Fall 2011 Newsletter

Reflections on Congress

"This was the 3rd North American Congress of Epidemiology.... All who attended appreciated the opportunities for networking and enriching the science of our work."

Jonine Bernstein Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center	Leslie Bernstein City of Hope National Medical Center

The 3rd North American Congress of Epidemiology was held in June 2011 in the beautiful city of Montreal. The meeting, by every metric, was a huge success. Nearly 1600 epidemiologists from over 34 countries attended; more than 400 Congress faculty members collaborated to organize the meeting, making this the largest and most diverse meeting of its kind ever held. In addition to SER, three other societies sponsored and assumed financial responsibility for the Congress ensuring its success: The American College of Epidemiology (ACE), The American Public Health Association-Epidemiology section (APHA-EPI), and The Canadian Society for Epidemiology and Biostatistics (CSEB). Along with SER, in support of the Congress, ACE and CSEB cancelled their annual meetings. More than 20 other epidemiology societies cosponsored the meeting by supporting workshops, symposia, and advertising as well as designating representatives to serve on program planning committees. The senior leadership of each participating society, together with the Congress Faculty, developed a comprehensive program celebrating the science of modern epidemiology. The sole theme of the meeting was "Epidemiology". The purpose was to showcase and promote the diversity of epidemiologic study, practice and policy and to identify areas of common interest across different specialties in our field.

In a nutshell, the meeting and pre-meeting workshops were jam-packed; 13 pre-Congress workshops were attended by 640 people. The meeting itself included: 37 Symposia, which were selected from over 85 proposals that were submitted, representing the full range of disciplines in our field; 34 Spotlight Sessions organized by leaders in the field who organized sessions from the more than 1200 abstracts that were submitted; and 4 comprehensive Poster Sessions with over 1000 posters presented. Each day began with invited plenary talks. In all, 10 visionary leaders in epidemiology challenged the audience with thought-provoking presentations spanning the modern, global, environmental and genomic history of our field. Three of these talks were given by the eminent epidemiologists who were honored with the Congress-wide Awards recognizing their lifetime achievements in our field. The daily "Special Sessions" focused on controversial topics such as the IARC consensus panel report on cell phone use as a cause of brain cancer, discussions about communicating epidemiology to the broadcast and print media, and ways to translate epidemiologic data to motivate biologic mechanistic studies. Lastly, sessions were held in which editors from 13 leading scientific journals discussed their perspectives on our evolving field; and 16 "Meet the Experts" sessions led by prominent scientists focused on provocative topics.

This was the 3rd North American Congress of Epidemiology. These special meetings are held once every five years, and require substantial dedication and commitment on the part of many. We Bernsteins (unrelated, however) had the great honor of serving as co-chairs of this inspiring event. Throughout the three years of planning, we worked with hundreds of Congress Committee Members, Congress Faculty, Abstract Reviewers, and Volunteers, all of whom devoted a great deal of time in planning, developing, and carrying out this exciting meeting. The result was what makes the Congress unique -- the great depth, breadth, and excellence of the scientific sessions highlighting the research of the distinguished senior faculty, rising stars, and outstanding trainees who presented. All who attended appreciated the opportunities for networking and enriching the science of our work. Not only was it vastly larger than the annual epidemiology meetings, but it was a true collaboration that benefitted from the exceptional collective effort, expertise, and enthusiasm of epidemiologists across the discipline committed to the profession and the Congress.

In closing, we wish to express our appreciation to all of you who participated and to thank the wonderful team involved in bringing the meeting to its grand conclusion for their tremendous efforts and endless devotion. Without the support and help of each and every one of you, the 3rd North American Congress of Epidemiology would not have been as memorable and wholly successful as it was.

Thank you,
Jonine Bernstein and Leslie Bernstein
2011 Congress co-Chairs