The 2008 Joint Annual Meeting of STIPDA & CDC Core State Injury Grantees was truly an extraordinary event!  Over 170 registered attendees from across the United States convened in Oklahoma City, OK to participate in the four-day meeting.

Pre-conference sessions included an enjoyable Membership Committee session, entitled “An Insider’s Guide to STIPDA,” immediately followed by a Welcome Reception and exciting Silent Auction event, which raised nearly $2,200 to support STIPDA’s programs, initiatives, and advocacy work on behalf of STIPDA members.

Bestselling author, Dan Heath, officially kicked off the Annual Meeting with an outstanding opening session keynote address and presentation about how public health professionals can “make their messages stick.”  The meeting continued with exceptional presentations from injury and violence prevention professionals from around the country, including excellent keynote speeches from Dr. Ileana Arias, Director of the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Dr. Frances Butterfoss of Eastern Virginia Medical School.

Throughout the meeting, STIPDA members and CDC grantees had an opportunity to participate in engaging discussions, learn new skills and best practices, and obtain newly developed reports and tools, including the Rural Youth Suicide Prevention Workgroup’s report entitled, Preventing Rural Youth Suicide:  Recommendations to States, as well as 2008 National Fact Sheets, and state advocacy toolkits for NCIPC priority areas.  Members also had the opportunity to network with injury and violence prevention professionals from across the nation, while enjoying the sights and sounds of exciting, historic Oklahoma City.