Community Health calls for papers / meetings & conferences

Call for Abstracts: International Society for Disease Surveillance Annual Conference

The ISDS Annual Conference is the premier event dedicated to the advancement of the science and practice of biosurveillance. This year’s theme, Expanding Collaborations to Chart a New Course in Public Health Surveillance, will highlight the importance of working together across agencies, sectors, and disciplines to improve surveillance methods and population health outcomes. The conference will be held at the Sheraton San Diego Hotel and Marina in San Diego, CA, December 4-5, 2012, with Pre-Conference Workshops on December 3rd.

The ISDS Conference draws professionals from a broad range of disciplines— epidemiology and computer science to mathematical modeling and health policy—to learn and contribute the latest achievements, methodologies, best practices, conceptual frameworks, and technical innovations in the rapidly evolving field of biosurveillance. This year's conference will provide fertile ground for cultivating new ideas and partnerships with roundtable discussions, panels and other opportunities to collaborate.

The scope of this conference includes all of the components, policies, methods, practices, infrastructure, research and evaluation related to timely surveillance of communicable diseases, chronic diseases and injuries. This includes notifiable conditions, adverse events and emerging/novel threats; biological, chemical, and radiological health threats; plant, animal, and food surveillance; and environmental monitoring.

Questions regarding the Call for Abstracts may be sent to Tera Reynolds, ISDS Program Manager.

Submission deadline: September 6, 2012 (11:59pm Eastern Daylight Time)

Authors notified of acceptance: October 3, 2012

Pre-Conference Workshops: December 3, 2012

Annual Conference: December 4-5, 2012

Submission Types

Note: All abstracts for the ISDS Conference will be submitted using ScholarOne. There is a limit of 4810 characters for the text of your submission. The character count includes spaces. The character count WILL include title, authors, institutions, tables, and images, but WILL NOT include presenting author brief biographical summaries (bios) or the abstract summary that will be used in the conference program.

Oral

All abstracts submitted for oral presentation are automatically considered for poster presentation as well. Include the following components when submitting an abstract for oral presentation:

· Title (85 characters MAX)

· Objective

· Introduction

· Methods

· Results

· Conclusions

· Acknowledgements

· References

· Names and affiliations of authors

· Brief bio of lead author/intended presenter (450 characters/75 words)

· Brief summary (600 characters/100 words) of submission to be used in conference program

Poster

Include the following components when submitting an abstract for poster presentation:

· Title (85 characters MAX)

· Objective

· Introduction

· Methods

· Results

· Conclusions

· Acknowledgements

· References

· Names and affiliations of authors

· Brief bio of lead author/intended presenter (450 characters/75 words)

· Brief summary (600 characters/100 words) of submission (for potential inclusion in conference program)

Panel *New for 2012*

Panel topics should be a specific aspect of design, theory, application, or experience pertaining to the science or practice of biosurveillance. Suggested panels should be comprised of no more than four participants and a moderator. A typical panel session will consist of four 15 minute presentations, each followed by 5 minutes of questions, with 10 minutes for closing discussion (presentation lengths will be subject to change based on final agenda). When submitting an abstract for a panel, include the following components:

· Title (85 characters MAX)

· Objective

· Introduction

· Panel description

· How the moderator intends to engage the audience in discussions on the panel topic

· Names of panel presenters, moderator and affiliations

· Brief bios for each panel presenter and moderator (450 characters/75 words each) for abstract reviewers to assess appropriateness to serve on the panel for the described topic

· Brief summary (600 characters/100 words) of panel to be used in conference program

Roundtable *New for 2012*

Roundtables can have up to three facilitators to briefly introduce the topic of interest and facilitate active discussion among attendees. Roundtables must be discussion-oriented rather than didactic, lecture-driven sessions. Roundtable discussions will be 60-90 minutes (depending on final agenda). When submitting an abstract for a roundtable, include the following components:

· Title (85 characters MAX)

· Objective

· Introduction

· Roundtable description

· How the facilitator intends to engage the audience in the roundtable discussion, including sample questions

· Names of facilitators and affiliations

· Brief bios for each facilitator (450 characters/75 words each) for abstract reviewers to assess appropriateness to lead a discussion on the described topic

· Brief summary (600 characters/100 words) of roundtable to be used in conference program

System Showcase Demonstrations *New for 2012*

System showcase demonstrations will be presented during the evening poster session on the first day of the conference. A typical demonstration will illustrate one or more aspects of an innovative population/public health surveillance system that is in use or under development. Demonstrations of open source and/or free products are strongly encouraged. System showcase demonstrations are not intended to be marketing or sales presentations and such submissions will be rejected; those interested in supporting the ISDS conference with an exhibit booth should contact Tera Reynolds at ISDS for more information. When submitting an abstract for a system showcase demonstration, include the following components:

· Title (85 characters MAX)

· Objective

· Introduction

· Description, highlighting benefits to public/population health surveillance and how this demonstration will be a unique addition to the ISDS conference

· Conclusions, including lessons learned and design principles from this demonstration that attendees can take away, even if not using or intending to use the system demonstrated

· Names of demonstrators and affiliations

· Brief summary (600 characters/100 words) of showcase to be used in conference program

Track Descriptions

I. Analytical Methods

a. Analytical Methods: Applied

b. Analytical Methods: Research & Development

This theme is focused on important and novel advances in the field of surveillance methodologies and analytical approaches. Abstracts in the Applied sub-track should describe methods or processes routinely used in a production-type environment. Abstracts in the Research and Development sub-track should describe methods and processes still under development or tested within a research or pilot setting. Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

· Analytic evaluation of surveillance components

· Decision support

· Estimating morbidity and impact

· Evaluation of algorithms and systems through epidemic simulation

· Geospatial analysis

· Innovative use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology

· Integrating evidence from multiple sources

· Integration of mathematical modeling and statistical analyses

· New algorithms and evaluation of existing algorithms for cluster and event detection

· Pattern recognition algorithms

· Predictive disease modeling/predictive analytics

· Spatial cluster detection

· Statistical methods and tools for analyzing and interpreting data

· Time series analysis

II. Informatics

a. Informatics: Applied

b. Informatics: Research & Development

Abstracts in the Applied sub-track should describe methods or processes routinely used in a production-type environment. Abstracts in the Research and Development sub-track should describe methods and processes still under development or tested within a research or pilot setting. Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

· Advances in methods for classifying data

· Approaches to building interoperable surveillance systems and components

· Borderless data exchange models (e.g. federated information sharing approaches)

· Cloud computing for public health surveillance

· Data integration – acquiring, moving, storing, processing, coding, normalizing, and preparing data for analysis between systems

· Data quality

· Data visualization methods

· Electronic health records and public health surveillance

· Health information exchange

· How clinical information systems can support public health surveillance efforts

· How public health information systems can support clinical efforts

· Informatics lessons learned

· Information and knowledge exchange

· Innovations in public health informatics

· Mobile technologies for public health

· Natural language processing

· Standards and Interoperability Framework (Public Health Reporting Initiative)

· Standards used in public health surveillance

· System architectures for limited connectivity environments and disaster surveillance

· System architectures for surveillance in low-resource environments

· System architectures to leverage HIE for public health surveillance

· System descriptions of real-world solutions to challenging integration problems

· Workforce requirements and training

· Use of social media for biosurveillance

III. Policy (at local, state, federal, international levels)

This theme is focused on sharing successes, challenges or approaches leveraged in the use or development of policy which affects biosurveillance operations and activities. Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

· Creating successful surveillance partnerships

· Data sharing policies

· Federal policy agendas

· Funding strategies for surveillance

· How public health surveillance data have been used to inform policy

· International Health Regulations

· Legal/ethical/security/privacy issues in surveillance

· Meaningful Use responses by public health departments

· Policies around social media/leveraging social networks for risk communication, etc.

· Research collaborations to expand evidence-based health policy

· Workforce

IV. Public/Population health surveillance

a. Public/Population Health Surveillance: Practice

b. Public/Population Health Surveillance: Research

c. Public/Population Health Surveillance: Evaluation

This theme is focused on improving the daily processes of timely public/population health surveillance, including detection, signal validation, event characterization, investigation, and response. Abstracts in the Practice sub-track should describe practices routinely used in a production environment and/or deployed in field by public health departments or other agencies. Abstracts in the Research sub-track should describe research related to surveillance, health systems, etc. Abstracts in the Evaluation sub-track should describe evaluations of public/population health surveillance systems, workflows, protocols, etc. Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

· Adverse drug events and pharmacovigilance

· Case studies

· Chronic disease surveillance

· Collaboration success stories

· Contact tracing and network analysis

· Disaster/event surveillance

· Disparities surveillance

· Evaluation of surveillance systems

· Infectious disease surveillance

· Influenza-like illness surveillance

· Injury surveillance

· Innovations in biosurveillance

· Integrating surveillance across multiple data sources

· Integrating surveillance systems, e.g. syndromic and reportable diseases

· Linking response with frontline health workers

· Meaningful Use and how it’s changing/not changing surveillance practice

· Measuring vaccine efficacy, coverage, etc.

· Messaging/risk communication (what to say to the public, politicians and media about syndromic systems alerts)

· Mobile technologies for public health

· Novel approaches to communicable diseases surveillance and reporting (e.g., notifiable conditions, MRSA, nosocomial infections)

· OneHealth

· Outbreak detection, characterization and outbreak management

· School and university surveillance

· Situational awareness

· Social media and surveillance

· Surveillance across borders

· Surveillance for refugees and recent immigrants

· Surveillance in resource-limited settings

· Surveillance using ambulatory care data

· Surveillance using inpatient data

· Vaccine-preventable disease surveillance

2013 Call for Presentation Proposals: DiversityRx 2013 Conference--the Eighth National Conference on Quality Health Care for Culturally Diverse Populations

Achieving Equity in an Era of Innovation and Health System Transformation

March 11-14, 2013, Oakland, California

New partnerships between health care organizations and communities, research into improved ways to deliver care, and changes in health care policy are opening up opportunities to achieve equity and the highest quality health care for culturally diverse populations. In this time of transition, practitioners, policymakers, researchers, and advocates for health equity can focus attention on implementation, participation and improving health outcomes for individuals and communities. The 2013 conference will offer participants the opportunity to hear from experts and front-line leaders about how diverse populations are affected by:

state and national reform efforts
changes to the Medicaid program
innovative technology for information management and outreach
social determinants of health
other practice and financing developments.

As always, the conference will continue to feature both established and innovative cultural and linguistic competence and disparity reduction programs and policies from across the country and abroad.

Presentation proposals are due by Friday, June 1, 2012.

We invite you to submit presentation proposals for this nationally acclaimed conference, which attracts over 600 participants every two years. Health care professionals, community representatives, advocates, policymakers, researchers and others from the U.S. and around the world can submit brief proposals on good practices and innovative approaches related to the following thematic categories:

language access
culturally competent care/disparity reduction
cultural competence/disparity reduction education and training
organizational cultural competence
policy
research

Prior to submitting a presentation proposal, we encourage you to view the 2010 program.

With over 200 presentations featured at the conference, a host of topics will be addressed. A detailed list of potential presentation topics can be found here.

Proposals are being accepted for a variety of presentation formats:

Main Conference Sessions
Main Conference Oral Presentations (concurrent workshops and peer-to-peer sessions)
Poster presentations
Film Festival presentations
Preconference Sessions (Preconference will take place on Monday, March 11, 2013)
Preconference Intensive training sessions
Special Sessions (may be held as a concurrent session during the main conference or may be held as breakfast sessions or evening sessions. Please indicate scheduling preference in the Comments to Organizers section of your submission.)

Presentation proposals are due by Friday June 1, 2012.

Call for Papers: Pan Arab Psychiatric Conference (PAPC2012)

Novembe 29-December 1, 2012 Dubai, United Arab Emirates 

The theme selected for the Mental Health Changes in the Arab World (Violence, Trauma and Recovery) will address the involvement of the mental health professionals in providing services for people affected by the recent developments in the region. It is an opportunity to discuss and share development, trends, scientific research and treatments advancements in the impact of the violence on the mental health specifically and psychotrauma and Psychiatric disorders in general not forgetting Recovery.

Together with a carefully selected educational program and a group of highly renowned regional and international keynote speakers, we promise you a significant scientific enrichment for people involved hoping to benefit the region on the ground in the post period of the conference and initiate mental health programs the region needs.

The Scientific Committee welcomes the submission of abstracts to make poster presentations at PAPC2012 from professionals, researchers and students in the Psychiatric field.

Deadline
Deadline for abstract submission is 30 August 2012, 8 pm Dubai time.

Abstract Topics
1....Psychological trauma and recovery.
2....Resilience and recovery after psychological trauma.
3....Disaster psychiatry
4....Role of NGPs in developing mental health services
5....Violence and mental health (Domestic Violence, Violence among psychiatric population)
6....Recent advances in psychopharmacology of major mental illnesses
......(schizophrenia, bipolar, depression etc)
7....Addiction, personality and deliberate self harm available services and different managements.
8....Co morbidity of physical and psychiatric disorders
9....Special populations (Women's, child, adolescent and old age)
10..Community psychiatry and post discharge services & managements.
11..Psychiatry and the law
12..Cultural issues of psychiatric practice in the Arab world
13..Bridging the gap between psychology and psychiatry in the Arab world
14..Psychiatry and spirituality
15..Recruitment into psychiatry & Postgraduate training in psychiatry
16..Arab Psychiatrists experience abroad, prospects & challenges

Meeting Minds Experts
PAPC2012 Professional Conference Organisers

pco@papc2012.com

Call for Presentations: 12th World Congress on Stress, Trauma & Coping

February 19-24, 2013 Baltimore, Maryland

Submission Deadline: June 15, 2012

The 12th World Congress on Stress, Trauma and Coping is the premier forum for multidisciplinary exchange of ideas and information among those who provide crisis and disaster mental health services.

Sessions during the 12th World Congress have been designed to provoke critical thinking challenge current convention offer innovative ideas and insights & fully explore the many applications of critical incident response in various industries, settings and situations.

World Congress participants will identify the tools needed to solve current problems and explore the future direction of the crisis intervention field. The 6 day World Congress will include a variety of presentation formats ideally suited to exploring concepts, practical applications and results in sessions designed for professionals in all practice settings and experience levels.

World Congress Major Content Themes
Over 125 presenters will cover the spectrum of crisis intervention in these and other areas:

Research / Innovations Military Disaster Response Healthcare Settings Faith Based Applications Emergency Services, Public Safety Corporate / Industry / EAP Specialty Populations Team Development and Care Schools, Children

Who Should Attend

The ICISF 12th World Congress is a “must attend” experience for anyone working in the fields of crisis intervention, traumatic stress, emergency services & disaster mental health, including:

Disaster response personnel Psychiatrists Humanitarian aid workers Counselors Law-enforcement officers Social workers Firefighters Faith-based providers EMTs / Paramedics Employee representative organizations & Unions Military personnel First response support agencies Homeland security personnel Media correspondents / journalists Emergency service administrators Grief counselors Emergency operations administrators & managers Employee assistance professionals Corrections officials Commercial & industrial organization employees Healthcare professionals & administrators Airline & other transportation industry personnel Educators, school employees Communication officers & dispatch personnel Crisis workers Security professionals Suicidologists Victim's advocates Psychologists Risk managers

Why Attend?
The Crisis Intervention field continues to grow, building on excellent proven programs and strategies while incorporating innovations that meet the needs and challenges of the diverse populations we serve. As crisis interventionists we must learn from one another to continually improve the services provided to the level of best practices.

At the 12th World Congress, you'll have an incomparable opportunity to interact with experts in the field and hundreds of your peers from around the U.S. and world who, like you, are committed to providing assistance to those affected by critical incident stress. Choose from over 70 presentations that will explore how the practice of crisis intervention is evolving and adapting to meet the needs and challenges of the future.

Please address any questions to:

Shelley Cohen
World Congress Program Manager
scohen@icisf.org
(410) 750-9600

Call for Conference Workshop Proposals: 2012 National Refugee and Immigrant Conference: Issues and Innovations

Thursday, October 18, 2012-Friday, October 19, 2012 Chicago, Illinois

Soliciting Proposals from Professionals in
Pre-K-12 Education ~ Adult Education ~ Health Care ~ Marriage and Parenting Education
Family Support Services ~ Job Development ~ Refugee and Immigrant Services ~ Cultural Orientation
Capacity-Building ~ Community Organizations ~ Advocacy ~ Social Media

The aim of this national conference is to identify issues, emphasize best practices, and highlight innovations by providing those who work with refugees and immigrants an opportunity to learn from and to network with one another.

Families of refugees and immigrants in the U.S. must do their best to manage transitions into new communities. Many of these families encounter financial hardship, difficulty in gaining employment, cultural adjustments, health and mental issues, intergenerational conflicts, and the stresses of unfamiliar school experiences.

Services for preschool and K-12 refugee and immigrant youth and their families may be compromised by differing perceptions and misunderstandings (by both the families and those who provide services) concerning the cultural adjustment process; health, health care, and nutrition; public education enrollment and assessment, academic roles and expectations, the provision of bilingual education services and special education services, when appropriate; and American education law requirements.

To address these and other refugee and immigrant issues, individuals and nonprofit organizations need access to resources on successful practices and processes as well as solutions for challenges in refugee and immigrant integration.

Efforts to help youth and families will have a better chance of succeeding if they are based on shared understandings and collaborative partnerships among families, schools, health and mental health providers. In particular, as delineated in federal Title III of No Child Left Behind legislation, linking educators and families together can provide positive academic experiences and successful integration of refugee and immigrant children into our society.

Organizations also need to build their capacity to assist families by gaining resources through grant writing, and assisting adults to become self-sufficient in this economy through employment services and innovative practices such as microenterprise.

Please respond to the Call for Workshop Sessions with proposals for sessions that address these and related issues. Applications for respective sessions of interest to both new staff and experienced practitioners are sought. Proposals will be evaluated on the basis of clarity, relevance of content, replicability for other situations and programs, and interest to the conference audience. Please respond by May 31, 2012.

2012 Refugee and Immigrant Conference Committee

The Center/Adult Learning Resource Center
Chicago Public Schools
Heartland Alliance for Human Needs and Human Rights
Heartland Health Outreach
Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights
Illinois Department of Human Services
Illinois Department of Public Health
Illinois State Board of Education
Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago

Call for Workshop Proposals, continued 2012 Refugee and Immigrant Conference: Issues and Innovations

Presentation Ideas
If showcasing a program, discuss or show how the program could be replicated.

Education:
Preschool and K-12 Educational Issues for Refugee and Immigrant Students: developing dialogues among teachers of refugee students on best practices for integrating these students and their families into the American educational system including bilingual education program services and special education programs, where appropriate; providing early intervention for preschool students; newcomer services for primary, middle school, and high school students; educating teenage students with interrupted formal educations; encouraging career exploration and linkages to post-secondary educational opportunities
Adult Education Topics: adult literacy, family literacy, community integration, financial literacy
Family Life Education: strengthening refugee and immigrant families and facilitating productive cultural adjustment

Health Care:
Health Issues: health disparity, general concerns, healthcare reform, health promotion, health and nutrition education, women and children’s health, and accessing services for the disabled; ethical issues in refugee health care; strategies/models for increasing cultural competency among health care providers/pharmacists
Mental Health Issues: trauma-informed care, stress/depression/anxiety, family health, ethical issues in refugee mental health care, suicide risks; gang-related violence; and outreach and education efforts in refugee and immigrant communities with consideration of limited English among some populations

Family Support Services:
Multiple-risk Families: understanding and helping the most vulnerable: children with multiple risks from behavioral, emotional and health-related problems; effects of dislocation, including stress, suicide, gang violence and family disruptions

Employment: job development, job training, job placement; micro enterprise development

Capacity Building: grant writing, community collaboration, social media, advocacy, integration of service provision

Refugee Populations: emergent issues

Integrated Services:
Integrating Services and Networking among educators, counselors, and healthcare professionals to strengthen and improve responses to refugee and immigrant needs
Strategic Partnerships between families and service providers, emphasizing involvement, awareness and understanding

Issues of Citizenship & Immigration and Policy/Legislation/Updates: citizenship education, knowing your rights, immigration reform

Cultural Orientation: marriage/divorce practices, understanding school system/workplace, health practices, nuances of communication, relationships between the broader American community and immigrant and refugee populations

Types of Proposals Requested: Three Options

1. Workshop Session Proposal
Workshop sessions are a combination of presentations/audience interactions which include original problem statements and/or solutions. Presenters should include handout(s) for participants. Presentation length is 75 minutes.

2. Poster Session Proposal
Poster sessions are a way to communicate information from one professional to another through photos, illustrations, and items created by programs. Posters will be displayed in a conference breakout room. An eight-foot table will be provided. Along with a clearly designed display board, submitters should include handout(s) for viewers.

3. Video Theater Proposal
Video and digital media theater provides an opportunity to present VHS, DVD or other video media relevant to refugee and immigrant issues. The video should be the focus of the presentation, but include, at a minimum, opening remarks, closing comments, and handout(s). Only an LCD projector will be available in the video and digital media session room. Presenters must provide their own computers.

Call for Presentation Proposals: American Deafness and Rehabilitation Association 2013 Conference

May 29 – June 1, 2013 Bloomington, Minnesota

Goal of the Conference

The American Deafness and Rehabilitation Association (ADARA) is pleased to announce the 2013 ADARA Conference, a national conference to be hosted in Minnesota. Our conference theme is “Blazing New Trails” which refers to “doing something different,” “doing early or pioneering work that others will follow up on,” and “doing something that no one has done before, especially something important for other people.”

This conference seeks to provide training and networking opportunities for mental health professionals, vocational rehabilitation counselors, independent living service providers, educators, interpreters, transition specialists, community-based rehabilitation providers, and any support staff in the helping professions.

Presentation Proposals

Presentation proposals for concurrent sessions, pre-conference sessions, or poster session should address effective or innovative practices used in working with deaf, deafblind, and hard of hearing consumers in the settings of mental health, rehabilitation, school, independent living, transition, group homes, etc.

Submitted proposals should include learning objectives and references that will assist in applying for professional continuing education units for conference attendees. Proposals for concurrent sessions should be for 90 or 180 minutes long. Proposal topics are listed below, but are not limited to:

Possible Areas and Topics

• Interfacing education and mental health
• Working with trilingual families
• Testing demonstrations
• Olmstead, recovery, peer support
• Supporting community living options
• Drug/alcohol abuse treatment strategies
• Trauma informed care
• Working with low functioning/language dysfluent consumers
• Developing cultural competency
• Therapeutic techniques/theories & effective counseling techniques & strategies (e.g., EMDR, DBT)
• Mental health/chemical dependency interpreting

• Deaf/Hard of Hearing cross-cultural conflicts
• Professional management
• Public policy
• Using technology in therapeutic settings
• Navigating the new health care environment
• Client-centered approaches/ Early interventions
• Career assessments
• Residential programming
• Levels of care: residential, outpatient, intensive, group homes
• Job coaching/Job placement
• Transition
• Autism
• Vocational evaluations
• Work adjustment

Process for Submitting Proposals

1) Complete the required presentation proposal form.

2) Develop a brief abstract of the presentation, not to exceed 125 words. If accepted, this description will be included in the program book.

3) Briefly describe how your presentation ties into the conference theme.

4) Briefly describe experience, qualifications, or credentials which reflect your expertise for your intended presentation topic.

5) Submit a summary, not to exceed 500 words, of the proposed presentation for review by the planning committee. This summary should include a minimum of three (3) learning objectives.

6) Include a short biography (up to 125 words) for each presenter.

7) Workshop sessions will be 90 or 180 minutes long. Put all the above information in MS Word and e-mail with the application form to:

Mr. John Gournaris
2013 ADARA Conference Chair
John.Gournaris@state.mn.us

Selected presenters (two per presentation) will be provided free registration for the conference. Presenters will be responsible for their own travel, lodging, meals, and incidental expenses. Please plan to bring your own laptop computer for PowerPoint presentations.

Conference proceedings will be published and disseminated following the conference.

The deadline for submitting proposals is November 15, 2012.

Call for Presentations: 3rd Cross Cultural Health Care Conference: Collaborative and Multidisciplinary Interventions

February 8-9, 2013 Honolulu, O`ahu, Hawai‛i

Research topic must have a cultural aspect / theme and address the objectives of the conference which are:

Assess the potential challenges healthcare practitioners and researchers face when working with diverse populations
Identify the strengths and limitations of existing tools and measures that assess cultural competency / humility; and
Develop opportunities to collaborate with researchers and / or practitioners across disciplines who share an interest in cross-cultural healthcare.

Oral presentations will be limited to 30 minutes; 10 minutes for student presentations

Submit abstract of no longer than 250 words;

Include:
your name,
job / position title,
name of your organization,
presentation title,
e-mail address and contact phone number

All those selected will be required to register for the conference at the appropriate rate (professional or student).

Deadline for Submissions: June 30, 2012

Notification of Selection by: August 31, 2012

Send abstract (Word or PDF file) to mariachu@hawaii.edu or to

Maria Chun, Ph.D.,
UHM Dept of Surgery
1356 Lusitana St., 6th Floor
Honolulu, HI 96813

Call for Abstracts: Academy of Oncology Nurse Navigators Third Annual Navigation and Survivorship Conference

September 14-16, 2012 Phoenix, Arizona

Submit an abstract for AONN’s Third Annual Navigation and Survivorship Conference. This is an opportunity to share research, programs, and results with your navigation and survivorship care colleagues. This session will facilitate communication among the various professionals and programs to advance the knowledge of all our members and those in attendance.

There are several categories of abstracts, so please choose the category that best fits your abstract.

To Participate
Submit your abstract to AONN online at www.AONNonline.org/conference/abstracts or e-mail them to Conference@AONNonline.org by the due date, Friday, July 13, 2012.

Abstract/Poster Categories

Category I: Patient Education
Category II: Psychological Support
Category III: Tracking Processes Across the Continuum of Care
Category IV: Original Research
Category V: Screening Programs for the Underserved
Category VI: Community Outreach
 

Call for Papers: Disrupting Pathways: Endocrine Disruptors and the Public Expertise of Health and Environmental Problems

We are pleased to invite you to submit a paper for the international research workshop "Disrupting pathways: Endocrine disruptors and the public expertise of health and environmental problems".

The workshop will be held in Paris the 14th and 15th of December 2012 and will gather both US and European participants. It will be organized around three main themes: a) the 70s and 80s early qualification of pesticides, PCB's, Dioxins or drugs as endocrine disruptors; b) the convergence between medical and environmental problems taking place in the 1990s; c) the regulatory initiatives from the late 1990s onward.

Travel and accommodation costs will be covered.

Please send proposals to the organizers Nathalie Jas (jas@ivry.inra.fr<mailto:jas@ivry.inra.fr>) and Jean-Paul Gaudilliere
(gaudilli@vjf.cnrs.fr<mailto:gaudilli@vjf.cnrs.fr>) by the 30th of June 2012.

In the past twenty years endocrine disurptors, the category as well as specific substances, have acquired a peculiar visibility both as targets for research and as objects of political debates. Issues like the impact of pesticides on the health of farmers, consumers and wild animals, the long term effect of persistant pollutants like PCBs which seems impossible to eliminate, the relations of xenostrogens to declining fertility and reproductive cancer incidence in humans, or the peculiar sensitivity of fetuses and developing organisms to chemicals mimicking the structures and roles of hormones are now discussed through an increasing number of publications and affairs perfectly illlustrated with the current debates on the need for a complete ban of Bisphenol A.

The processes, which have led to this situation and the recognition of what may be called an endocrine disruptors paradigm linking in unprecedented ways research, expertise, regulation, and social mobilizations - producing knowledge at the crossroad of reproductive medicine, toxicology, ecology, epidemiology and the social sciences - are complex and far from self-evident.

In the mid 1990s, the importance of man-made and man-realesed chemicals and pollutants modifying endocrine/reproductive functions in animals and humans was a motive of serious concern in small circles of experts, often associated with environmental, feminist or public health activism. It was a US phenomenon in the first place. A quarter of century later it is no longer possible to locate in such a precise manner the actors of endocrine disruptors networks. They are in laboratories, conservatories, and hospital services but also in the medias, health or environmental regulatory agencies, as well as in political institutions. They are present in the United States, Europe and the so-called emerging countries. In parallel with its diffusion, its contested but significant acceptance, the endocrine disruptor paradigm has crystalized a body of knowledge challenging traditional toxicology and views of adverse effects; a body focusing on low doses, multiple exposure, cumulative effects and sensibility of development periods.

The role of the proposed seminar is to explore the advent of this endocrine disruptors paradigm from the 70s onward, i.e. to understand how specific problems and substances have been redefined to become manifestation of endocrine disruption, to understand the dynamics of social movements and their role in the public expertise of these processes, to understand the transformation of regulation, to explore the impact the debates on endocrine disruptions have had on specific fields and disciplines in scientific research.

This seminar is an element in a more general research project of the trajectory of endocrine disruptors as scientific and political entities, which seeks to address both their generalization and the deep differences in their modes of existence in Europe, especially in France, and in the United States.

The workshop will take place in Paris. It will gather both US and European participants. It will be organized around three main themes: a) the 70s and 80s early qualification of pesticides, PCB's, Dioxins or drugs as endocrine disruptors; b) the convergence between medical and environmental problems taking place in the 1990s; c) the regulatory initiatives from the late 1990s onward.

Nathalie Jas
Research Fellow
RiTME Research Unit - INRA
65 Bd de Brandebourg
94205 Ivry-sur-Seine
France

Tel: + 33 (0)1 49 59 69 81

Call for Presentations: National Business Coalition on Health 17th Annual Conference

November 12-14, 2012 Washington DC

The National Business Coalition on Health (NBCH) is seeking presentation proposals for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday November 12-14, 2012 for the 17th Annual Conference at the JW Marriott in Washington, DC.

The National Business Coalition on Health (NBCH) is a national, non-profit, membership organization of purchaser-led health care coalitions. NBCH and its members are dedicated to value-based purchasing of health care services through the collective action of public and private purchasers. NBCH seeks to accelerate the nation's progress towards safe, efficient, high-quality health care and the improved health status of the American population.

The Annual Conferenceis NBCH’s premier educational event bringing together NBCH coalition members, coalition employer members as well as other health care stakeholders. The conference reinforces NBCH’s position as a national opinion leader for value based purchasing and leading educator for public and private health care purchasers.

Speaking Opportunities
Speakers will be selected for plenary and breakout sessions. All presentations will be chosen based on merit, appeal, relevance, and innovation. The Annual Conference helps attendees learn best practices, innovations and successful real-life solutions from the experts on improving health, transforming health care, community by community.

Breakout Session Program Standards

Deadlines:

You must submit proposal forms no later than COB May 31, 2012.
If selected, you must agree to submit all final presenters’ names, bios, titles, and company affiliations by August 5, 2012.
If accepted, you must submit all PowerPoint presentations for your session by September 23, 2012 for review and approval.

Presentation Content Requirements:

The committee will select proposals relevant to the Conference theme
The session should include at least one employer speaker. The more your proposal presents employer and/or community results and involvement, the more favorably your presentation will be considered
Your proposed program must be relevant to an employer focus. We prefer employer or community best practices, practical solutions and/or case studies.

Instructions for submission
To be considered, you must complete the Call-For-Presentations Submission Form and send to Susan Dorsey (sdorsey@nbch.org) by May 31, 2012. Unless we tell you otherwise, the program committee will make final decisions by July 29, 2012, and we will inform you of the results shortly thereafter.