Greetings:

This is the last of these “From the Chair” Newsletter items I will be writing. The two-year term seems in many ways to have gone by quickly. It also seems to me that over this time the Section has changed somewhat. Many longstanding members have gone on to do other things, gotten busy with other aspects of their careers, changed jobs, retired, found things about the Section or about APHA that don’t work for them, or, for any number of personal reasons, just “dropped out.” This is regrettable; many of these folks were among our most energetic members. But this may just be the trajectory of such organizations over time.

On the bright side, we have attracted a number of new members and have seen many of our younger members “rise in the ranks,” as it were, to assume leadership positions. At the conclusion of this year’s meetings, Rani Desai of Yale University will become chair, and David Mandell from the University of Pennsylvania will become chair-elect. The Section could not ask for two better leaders. Rani and her husband Mayur have done two (!) stints as program co-chairs, and are well aware of the APHA “way of doing things.”  David has been extremely active in the Section as well. There are important roles to be played by the chair-elect and the past chair, and I’m looking forward to working with Rani and David, along with a host of other officers, to provide continuity and, hopefully, to complete a couple of projects that were undertaken this year but not completed.

John Lennon observed that “Life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans.” This could never have been better exemplified than in the case of this year’s APHA Annual Meeting. As the levees broke in New Orleans, many of us feared that the meeting would be among the many casualties of Katrina. But in a miraculous display of organizational dexterity, APHA managed quickly to get back on track, locate venues where we had recently been and were familiar with, and put on a conference in a terrific setting. We’re grateful to them for their efforts. Some things may not go off as planned, for sure, but the conference will undoubtedly be the usual success.  I’m looking forward to seeing everyone there. A number of things remain to be arranged as I’m writing this, and you will be informed about them by way of one of my “Messages from the Chair” sent to you electronically over the coming weeks.

While I’m passing along kudos to APHA, I want to take the opportunity in this last message to thank publicly our Section Liaison, Fran Atkinson. APHA is a big organization made up of multiple sections, each with its own personality and in some cases, its own sometimes marginally competent chair. From the sections’ standpoint, Fran is the “human being” at the other end of the line, who is immediately responsive, endlessly patient and extremely flexible. All large organizations should have a Fran whom folks could deal with!

As we mentioned in our last message, this year’s awardees are: for the Rema LaPouse Award, Mervyn Susser; for the Carl Taube Award, Hank Steadman; and for the Section Award, Rick Beinecke. Not mentioned in the last message was this year’s Kenneth Lutterman Award winner, Carl Foreman. Carl is a student at Portland State University in Oregon, and his paper “Implementation of Evidence-based Practices for State Mental Health Services: Lessons from Oregon” was an excellent piece of research that was right on target for the evidence-based practice theme of this year’s conference. There were several excellent papers under consideration, but Carl’s was high on everyone’s list.

The Section Social: (Or, Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus!)

With Katrina possibly looming as the “Grinch Who Stole the Section Social,” our plans for this event looked bleak, to say the least.  But within 15 minutes of my informing you all of that grim prospect, I received a call from Trevor Hadley at U Penn inviting us to join his “Center for Mental Health Policy and Services Research Holiday Party.” This event will take place on Monday, Dec. 12  from 5:30 until 7:30 p.m. at the Inn at Penn, which is located at 3600 Sansom Street in Philadelphia.  It promises to be a fun event -- hey with Trevor as host, how can it be otherwise? So our annual schmoozing, network and Section Award presentation event is on!

Trevor would like to get a count of the number of people who plan  to attend, so if you would, please e-mail my Administrative Assistant, Janice Robert at <Janice.Robert@Umassmed.edu> to let her know if you’ll be attending. A big thanks to Trevor Hadley!!!.

Other Details--As I said, a number of things remain to be finalized, including the Section breakfasts and a other details. We will be sending you information as it becomes available, so be on the lookout for further “Messages from the Chair.” Again, I’m looking forward to this event and to seeing all of my friends in the Section.

With very best wishes,

Bill Fisher

Section Chair