In this issue, we provide you with news and highlights from the recent International Congress of Behavioral Medicine in Bangkok as well as other news in behavioral medicine from around the world. In his inaugural Letter from the President, Redford Williams reports on numerous developments in our organization, including the election of new ISBM officers and committee members, plans for the establishment and growth of new member societies, and initiatives to increase funding for early career awards and other initiatives for promoting the expansion of behavioral medicine research and practice. Brian Oldenburg, Program Chair for the 9th ICBM, provides some final words on the very successful Congress as well as encouragement to submit your work to the International Journal of Behavioral Medicine. Our journal provides an ideal outlet for high quality research such as that presented during the outstanding oral and poster sessions at the Congress.

One of the exciting developments arising from the Congress was an initiative to develop an international network for early career members of ISBM. Carina Chan and Marisa Finn provide a synopsis of the proposal and many of the excellent ideas that were generated at meetings of early career members held during the Congress. Ivan Nyklicek provides an update on the activities of the Netherlands Behavioral Medicine Federation. I encourage you all to share news from your member societies and regions with the rest of ISBM by sending in announcements and reports for inclusion in these newsletters. It is an ideal way to disseminate information about key developments and spread innovations for activities to other member societies.

This issue also provides details about the upcoming ICBM in Tokyo. It’s not too early to start making plans and generating ideas for workshops, symposia, and other conference presentations and activities. Finally, we share with you some photos from the ICBM in Bangkok.

Items for inclusion in our next newsletter, scheduled for publication in June 2007, can be sent to my email address: L.cameron@auckland.ac.nz

I wish you all a peaceful and prosperous New Year.

Linda Cameron
Newsletter Editor

My first purpose, in this my first communication to the ISBM membership since assuming the presidency in Bangkok several weeks ago, is to deliver kudos for the outstanding work done by so many people to make the 9th ICBM the great event – both scientifically and socially – that it was. Brian Oldenburg and program co-chairs Marc Gellman and Ulrike Ehlert did a magnificent job of assembling a program of the highest quality, including outstanding keynote and master lectures and panels, symposia, and paper sessions. Particularly important in my view was the very high quality of science presented at the poster sessions.

To Nick and Nittaya Kotchabhakdi and the Local Organizing Committee go the thanks of all for the fantastic job they did in providing a setting and set of social activities – beginning with the Thai dancers who encouraged audience participation at the opening ceremony, continuing through the box lunches for all, and culminating in a Garden Party to end all garden parties – that were unique and will be hard to surpass.

Thanks also go to Yuji Sakano and his colleagues in the Japanese Society of Behavioral Medicine for a Farewell Party that will be equally hard to surpass. The delicious array of tempura, sushi and sake provided a warm introduction to the 10th ICBM in Tokyo in August, 2008.

The past two years have seen steady growth in both the number of member societies and the state of ISBM cash reserves. Outgoing President Antti Uutela and Treasurer Ed Fisher deserve much credit for these positive developments, as does outgoing IJBM Editor Ulf Lundberg, under whose leadership both the quality of our Journal and the revenues have steadily increased. I also want to express heartfelt thanks to those committee chairs whose terms ended in Bangkok: Arja Aro of Education & Training, Gunilla Burell of Membership and Margaret Chesney of Organizational Liaison. Without their dedication and hard work the progress made in the past two years would have been far less.

Looking toward the future, we are most fortunate that Nominations Committee Chair (and incoming Editor of IJBM) Joost Dekker assembled an outstanding slate of candidates for the open offices and committee chairs. President-elect Hege Eriksen and I have already begun to work together in a most positive way to advance the mission and goals of ISBM. I look forward to working with incoming Treasurer Petra Lindfors, Education & Training Chair Victoria Gordillo, Finance Committee Chair Linda Baumann, Membership Chair Neil Schneiderman and Organizational Liaison Chair Graciela Rodriguez to continue to positive growth and trajectory established under Antti’s outstanding leadership during the past two years.

One of my key goals during the next two years will be to foster the establishment and growth of behavioral medicine societies around the world. Toward that end, following the Bangkok Congress I visited Professor Lingjiang Li, Vice-President of the Chinese Behavioral Medicine Association in Changsha, China, and was pleased to learn that it has over 2,000 members, including doctors, psychologists, nurses and teachers, from all regions of China and holds an annual meeting that includes presentations in the areas of clinical science, basic science and public health. I will also be visiting Brazil next June, to meet with persons there interested in forming a Brazilian Society of Behavioral Medicine. I have asked Membership Chair Neil Schneiderman to be in contact with both these groups, informing them of the requirements and procedures involved in joining the ISBM. I am confident that these efforts, along with those of Brian Oldenburg in Africa, will ensure that there will be several more new member societies to welcome when we meet in Tokyo in 2008. I am especially pleased to see these positive developments in two of the world’s largest countries, China and Brazil.

I am very happy to be able to inform the membership of success in identifying very competent and experienced candidates for two important committees. In addition to high competence and experience, I have tried to ensure broad representation with respect to both region and gender. First, for the Nominations Committee, Arja Aro has agreed to be nominated as Chair and Ed Fisher and Yuji Sakano have agreed to be nominated as the two members specified in the bylaws. I will be submitting these names to the Board and Governing Council for approval. I am glad to have this Committee formed at this early stage, so that they will have ample time to solicit at least two candidates for each office that will be open at the time of the 10th ICBM in Tokyo.

The other committee is one that was approved by the Governing Council in Bangkok – a Bylaws Revision Committee whose charge is to undertake a comprehensive review of the ISBM Bylaws and propose revisions that will help to update, simplify and streamline ISBM governance procedures, beginning with several areas identified by outgoing President Antti Uutela as in need of revision. I am pleased to announce that a slate of outstanding persons whose seniority and long experience with ISBM will ensure that this important task is competently conducted -- Chair: Andrew Steptoe; members: Linda Baumann, Kazunori Kayaba, Holger Ursin and Antti Uutela. These names will be submitted to the Board for approval, as specified by the Governing Council

The Program Committee under the leadership of Theresa Marteau and Co-Chairs Linda Cameron, Shin Fukudo and Bernt Lindhal has already begun the work of developing the program for the 10th ICBM, which will have as its theme “Drawing from Traditional Sources and Basic Science to Improve the Health of Individuals, Communities and Populations.” I urge members to communicate with them regarding suggestions for keynote and master lectures and panels that would be appropriate to this theme. And remember, it’s not too early to begin thinking about your research that can be submitted for presentation there. Visit http://www.icbm2008.jp to learn more!

Recognizing that the 10th ICBM will be a landmark meeting, taking place 20 years after the founding of ISBM, I have asked the first ISBM President, Steve Weiss, to undertake over the next two years to compile a history of ISBM. Steve enthusiastically accepted this assignment and I urge any and all to communicate with him any recollections you have, particularly of the early days, of ISBM over the years.

During the time between now and the 10th ICBM in 2008 we will need to have two Board meetings, one during early fall of 2007 and one in February 2008, the latter being the occasion of the Program Committee meeting to finalize the 2008 program. At present the locations of those Board meetings have not been set, though it now appears that it will be necessary to have the February, 2008, meeting in Tokyo.

As with the meeting in Mexico City in 2005, we hope to have the other meeting at a site that will help foster the growth of behavioral medicine in that region. I have already been in conversation with Victoria Gordillo of the Spanish Society of Behavioral Medicine and Health Psychology and Angela Maia of the emerging Portuguese Society of Behavioral Medicine regarding the possibility of holding a Board meeting in conjunction with a meeting of their societies, most likely in Spain, during early fall of 2007. This would make it possible for ISBM leaders to contribute to the program of that joint Spanish/Portuguese meeting, and it would also be possible to organize a training activity to occur before or after the meeting. Stay tuned.

Three additional actions taken by the Governing Council in Bangkok attest to the current good health of ISBM. In response to an impassioned argument by outgoing Education and Training Chair Arja Aro, the Governing Council approved an increase in the amount available for early career awards from the current $5,000 to $15,000. This will make it possible to greatly increase the number of young investigators who will be able to attend upcoming ICBMs. Recalling the generous support provided by the German government to enable scientists and clinicians from Central and Eastern Europe to attend the Mainz ICBM in 2004, I hope that it will be possible to cover at least some of this increase via contributions from outside sources in Japan and elsewhere.

Another positive development was the approval by the Governing Council of the allocation of $10,000 to be put in a fund that will be available to enable member societies to take advantage of “targets of opportunity” in their country or region. To tap these funds it will be necessary to submit a proposal detailing the specific goal(s) that will be achieved using the requested amount. More details regarding application procedures will be distributed in due course, as well as being available on the ISBM website.

And third, the Governing Council also approved allocation of $5,000 to be used to support the activities of the ISBM executive functions. An ad hoc committee consisting of President-Elect Hege Eriksen, outgoing Treasurer Ed Fisher, new Treasurer Petra Lindfors, Secretary Marc Gellman, IJBM Editor Joost Dekker and myself will develop a specific plan for how this money can be used to improve communication and functions of the ISBM executive group. If approved by the Board, that plan will be put into action to enhance our ability to meet the needs of member societies.

I cannot end without issuing an appeal to all member societies to take advantage of the very reasonable subscription rates for the online version of our Journal. For only $5/year (!) your members will be able to peruse each issue of the International Society of Behavioral Medicine. Besides providing our worldwide membership with access to outstanding behavioral medicine research, increasing the number of people subscribing to IJBM will have the added benefit of increasing its impact factor (due to your increasing citations of IJBM papers), which in turn will further increase ISBM revenues and financial stability. I am planning a special recognition ceremony for the 10th ICBM to acknowledge those societies with 100% membership subscription to the online IJBM.

And finally, I want to express my deep appreciation for the honor of being asked to serve as ISBM President for the next two years. I am committed to working hard to continue the standard provided by our recent Presidents and will welcome input from any and all regarding both areas of concern and opportunity that could benefit from my attention, or that of other officers or committee chairs.

Onward!

Redford Williams
President

On behalf of the Program and Local Organising Committees, we would like thank everyone so much for their support and contributions to the recent 9th International Congress of Behavioural Medicine in Thailand which was the first time we have held the congress in Asia. It was particularly gratifying to have such a strong representation from most of the ISBM member organisations and societies at the Congress and from most regions of the world. All the feedback so far suggests that it was a very successful conference, the presentations were of a very high quality, the lunchtime roundtables were especially popular, there was a very good atmosphere and we all experienced wonderful hospitality from our local hosts. It was particularly exciting to see so many younger and 'early career' people at the Congress and we look forward to seeing the development of a new 'early career' network by the time of the next conference. I believe that as an organisation, ISBM has learnt a lot from the 9th ICBM and we shall make sure that these lessons get passed on to those responsible for organising the 10th ICBM in Japan in 2008. If there is any feedback you would like to provide - both positive and negative - on how the 10th ICBM in Japan could be (even) better than the 9th ICBM, please feel free to send on to me by the New Year and I'll make sure the relevant information gets passed on.

Finally, the incoming editor of our journal, Dr. Joost Dekker, would like to remind you of the possibility to submit manuscripts to the International Journal of Behavioral Medicine. Many presentations at the Bangkok conference match very well with the editorial profile of IJBM. The editorial profile reads: “The International Journal of Behavioral Medicine is the official publication of the International Society of Behavioral Medicine. It publishes original research and integrative reviews on interactions among behavioral, psychosocial, environmental, genetic and biomedical factors relevant to health and illness. The scope of the IJBM extends from research on biobehavioral mechanisms; clinical studies on diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation; to research on public health, including health promotion and prevention. As an international journal, the IJBM publishes research originating from all continents. In addition, the IJBM invites research on multinational, multicultural and global aspects of health and illness.” The IJBM is a peer reviewed journal: editorial decisions are based on peer review. Presently, the impact factor of the IJBM is 1.25 and rising. Do not hesitate to contact Joost at J.Dekker@vumc.nl if you have any questions or you want to discuss with him any issues related to the IJBM. We look forward to seeing all of the 9th ICBM participants return for the next and 10th ICBM in Japan in 2008.

Brian Oldenburg
Program Chair, 9th ICBM
(on behalf of the 9th ICBM Program and Local Organizing Committees)

Following discussion generated at the 9th International Congress of Behavioural Medicine in Bangkok, a move was made to form an international, early career network for the field of behavioural medicine. Research in the modern world involves establishing networks not only within one’s own country but in the international community as well. Although venues such as the International Congress of Behavioural Medicine provide excellent arenas for presenting research, travel to these conferences and the development of networks once there can be hard for those who have only recently begun their careers. The ongoing successes of regional early career networks, such as the PROMISE network of the Australasian Society for Behavioural Health and Medicine and the Collaborative Research and Training (CREATE) of the European Health Psychology Society, are indicative of how well early career groups can serve as a means for promoting research and professional opportunities and skills. The ongoing connections and communications in the international arena that are critical to success can be difficult to achieve due to the great distances, and so there is a strong need for the establishment of an international early career group. Discussions at the ICBM in Bangkok yielded a number of ideas for activities and types of support that could be offered through an international emerging researchers network. These include:

• Mentoring sessions/workshops at future behavioural medicine conferences
• Continuation and expansion of the early career award system
• Social events for early career researchers at future international conferences
• A designated accomodation venue for emerging researchers at future international conferences
• Formation of an early career component to the ISBM website including:
  
  • Network opportunities
  • Career development/research skills upgrade
  • Job advertisments/fellowships
  • News of upcoming conferences
  • Notices for the recruitment of research participants
  • A mentoring site for interacting with senior researchers, structured as a Question/Answer section
    

We look forward to all questions and ideas regarding the formation of this group. Correspondence should be made to either Marisa Finn (m.finn@auckland.ac.nz) or Carina Chan (cky.chan@auckland.ac.nz) both located at the University of Auckland, New Zealand.

Plans are well underway for the next ICBM, to be held in Tokyo on August 27-30 2008. This 10th ICBM is being organized by the Japanese Society of Behavioral Medicine in collaboration with ISBM. Based on the tradition of the previous nine congresses in Uppsala, Hamburg, Amsterdam, Washington DC, Copenhagen, Brisbane, Helsinki, Mainz and Bangkok, the scientific program of this 10th congress will include keynote addresses, master dialogues/debates, symposia, roundtable discussions, oral and poster presentations, meetings of special interest groups, teaching and training workshops, and satellite activities, scientific and trade exhibitions.

The 10th ICBM will be attended by authorities and experts in behavioral medicine and related disciplines from every region of the world, including all the countries of Asia. The theme, “Drawing from Traditional Sources and Basic Research to Improve Health in Individuals, Communities, and Populations”, will encourage collaboration and networking between all regions of the world as well as all disciplines that contribute to the science and practice of behavioral medicine. There will be pre-congress workshops on a range of topics relevant to behavioral medicine research and practice, and an exciting social program will include excursions to cultural and scenic attractions in Kyoto, Nikko, and Tokyo.

Important Dates:

Second Announcement and Call for Abstracts: 1 April, 2007
Deadline for Workshop Submission: 31 August, 2007
Deadline for Abstract Submission for Symposia, Papers, and Posters: 1 December, 2007
Deadline for Early Registration: 10 March, 2008
Deadline for Abstract Submission for Rapid Communication Posters: 1 May, 2008

Local Organizing Committee (LOC):

LOC Chair: Yuji Sakano (Health Sciences University of Hokkaido)
LOC Secretary General: Teruichi Shimomitsu (Tokyo Medical University)
Scientific Advisory Committee Co-Chairs: Norito Kawakami (University of Tokyo), Shin Fukudo (Tohoku University), Akira Tsuda (Kurume University)
Finance Committee Chair: Shinobu Nomura (Waseda University)
Fundraising Committee Chair: Tomifusa Kuboki (University of Tokyo)
Public Relations Committee Chair: Kazunori Kayaba (Saitama Prefectural University)
General Management Committee Chair: Mitsuki Niregi (Rissho University)
Workshop Committee Chair: Shinichi Suzuki (Hiroshima University)

Scientific Program Committee:

Chair: Theresa Marteau (Kings College London UK)
Co-Chairs: Shin Fukudo (Tohoku University School of Medicine, Japan), Bernt Lindahl (Umea University, Sweden), Redford Williams (Duke University, USA), Linda Cameron (The University of Auckland, New Zealand)

For more information, please visit the website: www.icbm2008.jp
Or contact the 10th ICBM Secretariat by e-mail: icbm08@the-convention.co.jp