Registration materials have been mailed to all pre- registered attendees in North America. Watch your mail for your conference information and credentials. Remember to bring your conference badge with you to claim your registration materials on-site.

If you have not pre-registered for NAASO's Annual Meeting, you can still register on-site at the Vancouver Convention and Exhibition Centre beginning October 15th at 7:00 am.

If you are not a NAASO member, now is a great time to join. Take advantage of Annual Meeting registration discounts and learn more about NAASO Membership.

The Itinerary Planner is available online to assist in your conference planning. Log on to the NAASO Learning Center (no password required) and select sessions by date, time, speaker, or track. Download your personal itinerary to your calendar or PDA. Any program changes are updated to this interactive planner.

After the meeting, all registered attendees will have access to recorded Annual Meeting sessions on the NAASO Learning Center. Book mark this page for your future use! Gain additional CME and view more sessions. Sessions will be available online, all year, and free to registered attendees. Material on The Learning Center is scheduled to be availalbe late 2005.

If you would rather take a quick look at the Program- at-a-Glance, the 2005 Annual Meeting Final Program Brochure is now availalbe online.

Two sessions of high interest are being offered on Sunday, October 16th. Plan to take advantage of the following special offerings:

Addressing the Metabolic Challenges of Obesity Using Pharmacotherapy
Sunday, October 16, 6:15 - 6:45 am
Crystal Pavilion Ballroom, Pan Pacific Hotel
Join knowledgeable faculty and explore how to best manage metabolic challenges physicians face in treating obese patients.
Register for this course online or call 877-603-8635. This program is sponsored by Medical Media Communcations and funded by an educational grant from Abbott Laboratories.

Cardiovascular Risk Reduction: Focus on Managing Cardiometabolic Risk Factors
Sunday, October 16, 6:30 - 9:00 pm
Waterfront Ballroom, Fairmont Hotel
Join this live, interactive forum. A panel of experts in cardiology, endocrinology, and obesity management will present a focused approach to disrupting the continuum of cardiometabolic risks associated with abdominal obesity and other components of the metabolic syndrome.
Register online.
This program is sponsored by The Network for Continuing Medical Education (NCME) and supported by an educational grant from sanofi-aventis.

NAASO encourages and welcomes media participation at our Annual Meeting. This is a unique event allowing media to report on innovative, late-breaking science and meet the foremost obesity experts. Please visit our Media Information Webpage for registration and guidelines. Media Representatives are also welcome to register on-site.

Join your colleagues for this thought-provoking pre- meeting session. Pharmacotherapy for Obesity: Views from Rresearchers, Industry and Regulators.
Visit the Itinerary Planner for a complete list of presenters and learning objectives. There is no fee to persons who have registered for the NAASO Annual Meeting.
This program is supported by an unrestricted grant from Merck & Co., Inc.

Three special luncheon/meeting events will be held simultaneously on Sunday, October 16, 12:45 pm - 2:00 pm.

Clinical Management of Obesity Roundtable
Chair: Robert Kushner, MD
Beyond the Basics – A Collaborative Approach to Challenging Cases of Child and Adolescent Obesity
Speakers: Jeffrey B. Schwimmer, MD and Melinda S. Sothern, PhD, CEP

The Graduate Student and Postdoctoral Fellows Roundtable
Chair: Terry T. Huang, PhD, MPH
Join your colleagues for lunch and socializing followed by an informal meeting of NAASO members who are past the doctoral level and currently hold positions at the staff scientist or assistant professor (or industry/public sector equivalent) level and who are interested in establishing a research-based network group with goal of furthering their professional success.

NAASO Task Force on Women and Minorities Roundtable
Chair: Jose Fernandez, PhD
Overcoming racial and health disparities in obesity and its comorbidities requires the efforts of researchers to understand population differences. However, research in some communities could be challenging and might require particular knowledge and understanding. Drs. Monica Baskin, Nancy Butte, Dympna Gallagher and Jose Fernandez will lead an informal panel discussion of the topic, Facing the Challenges of Researching Minority Populations.
Share in the experiences of these researchers, and share information and ideas regarding recruitment, participation, measurements and other aspects of minority research.

Plan now to join your colleagues and friends at one of the special luncheon meetings. No reservation required. Seating is on a first come, first served basis.

The Pediatric Obesity Interest Group (POIG) will hold its annual meeting Monday, October 17, 12:45 - 3:00 pm, Crystal Ballroom B/C - Pan Pacific Hotel.

Chair: Jeffrey B. Schwimmer, MD
12:45 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. Lunch and Business Meeting
2:00 – 3:00 Symposium: Case Studies in Collaboration: Working Together in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres
Speakers: Kate Steinbeck, PhD, FRACP: On Common Ground – Planning Trials of Childhood Obesity Interventions
Russell Pate, PhD: TAAG You Are It – Activating Cooperative Interventions

West
California
Judith Stern writes
..."As you read the Western Regional Notes, please send me some information about you or your colleagues for the next edition. It could be about special talks, grants or even special social events like the birth of a child, a wedding or inviting all of us to a big party (just kidding). Bottom line, we would like to be able to print news about your colleagues or you but we need your input. The other alternative is that I can write about baseball even though my team, the Oakland Athletics, did not make it to the play offs. I think that we would all prefer to read about your colleagues and you. Thanks in advance for future contributions."
Sami Alskaf is the newly appointed physician leader of Nutrition and health promotion in southern California Kaiser Permanente group in Panorama City branch 7-2005. He also is serving on the Certification and Recertification Committee of the American Board of Bariatric Medicine.

Congratulations to USC for their new National Cancer Institute-program project on obesity and cancer. This is a new NCI program that has funded 4 national Centers to further examine the link between obesity and cancer. The USC Center (Transdisciplinary research on Energetics and Cancer) is headed by Michael Goran (director) and Leslie Bernstein (Associate Director) from the Department of Preventive Medicine at the USC Keck School of Medicine.

Funding for School Nutrition Progam
An amendment to the Agriculture Appropriations Bill to increase funding for Team Nutrition education in schools passed on the Senate floor on September 21. U.S. Sen. Dick Lugar joined with U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman in introducing this amendment. The funding will increase from $10.025 million to $20.025 million.

Grant Notices
Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellowships 2006 - 2007
Application Deadline: Nov 18, 2005
For more information and application instructions.

The Obese and Diabetic Intrauterine Environment: Long-term Metabolic or Cardiovascular Consequences in the Offsping
The RFA solicits R01 and R21 applications. Letter of intent due February 16, 2005. For more information.