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Dear Fellow Members,
Greetings from NAASO, The Obesity Society. I am writing to update you on
several important events. First, please remember two key dates, May 19
and May 24. The first date is when submissions are due for our New
Investigator Awards Program. This program will provide awards of up to
$25,000 to each of four new investigators, defined as individuals who
have received their doctorates (or completed their medical residencies)
within the past five years. The Obesity Society is committed to helping
new investigators launch their scientific careers, particularly at this
time when NIH funding is so difficult to obtain. Please check the April
newsletter for details on this program or contact our Society’s new
Director of Communications, Aislinn Raedy. She may be reached at aislinnr@naaso.org or 301-563-6526
(the main number for the Society in Silver Spring, MD).
The second date – May 24 –
is the deadline for submitting abstracts for this year’s Annual
Scientific Meeting, to be held in Boston on October 20-24. The Program Committee,
under the leadership of Drs. Donna Ryan and Andrew Greenberg, has invited
an outstanding group of scientists (and practitioners) to participate in
symposia and deliver invited addresses. We hope that you will share the
latest findings from your laboratory by submitting an oral presentation
or poster session. Please contact our Society’s Director of
Education, Robert Eckrich (roberte@naaso.org),
if you have any questions about submissions.
The Obesity Society’s Council is
in the final stages of a national search, begun last December, to
identify a new Executive Director for our association. This is a critical
appointment. We wish to identify the individual who can best advance our
Society’s missions in the areas of science, education, and
advocacy, as well as develop strategic alliances with other professional
organizations. We have interviewed several outstanding candidates and
will soon select the finalist.
In the interim, I want to acknowledge
the remarkable contributions that Ann Kenworthy has made while serving as
our Interim Executive Director. Ann has brought new vision and
organization to our home office and has helped our Council and committees
increase their productivity. Ann, with our Membership Committee, is
responsible for the recently announced campaign to increase our
Society’s membership. We are relying on you, our current members,
to make this “Bring-a-Member-In” (BMI) campaign a success. As
discussed in a recent announcement, there are some great premiums for our
top four recruiters. Please contact Ana Escobar (anae@naaso.org), our Executive
Assistant/Office Manager in the home office, if you need further
information.
I trust you noticed that the January
2006 issue of our journal had a new name – Obesity. The journal’s
editorial board believes that this change will increase interest in the
publication among scientists, practitioners, laypersons, and the press.
You also probably have noticed that the journal has experienced some
delays in publication, attributable to scheduling complications with our
publisher and to the demands in the editorial office of converting to
electronic submission of manuscripts (which occurred on April 1, 2006). Obesity’s Editor-in-Chief, Dr.
Barbara Corkey, with her associate editors, is taking the steps needed to
reduce the publication delays. We are proud that our journal has the
highest science citation impact factor for a journal on obesity and the
third highest (out of 52) in the broader fields of nutrition, dietetics,
and obesity. This is a tribute to the leadership of Dr. Corkey and her
colleagues.
If you’re like me, reading a
newsletter about “The Obesity Society,” rather than
“NAASO,” takes some getting used to. Our association’s
official name is “NAASO, The Obesity Society.” However, we
are increasingly identifying ourselves to the press and other
organizations as The Obesity Society. The name immediately communicates
our mission and is easier to remember. Don’t worry if you miss the
older name. Anyone who has belonged to our Society for three or more
years probably will still think of us as NAASO a decade from now.
I would be delighted to speak with you
if you have any questions or comments about our Society. You may reach me
by e-mail (wadden@mail.med.upenn.edu) or phone (215-898-7316). Our other
officers, including Drs. Eric Ravussin (President-Elect), Gary Foster
(Vice-President), and Caroline Apovian (Secretary-Treasurer) also are
available to you. All of us look forward to seeing you in Boston at our Annual Scientific Meeting, if not before.
Best wishes,
Thomas A. Wadden, PhD
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