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Pediatric Obesity Section
Newsletter
November 2012
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Pediatric Obesity Section

Welcome to the Pediatric Obesity Section Newsletter!

Wifley  

Greetings from the TOS Pediatric Section! We hope you enjoyed the Annual Meeting in San Antonio and were able to attend our Section business meeting and luncheon. We were pleased to present Dr. Thomas N. Robinson of Stanford University with the 2012 Bar-Or Award. Dr. Robinson treated our section to an intriguing talk entitled, "Discovering Solutions," providing a look into his past and future solution-oriented research including school-, family- and community-based randomized controlled trials to test the efficacy and effectiveness of theory-driven behavioral, social, and environmental childhood obesity prevention programs.

 

The POS Council is busy planning for the 2013 meeting, working to develop pre-conference meetings that focus on cutting edge scientific research and advocacy opportunities for pediatric obesity. We will also hold a poster contest for junior investigators at next year's meeting to recognize the best pediatric obesity poster presentations. We are starting new fundraising efforts to support next year's POS luncheon, travel fellowships for junior investigators, and for a 2014 preconference meeting. We are also continuing to expand collaborations with other societies, such as the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). We hope to update you throughout the year on our progress.

 

Lastly, we've included a few highlights from Obesity 2012 and dates for our next conference, Obesity Week 2013.

 

Happy Holidays!

 

--Denise Wilfley, Chair
On behalf of the POS Leadership  

 

 

 The Obesity Society Annual Meeting

Save the Date!

Obesity Week 2013, our next Obesity Society Annual Meeting, will take place in Atlanta, Georgia, from November 11-16, 2013.

 

 

 

2013 Symposium Ideas

We encourage you to submit symposium ideas for Obesity Week 2013. The POS Council will be accepting proposals for POS-supported symposia. Please send your ideas to Sadie Campbell ([email protected]by November 15th. Proposals shouldinclude: (1) Suggested Symposia Topic; (2) A few bullets describing the topic and its relevance; (3) Speaker and Chair recommendations; (4) Contact information for the speaker and chair recommendations. We will send out information about next steps by November 26th

 

You can also submit your proposals directly to TOS for review. The TOS submission site will be open through November 30, 2012. 

 

 

 

Highlights from Obesity 2012

Our 2012 Obesity Society Annual Meeting featured several sessions directly addressing research in pediatric obesity. The conference kicked off with a preconference course titled "Pediatric Obesity and Metabolic Syndrome: Prevention and Treatment Course," on Thursday, September 20. This conference received overwhelmingly positive evaluations from attendees, and successfully increased consciousness and awareness for this crucial issue. The course was attended by 43 clinical and research professionals, who were eligible to receive Continuing Medical Education for their attendance. Led by Drs. Lawrence Cheskin and Jennifer Laurent, the program featured the following talks:

  • Screening presented by Jack Yanovski, Chief of the Section on Growth and Obesity at NIH
  • Nutrition, Growth and Development presented by Kendrin Sonneville of Children's Hospital Boston
  • Pediatric Sleep presented by Param Dedhia of the Canyon Ranch Weight Loss Program in Tucson, Arizona
  • Metabolic Dysfunction presented by Tamara Hannon from the Riley Hospital for Children at IU Health
  • Treatment and Early Intervention presented by Denise Wilfley from the Department of Psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine
  • Mental Health and Well-Being presented by Alison Field of Children's Hospital Boston
  • Engaging the Family and the Child presented by Sandra Hassink, Director of the Nemours Obesity Initiative at the Alfred I. DuPont Hospital for Children
  • Cost Effectiveness and Implementation presented by William Donahoo of Kaiser Permanente Colorado
  • Reimbursement presented by Stephen Cook from the University of Rochester

 

 

The Pediatric Obesity Section also assisted in the development four successful symposia during this year's meeting, all of which were very well-attended (one symposium had over 400 attendees!). Slides with audio are available at Obesity Online (content is free for attendees to view with their username and password, all others will need to purchase access):

http://www.softconference.com/obesity/slist.asp?C=5121 

 

  • "Eating Behavior Phenotype: Cross-Cutting Genetics, Biology, Behavior and Environment," focused on impulsivity, satiety, and overeating and their association with weight gain in children. Chairs: Jack Yanovski, Kendrin Sonneville; Presenters: Leonard Epstein, Jane Wardle, Lauren Shomaker
  • "Losing Weight and Not Your Patients: Maximizing Adherence and Minimizing Attrition" addressed challenges and potential solutions to improve adolescents' adherence to clinical weight loss programs and bariatric surgery programs. Chair: Leslie Heinberg; Presenters: Joseph Skelton, John Foreyt, Edward Livingston
  • "What Outcomes Matter: Prevention and Treatment of Pediatric Obesity to Reduce Diabetes Risk" detailed a range of options in the treatment of childhood obesity, including school-based interventions, pharmacotherapy, and bariatric surgery. Chairs: Robert Berkowitz, Cara Ebbeling; Presenters: Gary Foster, Jack Yanovski, Thomas Inge
  • "System Science and its Application to Childhood Obesity" described the systems science approach as an innovative analysis to better understand the determinants of childhood obesity. Chairs: Diane Finegood, Erin Hennessy; Presenters: Terry Huang, Peter Hovmand, David Shoham

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pediatric Section News

 

Check out The Obesity Society Job Center 

(http://www.jobtarget.com/home/index.cfm?site_id=10759)! There are currently over 100 open announcements related to pediatric obesity ranging from public health practitioner to postdoctoral and faculty positions. You can search by location, job type or do a keyword search for childhood obesity.

 

 

Share Your News and Ideas!

We always want to hear from you! Submit your significant pediatric news items and we'll add them to the POS webpage.  News items may include career awards, new centers, large projects, upcoming conferences, etc.   All items will be reviewed by POS Council prior to posting.  We also look forward to comments, suggestions and ideas for future topics for the next publication of the POS Newsletter. Please send these to Sadie Campbell at [email protected]

 

POS Council Roster

  

We want to give a huge thank you to our outgoing chair, Dr. Alison Field, and our outgoing council members, Drs. Youfa Wang, Kirsten Davison, and Erin Hennessy for their service to the Council. Thank you for your outstanding service and for making POS such a success in 2011-2012!

 

We also welcome our newest members, Drs. Simone French, Andrew Bremer, Deborah Parra-Medina, and Amanda Staiano.

 

2012-2013 Pediatric Obesity Section Council Members:
Denise Wilfley, Chair

Dana Rofey, Chair-Elect

Simone French, Secretary/Treasurer

Lori Francis, Councilor

Deborah Parra-Medina, Councilor

Andrew Bremer, Councilor

Amanda Staiano, Fellow

Alison Field, Past Chair

 

 
For questions about this communication or about The Obesity Society, please contact Sadie Campbell at: [email protected].