Society for Epidemiologic Research (SER) Newsletter

SER Membership
The newsletter has been sent either electronically or via US mail to all SER members, even if they have not renewed their membership for 2008. However, any future correspondence will be mailed only to paid SER members. Please contact Jacqueline Brakey with any questions (Telephone: 801-525-0231; email: membership@epiresearch.org)

SER Elections
Ballots for this year's SER elections are available online by following this link. You will need to login to the members only section of the website in order to vote. If you do not know your Member ID and password, email membership@epiresearch.org.

Bios for each candidate are available by clicking on their names. The two nominees for President are Art Reingold and Stephen Walter. There are two Member-at-Large positions available and the four nominees are Ann Geiger, Jay Kaufman, Stephen VandenEeden and Irene Yen . Please vote for one candidate for president and two candidates for member at large. Your ballots must be submitted by May 23 to be counted. The election results will be announced at the Meeting in Chicago. **Again this year, SER will randomly select 3 individuals who vote in the annual election to receive a FREE SER membership for 2009.***

SER has been participating in an international joint policy
committee consisting of representatives of 22 professional
organizations involved in epidemiology. The committee meets
once a month by telephone. The issues the group discusses
include funding in epidemiology, the pros and cons of recent
efforts by ASPH to create a certification exam for all public
health students, promoting the interests of epidemiologists to
the NIH and other scientific bodies, trends in tenure and salary
support for epidemiologists in academic settings and concerns
about the impact of human subjects regulation on research.

The 41st Annual SER Meeting will be held June 24 (eve) - 27, 2008. The meeting and accommodations will be held at the Hyatt Regency Chicago on the Riverwalk. Located one block off The Magnificent Mile—near Millennium Park, Lake Michigan and the Chicago River. Walking distance to many of Chicago’s finest restaurants, attractions, theaters, shopping and nightspots.

The John C. Cassel Memorial Lecture will be presented by Dr. David R. Williams, the Norman Professor of Public Health at Harvard University. Renown for his path-breaking work on US racial health inequalities.

The 2008 Keynote Address will be presented by Keynote speaker Dr. Diana Kuh, Director of the MRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing and of the MRC National Survey of Health
and Development. Dr. Kuh has a first degree in Economics from Cambridge University and a PhD from the London School of Economics on early life influences on adult health.

Regarding Presentations
We schedule sessions carefully to avoid conflicts to the extent possible and to balance the distribution of topics across the meeting, but we are unable to provide schedule preferences. Please make sure that you have an alternate presenter in case you are unable to participate in the session assigned to you..

Preliminary Program
Again this year the preliminary program is available online for you to view. You can see the up-to-date preliminary program anytime. If you do not have access to the web you may call 801-587-9120 and request a copy. To access the preliminary program by web follow this link.

Alumni Reunions
A number of universities have organized successful receptions for faculty, alumni, and students at past SER meetings. If you would like to have a reunion at the conference hotel, you may
contact :

Job Placement Notebooks
If you have a position you are trying to fill or if you are interested in a new position, the SER meeting is the place to make a match. We are assembling a notebook of available positions, and people in search of new positions.

At SER, you can read the job ads or resumes, and speak to the people themselves. Mail your resumes or positions by June 13th, 2008 to Terry Sniff, SER, 375 Chipeta Way, Suite A, Salt Lake City, Utah 84108, or e-mail to terry.sniff@utah.edu

Follow this link to view a complete list of student activities taking place at this year's meeting. Activities include Breakfast with the Experts roundtables, Poster Tours, a student welcome reception and several lunchtime sessions. Priority for student events is given to students who are members of SER.

Congratulations to Katherine M. Keyes, MPH, from Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, and New York State Psychiatric Institute. Her paper was selected as the winner of the 2008 Lilienfeld Student Prize.

Spotlight Sessions & Symposia
A total of 24 Spotlight Sessions and 15 Symposia will be presented at the meeting this year. These sessions are organized and moderated by experienced epidemiologists. Click here to view a list of the topics and moderators.

Led by members of the 2008 SER Faculty, the roundtable discussions have become a popular event. Although the tickets are complimentary, there are only ten available per table. There will be 5 roundtable discussions on Wednesday and 4 on Thursday from 12:15 - 1:15 pm. Tickets are available beginning Wednesday, June 25th at 7:30 am. on a first-come, first-served basis. We will not be accepting pre-registration for roundtables this year. Follow this link to view a list of roundtables for this year.

The meeting will begin with the first poster session on the evening of June 24th. Posters are a primary venue for presentation of the meeting’s highest quality research findings. Posters are hung each night before the session and will be on display for almost 24 hours. A panel of judges will select the three best posters from each session. Winners will be publicly recognized during the morning break following the session and receive a gift certificate from Oxford University Press.

Visit the SER Meeting website to view a list of workshops being offered. Follow this link.

SER's future meetings:
• 2009 - Anaheim, CA (June 23-26)
• 2010 - Seattle, WA (June 23-26)
• 2011 - Montreal, QC (June 21-24) - CONGRESS YEAR