Outlook: Newsletter of the Society of Behavorial Medicine

Winter 2017

Looking Forward to the 2017 Annual Meeting

With the 2017 Annual Meeting quickly approaching, it is important to highlight the meeting theme of “La Buena Vista: Expanding Horizons of Behavioral Medicine” which will focus on the following cross-cutting subthemes: Translation of behavioral medicine research into policy and practice, addressing health disparities, demonstrating how digital tools can positively influence health outcomes, obesity across the lifespan, prevention and treatment in clinical care and social context and health behaviors.

Plenary speakers in San Diego will inspire and instruct attendees how to translate our research more broadly and effectively to impact practice and policy. The invited speakers will represent the diversity of SBM members’ expertise and interests. Thematic areas represented in the talks include: health in all policies; healthy eating; active living; adolescent and child health; aging; health disparities; and cancer. 

Keynote speakers include Robert K. Ross, MD, president and chief executive officer of The California Endowment, a foundation that addresses the health needs of Californians. Also included is James F. Sallis Jr., PhD, SBM president and a distinguished professor of family medicine and public health at the University of California, San Diego and director of Active Living Research, a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation program that helps create activity-friendly communities by funding studies on physical activity, built environments, and health policies. Ana V. Diez Roux, MD, PhD, MPH, dean of Drexel University’s School of Public Health, works at the intersection of health care and urban planning. Harold Goldstein, DrPH, founder and executive director of Public Health Advocates, runs the California-based nonprofit that improves health by advocating for evidence-based community and school health policies. And Col. Tracy A. Neal-Walden, PhD, chief of psychological health for the U.S. Air Force Surgeon General’s Directorate of Healthcare and Research Operations, advises the Air Force Surgeon General, senior Air Force leaders, and Congress on psychological health policy matters in support of 75 medical treatment facilities for over 640,000 beneficiaries.

Master lectures will feature Francis J. Keefe, PhD, the recipient of SBM’s 2016 Distinguished Scientist Award and a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Duke University. Kate Lorig, DrPH is the recipient of SBM’s 2016 Jessie Gruman Award for Health Engagement and the director of Stanford University's Patient Education Research Center. Frank J. Penedo, PhD, is an expert in cancer care and survivorship and the director of the Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center's Cancer Survivorship Institute and Northwestern University's Biopsychosocial Mechanisms and Health Outcomes Program. Marjorie Kagawa-Singer, PhD, is emeritus professor in the departments of Community Health Sciences and Asian American Studies at the University of California-Los Angeles Fielding School of Public Health.

The meeting will be an “active conference,” we welcome you to join us in attending morning yoga in the park directly outside the conference hotel, standing during sessions, taking the stairs, and participating in stretch breaks. The conference hotel is conveniently located along the San Diego Embarcadero – a perfect opportunity to get some fresh air and enjoy the sweeping views of the city before or after sessions.

There is still time to register for the meeting, online registration is open through Wednesday, March 22 and onsite registration will be available beginning at 7 a.m. on Wednesday, March 29, 2017. Don’t forget to register for continuing education credit and pre-conference sessions. A full schedule of session information is available here, and via the 2017 Annual Meeting mobile app by searching “SBM2017” in your app store.