Dr. Louis Aronne named NAASO President
NAASO welcomes Louis J. Aronne, MD as NAASO President for the 2004-2005 term. NAASO also welcomes Thomas A. Wadden, PhD - President Elect; Eric Ravussin, PhD - Vice President; Gary D. Foster, PhD - Secretary/Treasuer; Jennifer Lovejoy, PhD - Regional IASO Vice President; Councilors - Richard N. Bergman, PhD; Aviva Must, PhD, Melinda Sothern, PhD, and IASO Representative Raul Bastarrachea, MD. See the complete list of NAASO Council Members for the 2004-2005 term.

NAASO Council Approves Strategic Plan
Council approved a comprehensive, 5-year Strategic Plan to expand NAASO's focus. The Strategic Planning Committee, chaired by Dr. Louis Aronne, streamlined NAASO's Mission and Vision statement and identified 4 main goal areas: Research; Education; Advocacy; and Organizational Development.
You'll be hearing much more about this extensive Strategic Plan in the upcoming weeks.

Annual Meeting Generates Surge in Media Coverage
Estimated audience reach from media monitoring collected from November 10 through November 22, 2004 has exceeded 500 million media impressions. This analysis includes television and print but does not include extensive tabulations for radio placements, as radio is much more difficult to monitor. Press and media are still reporting on research presented in November. We anticipate that more stories stemming from the NAASO meeting will appear in other major outlets in the coming weeks and months. Read a sampling of news stories appearing in USA Today.

Opening Session
Highlighting the theme, Obesity in the Arts, NAASO was pleased to introduce several thought-provoking guest artists as Opening Session speakers.

Felicia Webb, a UK photojournalist and winner of the 2004 NPPA-Nikon Documentary Sabbatical, captivated the Opening Session crowd with her multi-media presentation of children suffering from obesity.

Carmine Famiglietti, Producer, Screenwriter and Actor showcased clips from his soon-to-be-released film, Lbs, and discussed his own personal physical and emotional struggle with obesity. Mr. Famiglietti tells us that Lbs is coming to a theatre near you in the Summer of 2005.

Both Ms. Webb and Mr. Famiglietti (pictured above with Dr. Barbara Corkey) joined in a lively Q&A session after their presentations. The Opening Session's final tribute to the arts featured our very own Richard Bergman on guitar. Thank you to everyone - guests and attendees alike - for making the 2004 Opening Session such a memorable event.

Ethan Sims Young Investigator Award
James Trevaskis, PhD from Pennington Biomedical Research Center received the prestigious Ethan Sims Award for his research, SH3-Domain GRB2-Like (endophilin) Interacting Protein 1 (SGIP1), a Novel Neuronal Protein that Regulates Energy Balance. Dr. Trevaskis (shown in photo with mentor, Dr. Eric Ravussin) will receive a $1,000 cash prize in addition to $1,000 for annual meeting expenses. Thank you to all Ethan Sims Young Investigator Award Finalists for their outstanding contributions and presentations.

Obesity Research Awards for Outstanding Journal Research
Awards recognizing exemplary research in scientific manuscripts submitted for publication in Obesity Research were presented for the first time during Annual Meeting. Awards carry a $500 cash prize.
Special congratulations to award winners:
Jacqueline M. Stephens
Control of Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor 2 Stability and Activity by SUMOylation
and
Thomas A. Wadden
What's in a Name? Patients' Preferred Terms for Describing Obesity

On September 3, 2004, NIH posted the proposed Enhanced Public Access Policy for comment. This policy would require recipients of NIH research funding to provide NIH with electronic copies of all final version manuscripts upon acceptance for publication. The research results will then be made freely available to the public through PubMed Central within six months of publication.

This document was open for commentary through November 16, 2004.

NAASO's response to the proposed Enhanced Public Access Policy, in part -

As the not-for-profit publisher of Obesity Research, NAASO supports the NIH efforts in the dissemination of scientific literature. Full text of all research articles, not just NIH funded research, published in our journal are made freely available after 12 months.
NAASO supports the needs of patient advocacy groups seeking access to scientific content, but feels that accessing content that is not copyedited would be providing a disservice and possible risk to patients. The copyediting process is vital to the accuracy of the article. The scientific credibility of the proposed collection of articles under "the accepted manuscript" version of this plan may be in jeopardy.
NAASO proposes that NIH work with publishers and PubMed to ensure that the peer-reviewed, copy- edited article, complete with references and supplemental data, link to the journal's published version of the article.

NAASO urges its members and friends to send comments to your U.S. Representative. Please write your Congressmen to encourage NIH to work with publishers in developing a more comprehensive, voluntary plan.

Joanne A. Barry, owner of Fitness "R" Us in Flushing, NY, held a 5K Walk and Fitness Expo on Sunday, November 14, 2004. Ms. Barry raised more than $1,800 to provide Obesity Research subscriptions to institutions in need of assistance.

Ms. Barry has over 15 years of health, fitness and wellness experience. She specializes in Advance Personal Training, Group Personal Training, and Weight Management for all age groups - from tots to seniors.

In addition to the 5K walk, attendees at Ms. Barry's fundraiser participated in yoga, pilates, aerobics and were able to speak with weight management consultants, kid's fitness trainers, and nutritionists.

NAASO sincerely thanks Joanne Barry and Fitness "R" Us for selecting NAASO and Obesity Research for her fundraising initiative.

NAASO's membership has increased 20% over this time last year. A large, active membership is vital to our research, advocacy and education efforts. If you are a member and haven't already renewed your membership, please take a moment and renew online today.

If you are not a NAASO Member, now is a great time to join. More members means a stronger voice and presence. Become a NAASO Member online or download a Membership Application today!