Announcements

Lynne Wilcox, Editor in Chief of Preventing Chronic Disease, Retires

Announcement posted 9/15/08

After guiding the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) first exclusively online journal from its “wouldn’t it be nice?” beginnings to its stalwart presence in the public health literature, Lynne Wilcox, MD, MPH, the inaugural editor in chief of Preventing Chronic Disease (PCD), retired August 1. During the transition period, Marta Gwinn, MD, MPH, associate director for epidemiology of CDC’s Office of Public Health Genomics, will serve as acting editor in chief of the journal.

Lynne Wilcox arrived at CDC in 1988 as an Epidemic Intelligence Service medical epidemiologist. She felt the first stirrings of PCD in the early 1990s, during the arduous but satisfying process of producing From Data to Action, an authoritative book on CDC’s surveillance activities in the growing field of maternal and child health. Following that book’s 1995 publication, Wilcox and National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP) director Jim Marks began discussing the need for a unique and ongoing publishing project: an online CDC journal dedicated to public health practice — as opposed to an exclusive focus on research — in chronic disease prevention. Wilcox’s subsequent appointment as director of the Division of Reproductive Health from 1996 to 2002 put that project on hold. But by 2002, when most of CDC’s partners were online and looking for venues to find, as well as publish, community-based information, Wilcox pressed ahead, with Marks’s full support.

In January 2004, PCD blazed onto the Web in full text and full color — and before long, in the “living color” of video clips and multimedia. From that first issue, the journal was widely embraced by the public health practice community, which could not always afford journal subscriptions and often lacked access to major libraries. Within a near-record six months, the journal showed it had arrived by being included in Index Medicus/Medline — a testament to Wilcox’s editorial acumen and managerial persistence.

Posted to the Web quarterly, each issue of PCD carries some 40 peer-reviewed and non-peer-reviewed articles. These diverse presentations range from common chronic disease topics such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes to more recent public health focuses such as Alzheimer’s disease and depression. With its innovative and freely accessed offerings, PCD has found a growing and enthusiastic audience. Since the start of 2008 alone, the journal has had more than half a million Web hits.

Wilcox’s pioneering presence and unabated enthusiasm for the journal and for public health will be missed. NCCDPHP is fortunate that Marta Gwinn is bringing her cutting-edge, public health genomics background to the helm of the first-rate staff and peer reviewers that Wilcox and her managing editor, Lesli Mitchell, have assembled over the years.

NCCDPHP, CDC, and the entire public health community extend the heartiest thanks to Lynne Wilcox for her service and vision — and look forward to hearing from her through her next project, a book on public health events in the early 20th century. Readers can get a preview of this book in the October issue of PCD, which features Wilcox’s essay, “Worms & Germs, Drink & Dementia.”

October Issue Features Selected Full-Text Spanish Translations

Announcement posted 9/15/08

Full-text Spanish translations of articles related to the Brownsville-Matamoros Sister City Project for Women’s Health will be available online October 1.

La versión en español del texto completo de los artículos sobre El Proyecto para la Salud de la Mujer de las Ciudades Hermanas de Matamoros-Brownsville estará disponible ‘en linea’ a partir del primero de octubre.

Second International Tai Chi/ Qigong for Health Conference in December

Announcement posted 9/15/08

The Second International Tai Chi/Qigong for Health Conference: Intervention and Prevention of Chronic Diseases, December 3-6, 2008, Orlando, Florida. This dynamic and engaging conference will focus on bringing together the expertise and experiences of tai chi and qigong researchers, practitioners, educators, and policy makers from around the world. During the conference we will explore how tai chi/qigong, as well as related mind-body practices, can be used to address the global health crisis associated with chronic disease and aging. Sponsored by the Indiana University School of Medicine, the Tai Chi for Health Community, and the International Society for Complementary Medicine Research. For more information, visit our website at www.taichi4healthconference.org.

20th National Conference on Chronic Disease Prevention and Control: Cultivating Healthy Communities

Announcement posted 6/15/08

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will host the 20th National Conference on Chronic Disease Prevention and Control: Cultivating Healthy Communities next February 23-25 in Washington, DC. The conference will celebrate 2 decades of extraordinary progress in the prevention and control of chronic diseases and drawing on these successes to accelerate progress over the next 20 years. Conference presenters will share relevant information on innovations in science, policy, community interventions, health marketing, and information technology that support healthy lifestyles and cultivate healthy communities. Through extensive networking opportunities, participants will learn successful chronic disease prevention efforts, best practices, and effective intervention techniques used by their colleagues and challenges as we move into the next decade of health system transformation. For more information, visit http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/conference/index.htm.

Submit an Announcement

We welcome brief announcements (25 to 75 words) of events of interest to our readers. In this section, we also include information (no more than 100 words) about upcoming conferences related to preventing chronic disease. Announcements should list the topics to be covered during the conference and may refer readers to a Web site with a full description of conference activities. These announcements will be put on our Web site within 2 weeks of approval for publication. All announcements must be submitted through Manuscript Central.

The opinions expressed by authors contributing to this journal do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the US Department of Health and Human Services, the Public Health Service, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or the authors’ affiliated institutions. Use of trade names is for identification only and does not imply endorsement by any of the groups named above. URLs for nonfederal organizations are provided solely as a service to our users. URLs do not constitute an endorsement of any organization by CDC or the federal government, and none should be inferred. CDC is not responsible for the content of Web pages found at these URLs.

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This page last reviewed October 23, 2008

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
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