Experts to Address Leading Issues at American Public Health Association Annual Meeting

-- Thousands of Experts to Address Leading Issues at American Public Health Association Annual Meeting, Dec. 10-14, in Philadelphia, Pa.

The nation's public health officials will gather in Philadelphia Dec. 10-14 to tackle pressing health concerns from pandemic influenza planning and prescription drug access to reproductive health and the public health response to disasters such as Hurricane Katrina.

About 10,000 experts will attend to share the latest public health research and practice. The meeting will feature reports on the processes of systematically finding, appraising and using scientific research as the basis for developing sound practices. It will also include hundreds of sessions on other significant issues in public health such as influenza pandemic planning, emergency contraception, HIV/AIDS, disaster preparedness, chronic disease prevention and control and health disparities.

The meeting opens Sunday, Dec. 11, with presentations by political and public health leaders, including former presidential candidate U.S. Sen. John Kerry and Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, chair of the National Governors Association. In addition, a special plenary panel with frontline accounts of the impact of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita has been added to the meeting's Opening General Session. Panelists include Kevin Stephens, MD, JD, director of the New Orleans Health Department; Jimmy Guidry, MD, state health officer and medical director, Louisiana Department of Health & Hospitals; Eduardo Sanchez, MD, commissioner of health, Texas Department of Health; and Mollyann Brodie, vice president and director, Kaiser Family Foundation. The panel's moderator will be Maureen Lichtveld, MD, MPH, professor and chair of the Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine.

The weeklong conference features more than 900 scientific sessions where attendees can access the most up-to-date public health research reflecting the broad impact this field has in our lives.

The full Annual Meeting program and abstracts are searchable at http://www.apha.org/meetings. Press registration is available at http://www.apha.org/news/annual. Final programs with session locations along with daily news media updates will be available on site at the APHA Press Office, Room 308 in the Pennsylvania Convention Center. Journalists must display a registration badge to gain entry to sessions. Highlights include:

3004.2 Latebreaking Developments in Public Health: Public Health and Social Justice Issues Related to Hurricane Katrina and Its Aftermath, Monday, Dec. 12: 8:30 a.m.-10 a.m. Featured presentations:

-- Social context of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath; Carol Easley Allen, PhD, RN

-- Social justice issues related to Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath; Victor W. Sidel, MD, Barry S. Levy, MD, MPH

-- Disaster Preparedness: Lessons learned; Dennis P. Andrulis, PhD

3023.0 Syndromic Surveillance and Bioterrorism, Monday, Dec. 12: 8:30 a.m.-10 a.m.

3028.0 Emergency Preparedness and Public Health Capacity Building, Monday, Dec. 12: 8:30 a.m.-10 a.m. Featured presentations:

-- BT preparedness of public health workers: A competency based evaluation; George J. Graham, PhD

-- Psychosocial aspects of bioterrorism and disaster response for public health professionals; Philip T. McCabe, CSW, CAS, Mitchel Rosen, MS

-- Adapting bioterrorism plans for traditional large scale public health response; Robert Rendin, MSM, MSEH, Nancy Welch, MD, MHA, MBA, Lisa G. Kaplowitz, MD, MSHA

3049.0 Implications in Reproductive Health Services: Youth, Women, HIV/AIDS/STI, Emergency Contraception, Monday, Dec. 12: 8:30 a.m.-10 a.m. Featured presentations:

-- Women's experiences accessing EC in California pharmacies; Sharon Cohen, MPH, Frances Chung, Nicole Monastersky, MPH, Diana Greene Foster, PhD, Nancy Kim