ATOD Section Chair’s Column
September 2008
Hope you’re all doing well and getting back in your fall routines! I’ll try to keep this column short, because if you’re like me, you probably don’t have much time to read it. From talking and working with many of you, workloads just don’t seem to get any lighter, and life keeps racing along at a frenetic pace — so be sure to enjoy the journey!
I want to thank all of you who submitted abstracts to the ATOD Section this year, and offer my sincere gratitude to all who participated in the abstract review process, especially Linda Bosma, our stellar Program Committee chair, and April Brubach and ESI, our hosts for the meeting. All you volunteers are the keys critical to the success of our Section and to the outstanding scientific program that we put on each year at the Annual Meeting. We had a great group of volunteers and Section leaders who just recently completed the process of reviewing and compiling the program for our meeting in October, so you should be getting word soon about whether your abstracts were accepted. As always, many outstanding abstracts were submitted, indeed far more than would ever fit into the limited number of oral sessions we’re allotted. We expect to have many exciting poster sessions and are working this year to try to highlight some of these in new ways, so stay tuned for more details about this as planning for the meeting continues.
Our Mid-year Section Leadership Meeting was also a big success, and we welcomed several new people to our ranks. Thanks to everyone who participated in either of these meetings and who has volunteered time and expertise to advance the work of our Section. We also had a good response this year to our efforts to recruit ATOD members to run for numerous APHA boards and committees, or who agreed to run for ATOD leadership positions. These positions provide service and support to the entire APHA and provide many opportunities to make sure that our professional issues remain front and center on APHA’s agenda. Thanks again to all of you who are willing to be considered for leadership positions in the association representing the ATOD Section.
Nominations have been submitted for the 2008 Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs Section Awards, which recognize outstanding achievement in the ATOD field, and winners will be announced at the ATOD Section's Award Ceremony and Business Meeting to be held at APHAs 136th Annual Meeting and Exposition in San Diego. We look forward to seeing you in October in San Diego for the APHA Annual Meeting.
For more information, please contact:
ATOD Awards Committee
c/o André G. Stanley, MPH, Chair
Phone: (919) 855-6886
Fax: (919) 855-6894
E-mail: andre.stanley@ncmail.net
As always, I’m happy to invite you to get more involved in our Section! Feel free to contact any of our Section Leaders listed here depending on your particular interests or expertise, or any of the individuals listed in the following articles — we’d all be glad to hear from you and get your help on our respective initiatives. I want to point you toward our new ATOD Section webWsite at http://www.apha.org/membergroups/sections/aphasections/atod/. Please bookmark the new URL and check back periodically to see highlights or news from the Section. If you have a topic that’s particularly important to you and that you think should be on the radar screen of the ATOD Section but isn’t yet, feel free to call me at (301) 496-0275. I’ll be glad to hear from you and discuss how we can advance the issues by working together.
Take it Easy & Enjoy Life!
Bob Vollinger
Bob.Vollinger@nih.gov