Participants from almost a dozen countries traveled to CMTR’s third annual conference to hear about the most current research available in the medical tourism field.
The Center for Medical Tourism and Research (CMTR) at the University of the Incarnate Word presented the Center’s annual conference Feb. 13-15 at the Omni Mansion Del Rio in downtown San Antonio. This year’s conference featured speakers from all over the world committed to understanding the truth behind the hype of medical tourism though the use of empirical analysis and research.
“Medical tourism, which includes people travelling to other countries for medical, surgical, health, wellness, dental, and retirement purposes, may be one of the fastest growing industries in the world,” said Dr. David Vequist, founder/director of the CMTR.
Among the guest speakers was Dr. Marcia C. Inhorn, the William K. Lanman, Jr. Professor of Anthropology and International Affairs at Yale University, who presented “Reproductive Tourism: Global Trends, Middle Eastern Perspectives.” Inhorn is a specialist on Middle Eastern gender and health issues and has conducted research on the social impact of infertility, assisted reproductive technologies, and reproductive tourism in the Middle East and Arab America for the past 20 years.
The CMTR’s third annual conference continued in the tradition of the previous conferences of featuring some of the best and brightest speakers on the planet about one of the world’s fastest growing and most controversial industries,” Vequist said. “The event is considered one of the premier events in the world for this $100 billion industry and we were very proud to have it in San Antonio, home of the CMTR.”
The CMTR is housed in the H-E-B School of Business and Administration and is the first in the world to focus on medical tourism research.
“The CMTR is considered the leading research center for this massive global industry,” Vequist said. “Plans for the future include our next conference in February 2013 at UIW’s new Heidelberg campus in Germany, where medical tourism is considered a strong growth industry.”
