September 2004

Autumn has arrived, and the APHA annual meeting is just a few weeks away. Please check your travel schedule and try to attend the Food and Nutrition Section Business Meeting on Saturday, Nov. 6, 2004, from 2:00 – 3:30 p.m. Many of our section members, especially new members, don’t realize that the action really begins on Saturday. We use the time before the scientific sessions and exhibits begin to renew our network ties within our section, discuss how the section should vote on APHA resolutions, policy statements and elections, obtain volunteers to work on the various section committees, plan action items for the coming year and identify members who may wish to become section leaders in the future. Often, candidates for the elected APHA positions stop by to give short “stump speeches” and allow us to ask questions. What questions would you like to ask of those running for the top APHA positions? Also, if you are seriously considering running for section office in the future, you should observe the Nov. 6 Section Council meetings, which begin in the morning.

We have modified Saturday’s schedule as follows:

Saturday, Nov. 6, 2004
Renaissance Washington D.C. Hotel, 999 9th St NW

10:00 a.m.-11:30 a.m.
Food and Nutrition Section, Section Council Meeting

12:00 p.m.-1:30 p.m.
Food and Nutrition Section, Section Council Meeting (continued)

2:00 PM-3:30 PM
Food and Nutrition Section Business Meeting

The developments in nutrition in 2004, including passage of the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization, and the publication of the report of the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, have set the stage of an exciting year of policy implementation and revision of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. With these and the Presidential election as backdrop, we have an exciting schedule of Food and Nutrition scientific sessions for the Annual Meeting. My thanks to our section Planning Committee and all of the abstract reviewers, with special thanks to Committee ChairBarbara Polhamus and Committee Co-chair Barbara Laraia.

I also wish to thank all of the members of the Food and Nutrition Section Council, for their unfailing support during the past year. I have long felt that, even more than the best scientific sessions, the opportunity to get to know and work with the leaders in the field of public health nutrition who comprise our Section Council is the greatest benefit of APHA. The leaders in our field are very busy people, but many have made some time during the year to work collectively on broad issues of public health concern. Through e-mail, periodic conference calls and semi-annual meetings (the APHA Annual Meeting and a mid-year meeting in February or March), we have been able to address challenges that none of us alone could have worked into our schedules. This year, our collective effort included a review of APHA food and nutrition-related policies, and recommendation to the organization for continuation, updating or archiving. This broad-based review revealed a need for increased expertise on the Section Council on Food Safety, and we responded by creating a Food Safety Committee.

If you are willing to spend an average of two to three hours a month, mostly communicating with other active members of the section, you could make a contribution to our effort, develop your professional network, and perhaps make a new friend. I hope many of you will be there for the Section Business Meeting, and will become active members for 2005.

Jay Hirschman, Chair
APHA Food and Nutrition Section