School 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

Concurrent Session Call for Programs: School and College Organization for Prevention Educators (SCOPE) 2012 Annual Conference

SCOPE is soliciting program proposals for its 2nd Annual Conference, to be held October 18-20, 2012 at the Caribe Royale Orlando in Orlando, FL.

• The Call for Programs closes on June 1, 2012.
• Notifications of acceptance/rejection will go out electronically by June 15, 2012.

Selections will be based on the following criteria:

o Relevance to the topics of: advocacy, alcohol abuse, bullying, bystander intervention, diversity, drug abuse, eating disorders, harassment, hazing, mental health, peer education, primary prevention, relationship/domestic/intimate partner violence, research, sexual assault, sexuality, sexual health, social norms, stalking, suicide, tobacco
o Completeness, detail and professionalism of the proposal
o Willingness of presenters to facilitate roundtable discussions in addition to their concurrent session(s)
o Evidence‐based, promising and innovative model programs/practices are welcome
o Engaging format, presenters and/or concepts

• You are encouraged to submit multiple proposals
• Co‐presented sessions are encouraged
• All presenters must register for the conference. You need not be a SCOPE member to attend, nor present.
• If accepted, presentation materials will be due on September 4, 2012.

All emails should be directed to Michelle Issadore, executive director via email to execdir@wearescope.org. To reach the SCOPE office by phone, call 610.993.0227.

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 Scientific Research Posters and Innovative Program Abstracts: Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (CHADD) 2012 Annual Conference

CHADD's 25th Anniversary Annual International Conference on Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

November 8-10, 2012 San Fransisco, California

The CHADD Annual International Conference is the major research, practice and public information conference dedicated to issues related to ADHD. Conference sessions will focus on providing current science-based information and the impact of this information on treatment plans for individuals with ADHD. The conference will bring together researchers, clinicians, educators, adults with ADHD, parents and others. Major goals for the conference are to disseminate the latest developments in research; to facilitate an ongoing exchange about issues related to ADHD by individuals with different experiences and viewpoints; and to increase public understanding of the disorder and its impact.

Only online submissions will be considered for Research poster abstracts and Innovative program abstracts must be received by June 1, 2012. Only online submissions will be considered.

Scientific Research Posters

Research in the area of ADHD related to specific topics of etiology, epidemiology, social, familial, medical and educational matters will be presented in a research poster session. Abstracts will be selected by a panel of reviewers based on scientific merits as well as on a space limitations and the need for a balance of topics. Decisions are based on scientific merit as well as on space limitations and the need for a balance of topics.

Submission Requirements:

• Abstracts that describe actual empirical research are preferred.
• Abstracts submitted should be no longer than 500 words and contain a description of the study's purposes, methodology and results, keeping in mind the diversity of backgrounds of the conference attendees.
• The names and affiliations of all investigators.

Research poster abstracts must be received by June 1, 2012. Only online submissions were considered.

CHADD will not be able to underwrite the expenses of presenters accepted from this Call for Papers.

Questions? Please phone 301-306-7070.

Innovative Programs

As parents and adults, educators and health care providers become more aware of the needs of children with ADHD and their families, they are finding extremely creative ways of addressing these needs. Such efforts include developing new and innovative programs, modifying existing programs; accommodating the needs of the child through individually designed learning environments that highlight his or her special needs, and developing community-wide collaborative models.

Individuals representing a wide array of innovative program and services will be on hand to share information with conference attendees.

Innovative program abstracts must be received by June 1, 2012. Only online submissions were considered.

CHADD will not be able to underwrite the expenses of presenters accepted from this Call for Papers.

Questions? Please phone 301-306-7070.