role in disease prevention and treatment, especially for chronic diseases like diabetes and cardiovascular disease.1 The NACHC-Abbott partnership will include a national certification program designed to help CHCs develop the systems and capacity to advance food for health, along with structured learning, training and knowledge-sharing for CHC staff to build capabilities and expertise in addressing immediate nutrition needs, integrating nutrition into healthcare delivery, and preventing and managing nutrition-related chronic diseases.

    “Since the first health center opened, Community Health Centers – the nation’s largest network of primary care providers – have led the way in addressing food insecurity and integrating nutrition into care delivery,” said Kyu Rhee, MD, MPP, President and CEO, NACHC. “Our collaboration with Abbott builds on that legacy by strengthening Community Health Centers’ capacity to prevent and manage nutrition-related conditions through evidence-based, practical solutions that are designed to improve health outcomes.”

    “We often think about healthcare as what happens in a doctor’s office, but health is also shaped by access to nutritious food and knowledge of the role of food in your health,” said Melissa Brotz, Senior Vice President, Abbott and President of Abbott Fund, the company’s philanthropic foundation. “Food for Health is about bringing those things together – and we’re excited to work with NACHC and Community Health Centers to help make nutrition a core part of how people prevent disease, manage chronic conditions and live healthier.”

    NACHC and Abbott have worked together since 2023 to advance food for health with CHCs. Building on this earlier work, in 2025 NACHC and Abbott assessed CHCs across 37 states to determine what’s working, where gaps exist and what is needed to expand food for health in health centers. This analysis found strong interest in integrating nutrition and care, but fragmented funding, training, data collection and clinical implementation remain key barriers to expanding these efforts across CHCs.

    The NACHC and Abbott Food for Health Initiative was strategically designed to help close these gaps, with a focus on providing CHCs with the support they need to address real-life barriers to nutrition and health in the communities they serve. The framework is made up of three key components:

    • Food for Health Learning Lab, a structured learning program designed to build nutrition literacy and expertise across the CHC workforce, and guide health centers in implementing and measuring food is medicine efforts.
    • Food for Health Community of Practice, a national peer-learning network that will connect health centers to share promising practices, troubleshoot challenges and learn from top experts.
    • Food for Health CORE (Certification of Readiness and Excellence), a voluntary national certification program that will recognize and support CHCs in developing the systems, processes and competencies needed to advance food for health efforts.

    The NACHC and Abbott Food for Health Initiative is a signature program of NACHC’s Center for Nutrition and Health, bringing together public and private partners, CHCs, and other stakeholders. The broader goal of the center is to serve as an innovation hub dedicated to moving food-based clinical care from separate efforts to a coordinated body of programs and policy initiatives that improve health outcomes.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    Q: What is “Food is Medicine”?
    A: Food is Medicine is an approach that recognizes the important role nutrition plays in preventing, managing and treating disease. It focuses on connecting people with nutrition support and healthy food as part of their overall healthcare.

    Q: What is chronic disease?
    A: Chronic diseases are long-term health conditions that often require ongoing care and management. Common examples include heart disease, diabetes and obesity.

    Q: Why is nutrition important to preventing chronic disease?
    A: Good nutrition is a foundation of good health and can play an important role in helping prevent and manage chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease. Access to nutritious food, combined with healthcare and education, can help people improve their long-term health and well-being.

    Q: How can Food is Medicine help improve health?
    A: Food is Medicine programs connect nutrition and healthcare to help people make healthier choices, manage chronic conditions and improve overall well-being. Through the NACHC and Abbott Food for Health Initiative, Community Health Centers will have additional tools and support to integrate nutrition into patient care.

    Q: What evidence supports the Food Is Medicine approach?
    A: Research suggests Food is Medicine interventions can improve health outcomes and help reduce healthcare utilization and costs.

    About the National Association of Community Health Centers
    NACHC’s mission is to champion Community Health Centers delivering affordable, effective, comprehensive primary care that is community-driven and improves health for all. For more information, visit www.nachc.org.

    About Abbott
    Abbott is a global healthcare leader that helps people live more fully at all stages of life. Our portfolio of life-changing technologies spans the spectrum of healthcare, with leading businesses and products in diagnostics, medical devices, nutritionals and branded generic medicines. Our 122,000 colleagues serve people in more than 160 countries. Together with our foundation, Abbott Fund, we partner with trusted organizations to build programs that strengthen care, improve access and help families and communities thrive. We’re committed to building a healthier future by inspiring lifelong habits that support well-being and help to prevent chronic disease for generations to come. Connect with us at Abbott.com and on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, X and YouTube.

    1 The Role of Nutrition in Chronic Disease (Nutrients, 2023) https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9921002/

    SOURCE Abbott

  • Your gut may help your brain decide what to remember

    Your gut may help your brain decide what to remember

    The taste of a madeleine famously sent French writer Marcel Proust back into vivid memories of childhood. New research suggests that this kind of recollection may involve more than the brain alone. Signals from the digestive system may also help determine which food-related experiences become memories.

    The study, led by Scott Kanoski, professor of biological sciences at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, indicates that the gut may contribute to memory formation, particularly when an experience involves finding and consuming food.

    Published in Nature Communications, the research examined the vagus nerve, one of the body’s main communication routes between the digestive system and the brain. The nerve is already known to influence digestion, appetite, and feelings of fullness. The new findings suggest that it may also carry information that helps the brain store memories.

    How Gut Signals Reach the Memory Center

    In experiments with rats, the researchers found that eating nutrient-rich foods increased the release of acetylcholine in neurons connected to the hippocampus. The hippocampus is a brain region that plays a central role in learning and memory.

    Acetylcholine is a neurotransmitter that helps the brain record new information and form memories. The increase depended on messages traveling from the gut through the vagus nerve.

    When the researchers disrupted communication along the vagus nerve, acetylcholine levels no longer rose after the animals ate. The rats also struggled more on tests that required them to remember where they had recently located food.

    Nutrients Matter More Than Sweetness

    The experiments also showed that the brain’s memory system responded to the nutritional content of food, not simply to how pleasant or sweet it tasted.

    Rats that consumed sugar or fat displayed strong activity in brain pathways involved in memory. By contrast, animals given low-calorie or noncaloric liquids that tasted sweet did not produce the same response.

    The results suggest that the brain distinguishes between flavor and actual nutritional value. A sweet taste alone was not enough to activate the memory-related pathway.

    “We think the mechanism likely evolved to help animals remember vital information about food sources,” says study first author Logan Lauer, a PhD student in Kanoski’s lab. Recalling where certain plants sprout first in the spring can help hungry animals find important nutrients. Signals from the gut tell the brain, “This meal provided valuable nutrients, so remember where and how you got it.”

    Why Food Location Memories Matter

    For animals in the wild, remembering the location of a reliable food source can be essential for survival. A meal that provides useful nutrients may trigger the gut to send a message that encourages the brain to store details about where the food was found and how it was obtained.

    This process could help explain why certain food experiences become especially memorable. The body may be designed to place greater importance on meals that deliver energy or valuable nutrients.

    Unhealthy Diets May Weaken the Pathway

    Although foods rich in sugar and fat produced strong short-term memory responses, frequent exposure to those foods had the opposite effect over time.

    Rats that ate high-fat and high-sugar diets early in life later showed weaker communication between the gut and the hippocampus. Their memory-related brain responses remained reduced even after they returned to a healthier diet.

    These animals also performed worse on tasks that tested their ability to remember where food had been located. The results suggest that prolonged consumption of unhealthy foods may interfere with the same gut-to-brain system that initially helps record food-related memories.

    Possible Links to Cognitive Decline

    The findings may have broader implications for human health. Obesity, poor nutrition, and metabolic conditions such as diabetes have already been linked to a higher risk of cognitive decline.

    This research points to one possible biological explanation. Repeated exposure to unhealthy foods may gradually damage or disrupt communication between the gut and the brain, making it harder for the memory system to function normally.

    The results could also offer clues about neurodegenerative diseases.

    “The disruption of acetylcholine signaling in the hippocampus is one of the earliest neurochemical changes in Alzheimer’s disease,” says Kanoski. “By revealing that this system is boosted by gut signaling from the vagus nerve, novel therapeutic targets could leverage this information to explore vagus nerve-based approaches, such as vagus nerve stimulation.”

    New Possibilities for Memory Treatments

    The discovery raises the possibility that future treatments could focus on strengthening communication between the digestive system and the brain.

    Approaches that stimulate the vagus nerve or improve gut health might eventually be investigated as ways to support memory and preserve cognitive function. Vagus nerve stimulation is already being studied for several neurological and psychiatric conditions, and the new findings suggest that memory could become another area of interest.

    The researchers caution that more work is needed to determine whether the same process occurs in humans. For now, the experiments provide further evidence that the gut and brain work together far more closely than once believed.

    About the Study

    In addition to Kanoski and Lauer, study authors include Anna Hayes, Andrea Suarez, Alexander Bashaw, Molly Klug, Alicia Kao, Robert Cheng, Jessica Rea, Keshav Subramanian, Anna Nourbash, Kristen Donohue, and Lindsey Schier of USC Dornsife; Kevin Myers of Bucknell University; and Léa Décarie-Spain of Université de Montréal.

    This work was supported by National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases grants DK104897, DK123423, F31AG092136; Postdoctoral Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award from the National Institute on Aging grant F32AG077932; Quebec Research Funds postdoctoral fellowship 315201; and an Alzheimer’s Association Research Fellowship to Promote Diversity.

    Story Source: Materials provided by University of Southern California.

  • Cognizin® Citicoline Shows Promise for Neuromuscular Health in New Preclinical Research

    Cognizin® Citicoline Shows Promise for Neuromuscular Health in New Preclinical Research

    New preclinical research on Cognizin® Citicoline from Kyowa Hakko investigates the branded ingredient’s potential to support the formation of the neuromuscular junction (NMJ) — the critical connection between motor neurons and skeletal muscle fibers that governs muscle activation and performance. The findings point to an entirely new dimension of Cognizin’s science and its role in the mind-body connection with compelling implications for sports nutrition and healthy aging formulations.

    Cognizin, which is backed by decades of extensive clinical studies, is now the subject of research in a new area: neuromuscular health. The NMJ is the specialized synapse through which motor neurons signal skeletal muscle to contract — and its integrity is central to muscle strength, coordination, and functional movement. Age-related deterioration of the NMJ is increasingly recognized as a key contributor to muscle weakness and decline in physical performance, making it a high-interest target for both sports nutrition and healthy aging applications.

    The study, conducted by researchers at the Institute of Health Sciences at Kirin Holdings Company, the parent company of Kyowa Hakko, used an established in vitro neuromuscular cell model to evaluate Cognizin’s effects on NMJ formation. Using gene expression analysis and immunofluorescence imaging, researchers assessed key markers involved in NMJ development, including acetylcholine receptor (AChR) clustering, a critical step in the formation of a functional NMJ.

    “Consumers and manufacturers alike are increasingly demanding more from cognitive health ingredients, expecting to see real science behind the claims,” said Karen Todd, vice president of global brand marketing, Kyowa Hakko USA. “Research like this is exactly why Cognizin continues to stand apart. Our ongoing investment in rigorous clinical and preclinical science gives formulators the validated evidence they need to build products consumers can trust — and it opens doors to exciting new application areas we’re only beginning to explore. Awareness of the mind-body connection has grown rapidly in recent years, and these results further highlight its importance — and Cognizin’s role in it.”

    The full findings will be presented as a poster by lead author Chihiro Ono of Kirin Holdings during the Sports/Performance Nutrition Poster Session at the American Society for Nutrition’s conference in July. The session will be held July 27, 2026, from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. in the Prince George’s Exhibition Hall (Lower Atrium Level) at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland. The poster title is “Citicoline May Strengthen Formation of Neuromuscular Junction by Enhancing Acetylcholine Receptor Clustering in Co-Culture With Neurons and Skeletal Muscle Cells.”

    This research represents the latest chapter in Kyowa Hakko’s commitment to advancing the science of Cognizin. For supplement and functional food and beverage manufacturers, it signals an emerging opportunity in sports nutrition and healthy aging formulations backed by a deepening body of evidence. More information about Cognizin is available at Cognizin.com and Kyowa-USA.com.

    About Kyowa Hakko USA (Kyowa)
    Kyowa Hakko USA serves as the North and South American headquarters for Kyowa Hakko Bio Co., Ltd., a global pioneer in specialty ingredients within Kirin Holdings’ Health Science group. Building on over 75 years of fermentation innovation and Kirin’s 100+ year legacy of fermentation excellence, Kyowa delivers premium, science-backed branded ingredients to the nutraceutical, pharmaceutical, functional food, beverage, and wellness industries. The portfolio features branded solutions like Cognizin® Citicoline, Setria® Glutathione, Pantesin® Pantethine, and EYEMUSE® Lacticaseibacillus paracasei KW3110. Committed to quality, sustainability, and creating shared value, Kyowa empowers partners to create transformative health solutions, advancing Kirin’s vision of improving health and well-being. For more information, visit Kyowa-USA.com.

    About Cognizin® Citicoline
    Cognizin® Citicoline, developed by Kyowa Hakko Bio Co., Ltd., is a clinically patented form of citicoline with over 35 years of research, development, and application experience. Backed by Kyowa’s 75-year legacy of biotech innovation and Kirin Holdings’ century-long fermentation expertise, Cognizin® is produced through state-of-the-art fermentation technology, ensuring superior purity and quality. Clinically tested to support mental energy, focus, attention, and memory, this premium functional ingredient is GRAS, pure, allergen-free, and highly stable. Trusted by global partners in the nutraceutical and wellness sectors, Cognizin® advances Kirin’s Health Science mission to enhance quality of life through cognitive health solutions. For more information, visit Cognizin.com.

  • AANP 2026 Physicians of the Year: Joseph Pizzorno, ND

    AANP 2026 Physicians of the Year: Joseph Pizzorno, ND

    The American Association of Naturopathic Physicians was proud to recognize Dr. Joseph Pizzorno as the recipient of the 2026 Physician of the Year. Dr. Luke Huber introduced this year’s Physician of the Year and provided the following information about Dr. Pizzorno to the
    AANP.

    Dr. Pizzorno is receiving this award at a pivotal moment for Bastyr University. As the University faced serious challenges over the past several years, he stepped forward to once again serve as its president, providing extraordinary leadership during a time of need. Through
    mission-driven fundraising, relationship-building, and his ability to restore excitement and confidence in Bastyr, Dr. Pizzorno played a transformative role in helping secure the University’s future.

    He reminded alumni, donors, friends, and supporters why Bastyr matters. He brought people together around a shared belief in preserving an institution that has contributed so much to naturopathic medicine and the broader natural health sciences. This latest chapter of leadership builds on decades of service to our profession. Dr. Pizzorno has long been one of the most influential leaders in science-based natural medicine. His work has shaped generations of naturopathic physicians, educators, researchers, and advocates. His vision has also had a profound impact across the naturopathic profession. Since 1978, when his vision for science-based natural medicine first began drawing students to Bastyr University, countless naturopathic physicians have cited Dr. Pizzorno as their inspiration for entering this field. His vision has drawn countless people to the profession and has continually challenged Bastyr University to uphold the highest standards.

    This recognition is especially significant because this is not Dr. Pizzorno’s first time receiving the AANP’s Physician of the Year Award. It is his second, reflecting both the lasting importance of his earlier contributions and the remarkable leadership he has provided over the
    decades.

    That leadership continues as Dr. Pizzorno moves into the role of Chancellor at Bastyr University, where his vision, experience, and ability to inspire others will remain invaluable to the university and its future.

    We invite you to join us in thanking Dr. Pizzorno for his vision, perseverance, and lifelong service to our profession, and in congratulating him on receiving the 2026 AANP Physician of the Year Award.