Annual Meeting 2008 
Chair's Message
This past year as your OHS Chair has passed all too quickly. I owe many thanks to all the hardworking and dedicated Section leadership that continue to support our collective work. Peter Dooley and Kerry Souza have done an amazing job pulling together one of the best OHS programs I can remember, with a special focus on the important issue of occupational disparities.
Mary Miller continues to remind us of the importance of policy work, and Celeste Monforton has been a tireless advocate for keeping OHS on the Washington radar screen. Tim Morse has kept us organized and on track with our monthly telephone meetings. Linda Delp and her wonderful staff at UCLA LOSH have organized a terrific Sunday night Social Hour with honors for local activists, and a Monday night bash with a DJ playing oldies. Garrett Brown has pulled together the complex logistics of a cross-border tour** on Saturday, and keeps our focus on international occupational health issues. Karen Mulloy has led our student scholarship program and we have several outstanding individuals who have received financial help to attend the Annual Meeting.
Our Section leadership have chosen an outstanding group of individuals to honor at our Tuesday Awards Lunch, and I am assured that the annual skit will be as pithy and satirical as usual (you know who you are). And of course (and not least) Ingrid Denis has done an amazing job of creating our newsletter so we can stay in touch.
Over the next five weeks many of us will be working and volunteering on the upcoming election campaign. I think it is not an overstatement to say this is one of the more critical choices in our lifetime, and one that has enormous importance to our work in occupational health and safety. I know there may be some of our Section members who will not be able to join us in San Diego. I also want to thank these colleagues who are doing essential and often times unglamorous work that may make the difference in a close election.
On Monday, October 27 at 4:30, I invite you all to a special session The Future of Occupational Health and Safety: a Conversation with Leadership. Our panelists John Howard, Michael Silverstein, Linda Rae Murray, and Jordan Barab will give us their views on strategic directions and key areas for future OHS work. These individuals have been at the forefront of science and policy, and the conversation should be insightful and spark new energies and collaborations.
Please remember to come to the Business Meetings where you can see all your colleagues, get involved in our section, and keep the coffee flowing to stay awake. I regret that we are not able to make our Business Meetings at a more civilized time slot - but there were too many great abstracts and posters to schedule. Not a bad problem really.
Make sure to check out the OHS Program!
See you all in San Diego,
Robert Harrison, MD, MPH, Chair
** cancelled 10/22/08