An update on the status of the Section as we move closer to the annual meeting…

The 2006 Annual Meeting
This year’s Annual Meeting will take place November 4-8 in Boston, MA and has the theme of “Public Health and Human Rights.” The Mental Health Section Program is very strong this year (see program listing below). I would like to acknowledge the hard work of our Program Planner David Mandell, who was assisted by Joe Goulet.  Joe has graciously agreed to be the Planner for the 2008 meeting, so many thanks to him for that. 

This year’s conference falls on Election Day.  Please make a note to register to vote with an absentee ballot (unless you are from Boston!)
 
The Section Social will take place on Monday evening as usual.  See details below.  Please mark your calendars to join us for food, drink, networking, a student poster session, presentation of Section Awards, and the chance to catch up with each other.

Also, please note that the Section has several business meetings.  Only one of these is a closed meeting (Sunday at 2 PM). All section members are invited to join us for the 4PM meeting on Sunday to catch up on section happenings and meet other section members.

Mid-year “Meeting”
We had our mid-year meeting on the phone, and it was very successful.  Various results from that call are detailed later in the newsletter.  Starting next year, I am planning to have quarterly calls instead of a single mid-year call and have set up a conference call line for the section for that purpose.  As these calls are scheduled I will send out a note with the phone number and access code.

New Section Leaders
I would like to welcome four new folks to Section Leadership posts.  Jim Banta and Mike Haney are our new Section Counselors; Douglas P. Gibson is now on the Governing Council; and Leigh Ann Simmons is our new Secretary.  Thanks to all four for volunteering their time to the section.

Speaking of volunteering, I am in need of a new editor for the section Newsletter.  Anthony Kouzis has held this post admirably for several years (many thanks Tony!), and it is time for him to move on to other things.  If you are interested in helping to put together the newsletter please let me know as soon as possible.

Also, as the annual meeting approaches we are in need of volunteers to man the Section Booth.  If you are attending the meeting please consider donating a few hours to meet and greet APHA members to the section booth and hopefully recruit some new members as well.  See the note on the booth happenings from Kathleen Thomas below.
 
The Fall is approaching and I am looking forward to seeing everybody at the Annual Meeting.  Don’t forget to register to vote absentee!  In the meantime, please feel free to contact me about section matters.

Rani

Rani Desai
rani.desai@yale.edu
203-932-5711 x3615