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If You Want to Attend but Haven't Registered Yet
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It isn't too late.
On-site registration for the 2007 Annual Scientific Meeting begins
October 20 at the Ernest N. Morial
Convention Center, New Orleans.
2007 Annual Scientific Meeting of The
Obesity Society
October 20-24, 2007
New Orleans, Louisiana
If you have any questions please
e-mail them to:
Rhesia Pittman
rpittman@naaso.org
301-563-6526
The Nominating Committee thanks the
membership for their participation and attention to this request.
Nominating Committee members are: Immediate Past President and Chair
Thomas Wadden, David Allison, Susan Fried, Michael Goran, Steven
Heymsfield, Judith Stern, Angelo Tremblay, and Rhesia Pittman (ex
officio).
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Obesity Society Winners
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The Obesity Society received more than
800 abstracts and the best research will be showcased in a plenary session
of the 25th Obesity Society Scientific Meeting. This year will also be
the first year that our Society is providing travel grants for young
investigators (within 5 years of their highest degree) based on the
quality of their submitted abstract. Fifteen authors of the top
abstracts will each receive a $500 travel award.
The recipients of eight New
Investigator Grants will be announced at the meeting and each will
receive approximately $25,000 to conduct their research projects.
We are pleased to give you a heads up
on the winners of the Obesity Society awards:
The winner of the TOPS (Take of Pounds
Sensibly) Award is James O. Hill,
PhD of the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. On Monday,
October 22 he will discuss "Understanding obesity: from neural
networks to social networks." The TOPS Award recognizes singular
achievement or contribution to research in the field of obesity.
The George A, Bray Founders Award
recognizes significant contributions to The Obesity Society and
contributions that advance the scientific or clinical basis for
understanding or treating obesity. This year's winner is Barbara E. Corkey, PhD, Boston
University School of Medicine. Her remarks on Monday, October 22 will
concern "Gaps in understanding obesity and forgotten
lessons."
The Friends of Mickey Stunkard
Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes people who, like Albert (Mickey)
Stunkard, have made a lifetime of outstanding contributions to the
field of obesity in terms of scholarship, mentorship, and education. The
2007 winner is Lars Sjostrom,
MD, PhD of Sahlgrenska University Hospital Goteborg, Sweden. Dr.
Sjostrom will be speaking on "Preventing risks of obesity "
on Monday, October 22.
The Lilly Scientific Achievement Award
winner is Matthias Tschop, MD University of Cincinatti. On
Tuesday, October 23, he will be speaking on "Gut- brain
interactions in the control of metabolism." The Lilly Scientific
Award recognizes excellence in an established research career. To be
eligible for this award, the recipient must be within 15 years of
his/her terminal degree.
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The Obesity Society Makes News
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The Obesity Society's Public Policy
Conference "The Obesity Challenge: What the Next President Should
Do" held September 19 in Washington
DC was a smashing
success. Six of the leading Democratic Presidential campaigns sent
representatives and three of the five Republican Presidential campaigns
sent spokespersons.
Democratic presidential candidate Bill
Richardson addressed the Policy Conference and called for obese
Americans to be covered by the Americans for Disabilities Act (A.D.A.)
with oversight by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. He said
"This is an issue of basic civil rights. There are no federal laws
that protect obese Americans from discrimination in the workplace,
school, or anywhere else. This must change." He specifically
mentioned increasing public understanding of obesity and reducing its
stigma.
As Governor of New Mexico, Richardson
has banned all junk food in schools by executive order and made
physical education mandatory in schools. He said "the key is to
shift focus from the end game to the pre- game-that's called
prevention."
The lead off speaker at the Public
Policy Conference was Peter Orszag, the Director of the Congressional
Budget Office. He remarked that economists are very concerned about the
growth in U.S.
government spending. This spending is expected to rise dramatically
over the next 15 years, driven mainly by health care costs. In fact in
15 years the health budget will be as large as the total federal budget
is today. Obesity is seen now by federal budget policy makers as a main
driver of these health care costs. Since obesity is associated with
various diseases, these have implications for the cost of health care.
As there are shifts to extreme obesity, costs will continue to
increase. He said that policy interventions are difficult and that
educational efforts also take time. He said that we need to redefine
the meaning of success when it comes to weight loss.
Morgan Downey, Obesity Society
Executive Vice President, provided background on federal policy as it
relates to obesity from the early 1990s to the present.
Linda Douglass of the National Journal chaired a panel of health care
advisors from each of the Democratic presidential campaigns and Mayor
Rudolph Guiliani, Senator John McCain, and Governor Mitt Romney from
the Republican campaigns. Governor Mike Huckabee sent a letter calling
for prevention efforts including not smoking, eating a healthier diet,
and exercising.
Each Democratic spokesperson mentioned
the need for an insurance program that covers every American. In terms
of directly addressing the obesity issue, the domestic policy director
for Senator Joseph Biden's campaign said the emphasis should be
prevention and there should be increased funding for prevention and
wellness programs.
Senator Hillary Clinton's legislative
director spoke of her past support for studies concerning eating
disorders and obesity. She has also been involved in the issue of the
media and children.
Senator Chris Dodd's policy director
emphasized prevention efforts and said there needs to be an improved
public health role in obesity. She said the problem should be addressed
in a multidisciplinary way. Educating the community on what to eat and
quantities to consume is important as well as offering financial
incentives to people who join weight loss programs or participate in weight
counseling.
The campaign manager for John Edwards
for President discussed the need for preventive care and said to attack
the issue while children are young. Under an Edwards health insurance
plan, everyone would be required to have insurance and preventive care
would be a part of it.
The health policy advisor to Senator
Barack O'Bama discussed access to preventive services and mentioned the
chasm between prevention and chronic disease care. Additional federal
funds should be allocated for obesity research since some research has
been under funded.
On the Republican side, the healthcare
advisor for Rudy Giuliani for President said it is up to the federal
government to solve the problems that prevent health insurance like
regulatory barriers, and lack of portability.
The policy director for John McCain
2008 said it is important to address how things are funded and to begin
with education. There should be a greater variety of insurance choices
and more emphasis on preventive care. He talked about the role of
government but said that parents need to parent.
The domestic policy director for Mitt
Romney for President said to decrease the incidence of childhood
obesity and to have more Americans insured. There should be a tax
deduction for chronic conditions and elevate obesity as a public
policy. He said to encourage personal behaviors and different avenues
of research.
The press panel discussed how the
press view of obesity has changed over the years.
Sally Squires (Washington Post) said the topic of obesity isn't going
away. She has been writing a column called the "Lean Plate
Club" that is syndicated to newspapers around the country.
Susan Spencer (CBS News) said that TV isn't too good at getting the
word out about day to day things like diet and exercise although
obesity is a huge public health issue. She said a story about a cure or
a major trend in obesity would receive TV coverage, but something like
routine treatment would have less priority.
Lynn Sweet (Chicago Sun-Times) said the issue of obesity became big
after the fast food lawsuits and when it was first acknowledged as a
medical, lifestyle, and legal issue.
Expert Panel Participants were Gary
Foster, President- Elect, Obesity Society, Eric Ravussin, President,
Obesity Society, Ronald Finch, National Business Group on Health,
Louise Milone Service Employees International Union Health Care Access
Trusts, and Julie Sanderson-Austin American Medical Group Association.
They reacted to remarks made throughout the day.
The 2007 Public Policy Conference was
part of the evolution of recognizing obesity at the Presidential level.
In 2000, representatives of then Vice President Al Gore, Governor
George W. Bush, and Senator Bill Bradley discussed childhood obesity
and the role of education at an American Obesity Association
conference. "We have definitely gotten the attention of the
Presidential campaigns," said Eric Ravussin, President, The
Obesity Society.
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Education Activities at The Obesity Society Annual Scientific
Meeting
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For the first time ever the meeting
evaluation/CE credit progress will be completely online. New for 2007
will be demand access to complete evaluations. Attendees will be able
to immediately receive CE certificates.
Attendees will also be able to track
personalized CME/EPE/CE credits and attendance certificate to
personalize, store, and track all continuing education credits
accumulated live and online. There will be no more need to keep track
of stacks of papers.
When the October Obesity Abstract
supplement goes in the mail on October 1, the abstracts will be
available for viewing online via the Live Learning
Center for
Society members and nonmembers who have registered for the meeting.
The online Itinerary Planner for the
Annual Scientific Meeting is now available for use at www.softconference.com/naaso/am.asp
Access to online sessions from the
2007 Annual Scientific Meeting is free of charge for all registered
meeting attendees.
Last week we launched a new slide deck
as a CME program on Obesity Online, "Weight Bias in Health Care
Settings." See www.obesityonline
.org. In this new slide talk, Rebecca M. Puhl, PhD, and Kelly
Brownell, PhD, present the growing body of scientific evidence which
demonstrates that weight bias among healthcare professionals has
serious, negative impacts on the quality of healthcare services
provided to overweight and obese patients in healthcare facilities.
They also discuss what providers can do to reduce any bias which they
may have in their practice.
The Obesity Society has launched
another CME program. It is with SynerMed as part of the grant from
Allergan. The file can be downloaded. The title is "Identification
and Treatment of Extreme Obesity - Considering Surgical Options:
Frequently Asked Questions."
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FDA Starts Discussion about Adding Symbols to Food Labels
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The Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
held a
two-day meeting to solicit comments from the food industry, trade
groups, watchdog groups, and medical experts on whether adding symbols
with nutrition information might help consumers make healthier food
choices.
Some food manufacturers and grocery
chains have begun to label foods with symbols indicating their
nutritional content. PepsoCo uses the "Smart Spot" on diet
Pepsi, and baked Lay's chips. Hannaford Grocery Store chain has
developed a system called "Guiding Stars" which rates the
nutritional value of grocery items on a scale of zero to three stars,
with three representing the most nutritious products. Their formula for
determining stars uses data from a product's nutritional facts panel
and the ingredients list. It credited a food for having vitamins and
minerals, fiber, and whole grains. The system took away points for
trans fats, saturated fats, cholesterol, added sugars, and added
sodium. In Britain,
the government has convinced some food companies to use a "traffic
light" symbol. Their ranking system relies on green, yellow, and
red lights to characterize whether a particular food is low, medium, or
high in fat, sugar, and salt.
The deputy director of FDA's food
office said "We really don't have adequate information about the
various programs to understand how their criteria work and how they are
used and understood by consumers, and how they may affect market
choice."
Since FDA is now in an
"information-gathering mode" Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) said
he will pursue legislation that compels FDA to establish a single set
of nutrition symbols. The Center for Science in the Public Interest
filed a petition asking FDA to create a national front-label symbol
system.
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Meetings of Interest
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The International Federation of
Adipose Therapeutics and Science (IFATS) will be having its 5th annual
scientific sessions in Indianapolis,
October 18-20 immediately before The Obesity Society Annual Scientific
Meeting. IFATS' current scientific areas of interest relate to
facilitating the use of adipose tissue as a source of adult stem cells
that have the potential to regenerate and repair many different tissues
in the body; the generation of new fat tissue for reconstruction after
cancer or birth-related defects; and the development of treatments for
excess body fat.
Information about the meeting can be
found at www.ifats.org and
a special invitation can be found at http://mediasauceclients.com/IFATS/PersonalDeli
very/email.html
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Regional News
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Western Region
Judith Stern, PhD
University of California
at Davis
MRC Greenwood, PhD has been
named Chair of the Graduate Group of Nutritional Biology. Dennis Styne, MD, Dept of
Pediatrics is revising his book on pediatric obesity. Good Luck Dennis!
Sean Adams, PhD, Western Human
Nutrition Research Center
gave a talk "Obesity & Diabetes: What we can learn from
fat-neuron cross-talk and mitochondrial exhaust pipes" at the
California Nutrition in Medicine: Diseases of Metabolism Conference at Lake Tahoe. Many of you already know that Richard Bergman, PhD, University of Southern California will be the
new editor of Obesity as
of January 2008.
David York ,PhD, moved to Utah
State University
in Logan, Utah in August 2006 to become
Director of the new Center for Advanced Nutrition. David writes that
"hopefully the snow will be better this winter." As a native
Californian from New York, I hope for
no snow, at least in Davis.
Adam
Drewnowski, PhD, and John Foreyt, PhD were presenters at
the ILSI South East Asia symposium on "Understanding and influencing
consumer food behaviors for health." Adam, together with
researchers from the Epidemiology Unit of Public Health Department,
Seattle and King County, published a paper in the journal Social Science and Medicine on
obesity distribution by zip code that received international attention.
Area property values were a good predictor of obesity rates.
The University
of Washington has
a new Center for Obesity Research and Adam
Drewnowski, PhD is its director. David Cummings, MD writes that he is the deputy
director of the Diabetes
Endocrinology Research Center
which was re-funded for five years.
Bret Luick PhD, University
of Alaska at Fairbanks, has just completed a study
on the status of vitamin D in Native Alaskan Yu'pik Eskimos.
Eastern Region
Kathleen
Keller, PhD
St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital
Richard Atkinson, MD,
Virginia Commonwealth University and Obetech Obesity Research Center,
was a visiting professor at Karolinska and spoke at the Center for
Molecular Medicine in Stockholm on "Obesity development and viral
mechanisms in adipocyte maturation" and at the Huddinge University
Hospital on "Obesity development and relationship to human
adenovirus- 36."
He will be speaking at the Cleveland Clinic on their Obesity Summit
2007 on "New drugs in development" and on "Viral-induced
mechanisms in obesity." At the ASBP Annual Meeting in Las Vegas he will
be giving a keynote lecture on "Evidence for a viral etiology of
obesity." In addition, he served as a chairman of the CBI Obesity
Drug Development Summit in Washington,
DC, and spoke about
"Infectious organisms as a cause of obesity -A major new
pharmacological opportunity."
Sarah
Armstrong, MD, Healthy
Lifestyles Program at Duke Children's Primary Care, was the recipient
of a GlaxoSmithKline Philanthropic Grant "Healthy lifestyles: A
multidisciplinary, integrated approach to childhood obesity." This
grant is part of a study "Early intervention in the office setting
to prevent childhood obesity."
Organized by Louis J. Aronne, MD, George Blackburn, MD, and MRC Greenwood, PhD, the Reality
Coalition, a group of experts on obesity, nutrition, diabetes and
healthcare policy, is hosting a meeting, "Making weight loss
everybody's business" at the Institute of Medicine on October
11th. This symposium will bring together lawmakers, healthcare industry
professionals, business leaders and media to discuss such topics as the
impact of obesity on businesses, the rise in healthcare spending for
obesity, and most importantly, solutions to tackling this growing
problem in the workplace. For more information, call Rebecca Farrell at
646-722-8823 or email her at Rebecca@reality-coalition.org.
Paula A.
Quatromoni, DSc, MS, RD,
Department of Health Sciences at Boston University was given The
Whitney Powers Award for Excellence in Teaching, awarded by Sargent
College at Boston University. She was also awarded a grant, evaluating
IMOVE: "An environmental intervention to promote healthy eating in
middle-school children from Massachusetts
communities at high risk for childhood obesity," funded by the
Charles H. Hood Foundation, Boston,
MA.
Stephen Cook, MD, MPH, Golisano Children's
Hospital at Strong, Rochester,
NY, was the recipient of
a five year K-23 career development award from NHLBI to study obesity
and tobacco on cardiovascular disease risk in adolescents.
Andrew P.
Goldberg, M.D.
Baltimore VA GRECC Director and Head, Division of Gerontology, has been
awarded the 2007 Joseph T. Freeman Award from the Gerontological
Society of America. Dr. Goldberg received the award for his
contributions to research in exercise physiology, obesity, and
metabolism research in aging, mentoring of young investigators and
leadership in academic gerontology.
Shiriki
Kumanyika, PhD,
University of PA School of Medicine and Ross Brownson have published The Handbook of Obesity Prevention. A
resource for Health.
The Healthy LIFE program at Saint
Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston,
NJ has won a $10,000
annual award from the American Osteopathic Foundation for Excellence in
fighting the metabolic syndrome." Debra Gill, PhD is behavioral
director and Henry Anhalt, DO is medical director.
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