With the vast amount of information out there and the fact that new scientific discoveries are being made all the time, finding quality information you can use in your practice is far from easy.

There are new opportunities in medicine all the time: new forums for education, new journals being published, new research that helps us uncover the mysteries of how the human body functions.

Here are a few of my favorites:

Organizations

• Institute for Functional Medicine
• Metabolic Medicine Institute
• American Academy of Anti-Aging & Regenerative Medicine
• American College for the Advancement of Medicine 
• American Academy of Environmental Medicine
• Center for Mind Body Medicine
• American Holistic Medical Association
• Flatiron Functional Medicine on Linked-In
• Rosenthal Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Journals

• Integrative Medicine Journal
• Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine
• Global Advances in Health & Medicine
• Alternative Medicine Review
• Holistic Primary Care
• BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine
• European Journal of Integrative Medicine
•  Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine
• Natural Medicine Journal
• Townsend Letter

Courses

• Columbia Botanical Medicine Course
• Institute for Functional Medicine Courses
• Paracelsus Biological Medicine of North America (PBMN) Seminar Series
• Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine
• Applying Functional Medicine in Clinical Practice (AFMCP), The Institute for Functional Medicine
• Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine

Physician Websites

• Pill Advised
• Epocrates
• MD consult
• Medscape
• WebMD

Databases & Researches

• Environmental Working Group
• Intute: Health and Life Sciences Medicine Gateway (Formerly known as OMNI)
  www.intute.ac.uk/healthandlifesciences/medicine/
• Merck Manual
  www.merck.com/mrkshared/mmanual/home.jsp
• Harvard Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology
  mcb.harvard.edu/Biolinks.html
• MedWeb Plus
  medwebplus.com/about.html
• National Organization for Rare Disorders-Rare Disease Database
  www.rarediseases.org/
• Cancer Detection and Prevention Online
  www.cancerprev.org/
• Pesticides, Metals, & Chemical
  vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~lrd/pestadd.html
• Medical Biochemistry Subject List
  web.indstate.edu/thcme/mwking/subjects.html
• The ScHARR Guide
  www.nettingtheevidence.org.uk/
• NLM Clinical Trials Database
  clinicaltrials.gov
• PubMed
  www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/PubMed/
• USDA Nutrient Database
  www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/cgi-bin/nut_search.pl

Other Resources

• National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM)
  nccam.nih.gov
  NIH website which offers information regarding alternative therapies and access to Medline.
• NIH Office of Dietary Supplements
  odp.od.nih.gov/
  Offers a database of published, international, scientific literature on dietary supplements, including vitamins, minerals, and botanicals.
• Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM)
  nccam.nih.gov/about/advisory/capcam/
  This NIH Office of Alternative Medicine web site provides access to CAM methods, systems, and CAM & diseases.
• Herb Research Foundation (HRF)
  www.herbs.org/
  Access to HRF, a nonprofit research and educational organization focusing on herbs and medicinal plants.
• American Botanical Council's (ABC's) Herbal Information
  www.herbalgram.org/
  Herbs that have been compiled from a number of reputable scientific sources including the German Commission E Monographs, Botanical Safety Handbook, and numerous clinical trials that have been referenced in HerbalGram, their quarterly publication.
• Healthfinder
  www.healthfinder.gov
  Consumer health and human services information developed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
• NIH Consumer Health Information
  health.nih.gov/
  This web site provides access to consumer publication titles specific to certain conditions/diseases.
• HealthGate
  www.healthgate.com/
  This web site provides patient and consumer information regarding drugs and vitamins, symptoms and medical tests, and general health.
• Medherb
  medherb.com/
  Provides links to medical information and to any resource relevant to medicinal herbs or herbalism practiced in clinical settings, plus sample articles on hundreds of herbs.
• HerbNET
  www.herbnet.com/
  Information and sales of herbs, herb products and remedies, and herb publications.
• Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN)
  www.foodallergy.org/
  Access to FAAN, a nonprofit organization established to increase public awareness about food allergy and anaphylaxis.
• Dr. Duke's Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases
  www.ars-grin.gov/duke/
  Database of phytochemical ingredients for herbs and spices.
• vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~lrd/fdinter.html
  Consumer-oriented website that discusses food and drug interactions in common terms that will be familiar to patients.

Other Educational Resources/Books

• A Textbook of Natural Medicine by Michael T. Murray and Joseph Pizzorno
• Clinical Nutrition: A Functional Approach by The Institute for Functional Medicine
• The Textbook of Functional Medicine, by The Institute for Functional Medicine
• Jeff Bland Seminar Series