Registration name badges and pre-purchased event tickets have been mailed to pre-registered attendees in the US. Remember to bring your badge with you to the meeting to bypass the registration lines. Show your name badge at the NAASO Materials Pick-Up to receive your badge holder and other meeting materials.
If you haven't registered online for NAASO's Annual Meeting, you can still register on-site. On-site Registration and Materials Pick-up will be open:

• Sunday, Nov 14, 7:00 am - 6:00 pm
• Monday, Nov 15, 7:00 am - 6:00 pm
• Tuesday, Nov 16, 7:00 am - 6:00 pm
• Wednesday, Nov 17, 7:00 am - 6;00 pm
• Thursday, Nov 18, 7:00 am - 11:30 am

Not a NAASO Member? Now is a good time to join. Visit NAASO during Annual Meeting (Booth 200) to learn more about NAASO Membership.

The Day-at-a- Glance is available online and continually updated. Use this handy guide to pre-plan your Annual Meeting agenda. Detailed information on scheduled sessions, including speaker information, is available in the Final Program Schedule.

Use these session guides to pick a track, find the key lecture of choice, meet the experts, and schedule time to network with your colleagues.

Meet-the-Professor
Make plans now to attend a special Meet-the- Professor session designed exclusively for students. Here is an opportunity for informal, face-to-face discussions with key lecture presenters and NAASO leadership. Mark your calendars for Wednesday, November 17, 4:30 - 5:30 PM.

Special Luncheon Events
Three special luncheon events will be held simultaneously on Tuesday, November 16 from 12:30 - 1:30 pm.

• NAASO Task Force on Women and Minorities Roundtable
• Clinical Management of Obesity Roundtable
• Graduate Student and Postdoctoral Fellows Roundtable

More information on each of these events will be available on site at the registration desk.

NAASO Awards Presentation
Congratulate your colleagues on Tuesday, November 16, 8:00 am - 9:30 am, Roman III Ballroom.

• Tops Award - Richard Bergman, PhD
• Friends of Albert "Mickey" Stunkard Award - Claude Bouchard, PhD
• George Bray Founders Award - David A. York, PhD

Lilly Scientific Achievement Award and Ethan Sims Young Investigator Award
On Wednesday, November 17, 8:00 - 10:00 am, Roman III Ballroom, P Antonio Tataranni, MD will receive the Lilly Scientific Achievement Award.
The following five finalists for the Ethan Sims Young Investigator Award will present their research:

• Keith Fusinski, MT (ASCP)
• James Gangwisch, PhD
• James Trevaskis, PhD
• Susumu Suzuki, MD, PhD
• Marie-France Hivert, MD

Pre Conference Educational Activity
Join your colleagues on Sunday, November 14, 2:00 - 5:00 pm for this special pre-conference educational opportunity. Eric Ravussin, PhD co-chairs the program "Development of Anti-Obesity Drugs with Perspectives from Industry, Regulators and Researchers."

Pediatric Obesity Interest Group (POIG) Symposium
NAASO's Pediatric Obesity Interest Group (POIG) will host the symposium "National Strategy for Obesity Prevention in Youth: Highlights and Controversies from the Institute of Medicine Report." Plan to attend this special meeting on Sunday, November 14, 11:00 am - 2:00 pm.

Latin American Program
Join Spanish speaking colleagues for the III NAASO- FLASO Spanish Symposium on Thursday, November 18, 11:15 am - 12:45 pm. This special joint activity with the Federacion Latinoamericana de Sociedades de Obesidad will be co-chaired by Dr. Silvia Giraudo and Dr. Julio A. Montero. Learn about Latin American advances in obesity research and discuss future trends.

NAASO encourages and welcomes media participation at our Annual Scientific Meeting. Here a great opportunity for the media to report on innovative, late-breaking science from the foremost obesity experts. Please visit our Media Information Webpage for registration and guidelines.

Congratulations to NAASO Members Honored with Presigious Awards
Albert "Mickey" Stunkard, professor emeritus of psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, has been awarded the 2004 Sarnat Prize in Mental Health from the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies. The Sarnat Prize recognizes the international scope and significance of Dr. Stunkard's contributions to psychiatry and mental health, especially his research on eating disorders. Dr. Stunkard is the eponym of the annual NAASO award, "The Stunkard Lifetime Achievement Award" presented during Annual Meeting.

Dr. Steven Heymsfield, deputy director of the Obesity Research Center, St. Luke's/Roosevelt Hospital, received the Mayor's Award for Excellence in Science and Technology. Mayor Michael Bloomberg presented Dr. Heymsfield the prize for "Science and Society" for his role in helping to ban the weight-loss supplement ephedra.

Canada
Dr. Paul Boisvert writes:
Universit=E9 Laval
Denis Richard announced the results of the post doctoral bursary competition for the Training Program on Healthy Body Weight subsidized by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) at Universit=E9 Laval in Quebec City. Three new post doctoral trainees are welcomed:
Sophie Br=FBl=E9 from Montreal investigates the role of mTOR/S6K1 in obesity-linked insulin resistance in animal models. She is supervised by Andr=E9 Marette. William Festuccia from Sao Paulo in Brasil will work in collaboration with Yves Deshaies providing new insights into the endocrine modulation of triglyceride- rich lipoprotein (TGRL) metabolism. Finally, Raphael Denis from France, supervised by Denis Richard, will be studying the expression of hypothalamic peptides (NPY, POMC, AgRP and CART) in relation with changes in energy intakes and circulating factors.

University of Alberta
Kim Raine is one of seven U of Alberta co- investigators combining their expertise to examine issues surrounding obesity, from its causes to prevention, through the Promotion of Optimal Weights through Ecological Research (POWER) project. The five-year research initiative has been awarded a $1.4-million grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research's Institute of Nutrition, Metabolism and Diabetes and the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada.