January 2012

 

Our section met on October 4, 2011 in Orlando.  A large number of members were present for our slate of speakers.

New TOS president, Patrick O'Neil, shared his goals for TOS, his vision of the importance of sections within the TOS organization and the importance of TOS Bariatric's continued involvement as our meeting merges with that the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery beginning in 2013 (see below).  Dr. O'Neil answered audience questions and discussed at length the process of selecting symposia and new strategies to better reflect the interests of sections.

Our next speaker was Dr Philip Smith from the National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive, and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) who presented "Research:  The Next 5 Years Is Bariatric Surgery in our Future.  He reported that NIH spent > 800 million dollars on obesity research in FY2010.  Current NIDDK areas of focus include the intrauterine environment and obesity, epigenomics and metabolomics, brown fat and bariatric surgery.  A major initiative is the funding of the Longitudinal Assessment of Bariatric Surgery (LABS) which began in 2005 and includes numerous funded ancillary studies.  Other areas of NIDDK funded bariatric studies include mechanisms of Type 2 Diabetes resolution in both human and animal models.   

Finally, Phil Schauer (Obesity Week Vice Chair), shared information on the upcoming transition from TOS and ASMBS holding individual annual meetings to share one meeting "Obesity Week" starting in 2013.  The mission of the Obesity Week (OW) is to provide ASMBS and TOS members a comprehensive annual conference and tradeshow covering all aspects of obesity.  The OW will attract new members, increase media exposure and provide increased conference and exhibit efficiencies to ASMBS and TOS.  OW will represent the full spectrum of responsibility for obesity including: research, prevention, treatment and surgical interventions for obesity.  The objective is to attract 4,500 attendees the first year and establish OW as the forum for obesity.  Advantages for attendees include one registration for the entire meeting, a combined exhibit hall, combined and TOS specific symposia, sessions and social events.  We hope to see many TOS Bariatric members at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta on November 11-16, 2013 (and in subsequent years in Boston and Los Angeles).

Approximately 1/3 of our 300+ members completed our 2011 Bariatric Surgery Section Survey.  Based on results, we continue to be a highly diverse group (35.6% Research, 23.1% Medical Management, 15.4% Psychology/Mental Health, 11.5% Nutrition, 9.6% Surgery, 7.7% Industry, 4.8% Physical Activity and 9.7% Other which included dental, social work, and education.  37.8% of our members are also members of ASMBS, 24.3% below to the American Diabetic Association and 20.3% below to American Society for Nutrition.  Most frequently reported way in which you would like to see our section work with the TOS leadership includes: 1) Development of Clinical Guidelines and Recommendations; 2) TOS annual meeting program development; 3) Professional Networking; 4) Publications (e.g., special issues of Obesity); 5) Education of other TOS and non-TOS members about bariatric surgery and Obesity Week Symposia Development.  Respondents overwhelmingly agree that research, advocacy and clinical care guidelines should be developed collaboratively with ASMBS leadership.  74% of respondents would like to receive professional networking from the Bariatric Section as well as education (70.8%) and development of guidelines, recommendations and position statements (63.5%).

Our section's executive committee has used this feedback in setting our goals (described below) for 2012.  Many thanks to all who participated in the survey.

Our section continued the growth and development begun in 2010 with another productive year in 2011. However, we look forward to working on the following goals for 2012:

1.    Increase networking opportunities with planned social event/happy hour and electronic resources          such as list-serv and website bulletin board
2.    Submit bariatric surgery related symposia for TOS 2012 Annual Meeting
3.    Continue to update membership on latest literature with Just Published in newsletters
4.    Collaborate with Obesity Week Leadership for 2013 Symposia Development
5.    Participate and facilitate bariatric surgery section involvement in TOS Social Media Campaign
6.    Develop and distribute information regarding ongoing studies and grant opportunities involving              bariatric surgery
7.    Collaborate with TOS Program Committee to facilitate the Bariatric Surgery Section's involvement
       in special TOS Annual Meeting publication
8.    Provide bariatric surgery related education to TOS membership thru participation in CORE                  program.

Section member, Martin Binks, is looking for individuals interested in volunteering to work on social media initiatives for TOS.  If interested, please contact Martin Binks.

For questions about this communication or about The Obesity Society, please contact Kelly Evans, Membership Assistant at: kevans@obesity.org.