Title: MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR
Author:
Section/SPIG: Environment
Issue Date:
The theme of the 2003 Annual Meeting (San Francisco, Nov. 15-19) is "Behavior, Lifestyle and Social Determinants of Health." This fits well with our Section as social determinants, including socioeconomic status, neighborhood factors, and cultural variables, are often precursors to and can result in multiplication of chemical and physical environmental exposures. Differences in social determinants have been implicated as contributing to inequities in health status among population groups. A number of this year’s sessions highlight this theme. Near the end of the San Francisco APHA Annual Meeting, we will begin planning for the 2004 annual meeting in Washington, DC – with the theme of “Environment.” We, in the Environment Section, are excited to be in spotlight. I hope that you’ll be able to join us and spread the word about the Section’s activities to your fellow public health colleagues.
Many of the events planned for San Francisco are described in this newsletter, but a few highlights include:
• More than 35 Environment Section sessions, ranging from children’s health to nursing to social determinants. Neal Rosenblatt and Robin Lee, our program planners par excellence, have demonstrated incredible commitment and energy in organizing this year’s program. They’ve been ably assisted by many of you as abstract reviewers, session moderators, organizers and presiders. All of your efforts have been very fruitful and provide further evidence of the growing interest in environmental health.
• A special Built Environment Institute, a series of back-to-back sessions on Tuesday, November 18, examining: 1) how human-modified places--homes, schools, workplaces, parks, industrial areas, farms, roads and highways—impact our health; 2) how improvements in the design and construction of these places can result in improvements in health; and 3) how we can encourage engineers, planners, developers, architects, economists, scientists, physicians and public health practitioners to work together to address these issues.
• Our Calver Award will be presented to Michael Lerner, PhD, who will discuss, "New Developments and Strategies in the Emerging Movement for Health and the Environment." Michael is president and founder of Commonweal, a health and environmental research institute in Bolinas, California. He is co-founder of the Collaborative on Health and the Environment, the Health and Environmental Funders Network, and Health Care Without Harm: The Campaign for Environmentally Responsible Health Care. He has helped launch numerous other initiatives for health and the environment. Michael received a MacArthur Prize Fellowship for contributions to public health in 1983. He is the author of numerous essays including "The Age of Extinctions and the Emerging Environmental Health Movement."
• A Section field trip is being planned for the afternoon (2-5:30 p.m.) of Sunday, Nov. 16. These trips have proven to be very successful in providing us all with a glimpse of a current environmental health issue of concern in the local vicinity and some real insight into how the public health community is dealing with the issues. Marni Rosen and Neal Rosenblatt are assembling this trip in order to address environmental justice, toxic contamination and approaches for sustainable environments.
• We will sponsor our first student award poster session on Monday, Nov.17, 8:30-10 a.m. Robin Lee has organized this session so that students will present their posters, and a small group of “judges” will evaluate them and choose a set of winners, who will be recognized at our social event that evening. This session is just one means of encouraging more students to join the Section and participate in Section activities.
As usual, we will hold business meetings on:
• Sunday, Nov. 16, 8-9:30 a.m.
• Sunday, Nov. 16, 6-7 p.m.
• Monday, Nov. 17, 6:30-8 a.m.
• Tuesday, Nov. 18, 6:30-8 p.m. (program planning for 2004)
If you haven’t attended these previously, they’re a great way to meet colleagues who share similar interests and to become more active in ongoing, year-round Section efforts.
As usual, we will hold our always fun and entertaining social on Monday, Nov. 17, 6:30-8 p.m.
Monthly Section conference calls continue to take place on the third Thursday of each month, 2-3 p.m. Eastern time. Call-in information can be obtained from me. These are another good way of participating, regularly, in the Section’s activities.
I thank all of you for your continued interest and great work on behalf of environmental health and our Section.
Allen Dearry