Early Bird Registration Now Open for SBM 2013

Society of Behavioral Medicine

34th Annual Meeting and Scientific Sessions
March 20-23, 2013
Hilton Union Square
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Conference Registration Is Open;
Click Here for Registration Information

Early bird registration for SBM’s 34th Annual Meeting and Scientific Sessions in San Francisco, California, is officially open. The conference will be held at the centrally-located Hilton Union Square in beautiful downtown San Francisco from March 20-23, 2013. Pre-conference day activities for March 19 are being planned. Early bird registration, which offers discounted registration fees, closes February 20, 2013.

The reservation site for conference housing at the hotel is also open. Reservations need to be made by February 26, 2013, to receive the conference discounted room rate. Rooms might be available after that date but the rate is not guaranteed. If you are looking for activities outside of scheduled conference meetings, a SBM San Francisco city guide is also available online.

Embodying the meeting theme, "Technology: The Excitement and The Evidence,” the conference will explore the many ways that technological innovations are expanding the reach and impact of behavioral medicine. Abstracts addressing thematic areas of the conference will be presented as will submissions coinciding with other behavioral medicine topics.

San Francisco Convention & Visitors Bureau photo by Lewis Sommer

Invited speakers will highlight areas that represent the broad range of interest areas within SBM’s membership as well as describe opportunities to expand the impact of behavioral medicine. Featured presentations will address thematic areas including linking behavior to brain health, using computers to encourage behavior change, utilizing mobile sensors to enhance patient care, harnessing social media to disseminate health information, and enhancing clinicians’ capabilities to deliver smoking cessation counseling.

Support Opportunities Available for SBM 2013

Conference attendees have the opportunity to convey commitment to better health by helping support the Annual Meeting. This can be done in various ways - from supporting the Annual Meeting mobile app to supporting an educational session and from exhibiting in the poster hall to advertising in the program or inserting a flyer in the registration bag.

Depending on the support level, benefits include complimentary meeting registrations and acknowledgement in widely-read SBM publications. Visit the conference Support Page for more information.

Late-Breaking Poster Abstracts Can Now Be Submitted; 

Site Closes Thursday, January 3

Late-breaking poster abstracts for SBM 2013 will be considered for review for the SBM 2013 Annual Meeting during the Rapid Communication abstract submission process. Rapid Communication Posters give authors a chance to present late-breaking findings, data and other information in the field of behavioral medicine. The Rapid Communication submission site will close Thursday, January 3, 2013. Submit a Rapid Communication abstract for possible poster presentation on the abstract submission page.

Saturday Keynote Panel Discussion to Examine Social Media and Health

The Annual Meeting runs through Saturday afternoon, March 23, concluding with an exciting keynote panel (described below) from 11:45 am to 12:45 pm. This keynote follows paper sessions, Master Lectures and the final poster session, all on Saturday, so be sure your travel arrangements allow you to take advantage of the full conference.

Four prominent researchers will be discussing Social Media and Health during the Saturday Keynote Panel Discussion at the SBM 2013 Annual Meeting.

Sheana S. Bull, PhD, is a professor in the Health and Behavioral Sciences Department at the University of Colorado – Denver. For the past decade, Dr. Bull has focused her work on the development and testing of behavioral interventions for health promotion using technology. She is involved in HIV prevention projects utilizing mobile phones and text messaging, social networking sites and the Internet. She is also involved with the prevention of chronic illness and promotion of self management behaviors such as nutrition and physical activity using computer kiosks with Denver-area Latinos.

Nathan K. Cobb, MD, is a Research Investigator at the Schroeder Institute for Tobacco Research and Policy Studies at Legacy. He has worked at the intersection of health behavior change and technology for 20 years, developing and evaluating systems ranging from kiosks for health risk appraisals to large-scale online social network based interventions. His current work focuses on enhancing the reach of online health interventions by decreasing barriers to use and leveraging social diffusion mechanics. Dr. Cobb holds faculty appointments with Georgetown University School of Medicine, where he attends in the Medical Intensive Care Unit, and at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He earned his medical degree from Boston University, completed his medical residency at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and his Pulmonary & Critical Care Fellowships at the Harvard Combined program in Boston.

James H. Fowler, PhD, a professor in the School of Medicine and the Division of Social Scientists at the University of California-San Diego, focuses his work on social networks, health and the biological basis of behavior. He received his PhD from Harvard University. He co-authored Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives with Nicholas Christakis, a book on social networks for a general audience which was named an Editor’s Choice by The New York Times Book Review and was a cover story in The New York Times Magazine. He has been interviewed by Stephen Colbert and was named "most original thinker" of the year by The McLaughlin Group.

Joseph R. Smarr, MS, is a software engineer at Google, and technical lead of the Google+ project, focused on circles and sharing. Previously, he was Plaxo’s Chief Technology Officer, where he lead its initiative to open up the social web, starting with co-authoring the Bill of Rights for Users of the Social Web in 2007. He has served on the Board of Directors of the OpenID Foundation and OpenSocial Foundation and is a frequent speaker and community participant in the social networking and web development community. He has a BS and MS in Artificial Intelligence from Stanford University.

The discussion will be moderated by SBM Past President Abby C. King, PhD.

Annette Stanton, PhD, to Deliver Master Lecture

Annette L. Stanton, PhD

Annette L. Stanton, PhD, a Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry / Biobehavioral Sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles, will deliver a Master Lecture at the 2013 SBM Annual Meeting.

Dr. Stanton is also a senior research scientist at the UCLA Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology and a member of the Center for Cancer Prevention and Control Research in the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center. Her research focuses on specifying factors that promote psychological and physical health in individuals confronted with health-related adversity.

In the area of psychosocial oncology, she conducts longitudinal research to understand the influences of personality and contextual resources, cognitive appraisals, and coping processes on the quality of life and health of individuals diagnosed with a range of cancers. She then works to translate her findings into interventions for individuals living with cancer through conducting randomized, controlled intervention trials of psychosocial and behavioral interventions.

Current funding for Dr. Stanton’s research is provided by the National Cancer Institute and the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. In 2006, Professor Stanton was honored with both the J. Arthur Woodward Graduate Mentoring Award and the Distinguished Teaching Award in the UCLA Department of Psychology. She has received the Senior Investigator Award from Division 38 (Health Psychology) of the American Psychological Association in recognition of her research contributions to health psychology. Dr. Stanton currently serves as President of Division 38.

Watch for future messages profiling more AM speakers and sessions.

Photo courtesy of the San Francisco Convention & Visitors Bureau

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