This year’s program promises to be an engaging one. Abstract submissions were up for the Mental Health Section. This speaks well to the enthusiasm, productivity and commitment of our members. After a very competitive review process, topics for this year’s sessions will include: coercion, parity, evidence based practices, consumer involvement and empowerment, issues in children’s mental health, as well as a range of research on health and social conditions that frequently co-occur among or affect individuals with mental health problems.

We are very excited to have an invited panel to address the theme of this year’s APHA meeting – human rights – as it pertains to mental health. This panel, organized and conceptualized by Martin Gittleman, will include Steven Scharfstein, MD, president of the American Psychiatric Association, and Robert Rosenheck, MD, professor of psychiatry and epidemiology and public health at Yale University.

We will have a number of new programmatic elements this year. A number of student members of the Section will be invited to present posters at the social, which will provide a greater opportunity for networking and feedback on their research. In partnership with NIMH, we will conduct a professional development workshop for pre- and postdoctoral trainees (and possibly junior faculty). More details will follow soon. I would welcome input and inquiries from anyone who would like to participate in any capacity. I will be contacting senior members of the Section shortly to ask them to act as a mentor during the workshops.

The program will be finalized over the next few weeks and decisions sent out by e-mail to all authors. Our program reviewers deserve special thanks for their hard work, thoughtful comments and timely submission of reviews, which resulted in our being able to get some extra session slots to accommodate more great submissions. Thank you to everyone who submitted an abstract and participated in making this a very strong and timely program.