Food and Nutrition
Section Newsletter
Winter 2005

Message from the Chair

This is my first message as 2005 chair of the Food and Nutrition Section (FNS). I’d like to thank Jay Hirschman for his leadership to the Section in 2004. Also, I’d like to send many thanks to the Section members who served on the Executive Board, Section Council and as committee chairs and co-chairs. Your commitment and enthusiasm is what makes our Section one of the most dynamic in the Association. I am looking forward to working with the 2005 board, council, and committee and liaison volunteers as we move our Section agenda forward in the coming year.

2004 was a very productive year for the Food and Nutrition Section. Here is a summary of our major accomplishments:

Policies:
FNS assisted APHA in the review of 61 food and nutrition-related policy statements and identified those in need of updating or archiving. The next step in this process will be to identify policy needs and gaps so that policies of interest to our Section remain current and relevant.

The Section was the primary sponsor of two APHA policy statements in 2004: Policy Support for Nutrition Labeling in Fast Food and Other Chain Restaurants (2004-14) and Supporting the WHO Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health (LB04-3).

Science:
FNS planned and presented 16 scientific sessions and four poster sessions at the Annual Meeting held in Washington, D.C. The call for abstracts resulted in the submission of 155 abstracts, including 28 from students. Attendance at our sessions has been fantastic! For the last three years, our Section has averaged over 100 attendees per session, which places us in the top five among all sections for average attendance. Many thanks to the program planning committee led by Barbara Polhamus (chair) and Barbara Laraia (co-chair) for their diligence in planning our program. Thanks also to the many members who reviewed abstracts.

Organization:
FNS created a Food Safety Committee to organize and energize Section and APHA activities to promote a safe food supply and safe food-handling procedures. This new committee will be chaired by Eileen Parish with assistance from Sara Fein as co-chair. One of the first tasks of this new committee will be to review all APHA Food and Nutrition food safety-related policies and make recommendations for updating and archiving.


The Food and Nutrition Section has elected to concentrate activities in four focus areas this year: 1) obesity; 2) collaboration with affiliates; 3) strategic responses and comments on reports and policies of professional significance; and 4) policy development. The Section will look into these areas using the strategic plan as a guiding document. Also, as a result of meeting with APHA Executive Director Georges Benjamin and APHA Executive Board members during the Annual Meeting, the Section will work with the Association to develop recommendations for Association consultation with sections on matters of public health significance. The Section is in the process of forming workgroups in each of the focus areas. If you would like to participate and lend you expertise in any of these areas, please send me an e-mail (<zen3@cdc.gov>) expressing your interest.

The exciting news is that as I write this message, the 2005 Dietary Guidelines are being released. The new, evidence-based guidelines were developed using the best available science and will be the focal point for nutrition policy, programs, education, research, food assistance and labeling for the next five years. The Food and Nutrition Section assisted the Association around the release by writing key messages that Dr. Benjamin and Association leaders could use in framing APHA’s response to media inquiries. A special thanks to Section members Sue Foerster and Yvonne Bronner for agreeing to be spokespersons for media inquiries.


In order for our Section to remain dynamic, we need as many members as possible to participate in Section activities. Please consider joining a committee or volunteering to participate in a one-time activity (such as reviewing abstracts). We will work with you to find appropriate tasks requiring as little or as much time as you can offer to the Section. If you’re unsure of where your particular expertise or talents might fit in, the list of Section committees on the Web site may help you make a decision. The Web site may be accessed at <http://www.aphafoodandnutrition.org>. Do not hesitate to contact me at <zen3@cdc.gov> or the committee chair if you are interested in participating.


Sincerely,

Charlene Sanders, MPH, RD
Chair, Food and Nutrition Section

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Food and Nutrition Section News!!!

Food and Nutrition Section Award Winners for 2004

We would like to congratulate the winners of the 2004 Food and Nutrition Section Awards. This year’s winners are:

• Barbara Abrams, DrPH, RD, for The Agnes Higgins Award, sponsored by the March of Dimes, the Food and Nutrition Section and the Maternal and Child Health Section, recognizes an individual who has made outstanding contributions in the area of maternal and child nutrition and exemplary services and professional achievements in improving pregnancy outcomes. Abrams is currently the associate dean of student affairs in the School of Public Health and professor of Epidemiology, Maternal and Child Health and Public Health Nutrition, in the Division of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, at the University of California at Berkeley. Her research interests include body size, nutrition, social factors and reproductive health, nutritional and perinatal epidemiology, maternal and child nutrition, women's health, and nutrition and AIDS. She has authored or co-authored over 50 referred publications and book chapters. Abrams is the recipient of grants from NIH, Bureau of Maternal and Child Health, Department of Defense, and other state and private foundations. Abrams has served on several committees and sub-committees for the Food and Nutrition Board, Institute of Medicine, and National Academy of Sciences, including the Committee on Nutritional Status during Pregnancy and Lactation, the Committee on Scientific Evaluation of WIC Nutrition Risk Criteria, and the Subcommittee for a Clinical Application Guide of the Committee on Nutritional Status during Pregnancy and Lactation. She has also served on the Panel of Expert Consultants for the Women, Infants and Children Special Supplemental Feeding Program Eligibility Study II by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and many other expert committees.



• Judy F. Wilson, MSPH, RD, for The Mary Egan Award sponsored by the Food and Nutrition Section, which recognizes the professional contributions and outstanding services of a public health nutritionist who has developed new approaches to public health nutrition, mentoring, nutrition education, and addressing special nutrition needs. Wilson is currently the director of nutrition service staff in the Office of Analysis, Nutrition, and Evaluation, of the Food and Nutrition Service at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Within six months of joining FNS, she planned and implemented the "EAT SMART. PLAY SMART" Campaign. She has also been instrumental in the development of child nutrition programs and team nutrition projects including developmental work for Nutrition and Physical Activity the 100 way; Power of Choice; It’s Up to You, CACFP Infant Feeding Guide and TN Implementation Guide. Prior to joining the USDA staff, Wilson spent 22 years with the WIC Program in Washington, D.C., including managing its pilot in 1974. She has held leadership roles in NAWD (VP, Executive Board, and Regional Representative); she was co-chair of the Institute of Medicine’s Committee to develop the Implementation Guide for Nutrition in Pregnancy; she was instrumental in the initiation of the award winning WIC Breastfeeding Peer Counseling Program (BFPC, 1985) and the development of the BFPC guidance used nationally. Wilson has also served as an expert witness for the Department of Justice, Legal Defense Organization on prison nutrition issues.



• Patricia Crawford, DrPH, RD, for The Catherine Cowell Award sponsored by the Food and Nutrition Section, which recognizes an individual who has exemplified excellence and achievement in administration, planning, mentoring, and team building in public health nutrition including meeting the special needs of urban populations and young children. Crawford is the co-director of the Center for Weight & Health and Nutrition Specialist/Lecturer in the Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of California, Berkeley. She has almost 10 years of teaching experience in nutritional sciences and public health. Crawford is the recipient of grants from NIH, CDC, USDA, and private foundations. Currently, she is the principal investigator of several studies, including Risk Factors for Poor Bone Health in Latina, Asian, African American and White Women, Paradox of Food Insecurity and Child Obesity in Hispanic Children, the CDC Prevention Centers' Obesity Network and the USDA-sponsored, five State WIC Child Obesity Intervention Study.



• Suzanne Murphy, PhD, RD, for the Excellence in Dietary Guidance Award, co-sponsored by the Produce for Better Health Foundation and the Food and Nutrition Section, which recognizes an individual who has made outstanding contributions in the area of dietary guidance formulation, research, education, or policy change. The Produce for Better Health Foundation supports this monetary award. Murphy is a research professor at the Cancer Research Center of Hawaii at the University of Hawaii (Honolulu) and director of the Nutrition Support Shared Resource at the Center. Her research interests include dietary assessment methodology, development of food composition databases (with emphasis on inclusion of ethnic foods), communication of nutrition principles (with emphasis on multi-cultural populations), and nutritional epidemiology of chronic diseases (with emphasis on cancer and obesity). Murphy has served as a member of the National Nutrition Monitoring Advisory Council and as vice-chair of the 2000 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee. She has served on several Institute of Medicine panels including the Subcommittee on Interpretation and Uses of Dietary Reference Intakes, which she chaired for two years; the Subcommittee on Upper Safe Reference Levels of Nutrients; and the Panel