Race and Class Inequalities in Health
There will be a contributed paper session on Race and Class Inequalities in Health at the annual Society for Epidemiologic Research (SER) meeting in 2009.  Meeting dates are June 23-26, 2008 in Anaheim, CA Accepted abstracts will be distributed at the June meeting and will also be published in a Supplement issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology. Abstracts must be submitted online at the following web address: http://epiresearch.org/ [click on Annual meeting - abstract submission form will be available within the next week] Submissions will be accepted until February 2, 2009, 11:59 p.m. EST. For inquiries about this specific session on Race and Class Inequalities in Health, contact Irene Yen (irene.yen@ucsf.edu) or Pat O’Campo (pat.ocampo@utoronto.ca) [posted on CBPR list]

2009 Upper Midwest Translators and Interpreters Association (UMTIA) Conference
Interpreting and Translations: The Profession from All Angles
St. Paul, MN
Call for Papers
http://www.umtia.org/
[posted on CLAS-talk list]

Sixth Annual Pediatric Multidisciplinary Research and Evidence-Based Practice Conference
Pediatric Research: Caring Within a Safe Environment
April 17, 2009
Eric P. Newman Education Center
St. Louis, Missouri
Call for Abstracts
St. Louis Children’s Hospital will present its Sixth Annual Research and Evidence-Based Practice Conference on Friday, April 17, 2009. We welcome abstracts from all health care professionals caring for neonates, children or families. All abstracts and proposals should be submitted by Feb. 9, 2009, via e-mail to:
Karen Balakas, PhD, RN, CNE
Associate Professor & Director, Clinical Research Partnerships
Goldfarb School of Nursing at Barnes-Jewish College
KaBalakas@bjc.org
314.454.8790
[posted on MCMLA list]

North American Housing and HIV/AIDS Research Summit Mobilizing Knowledge: Housing is HIV Prevention and Care
June 3-5, 2009 in Washington DC
Call for Abstracts Due Jan 15
http://www.nationalaidshousing.org/PDF/CFA.pdf
The US National AIDS Housing Coalition (NAHC), working in collaboration with the Ontario HIV Treatment Network (OHTN) and the Department of Health, Behavior and Society of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, is pleased to announce the fourth Housing and HIV/AIDS Research Summit, a meeting of leading health, housing and social service researchers and policy makers. The Housing and HIV/AIDS Research Summit series is an interdisciplinary, interactive forum for the presentation of  research findings on the relationship of housing status and HIV prevention and care, coupled with dialogue on public policy implications and strategies among researchers, policy makers, and providers and consumers of HIV housing and services. [ posted on Cbpr listserv]

Cambio de Colores (Change of Colors) 2009 Conference
Latinos in the Heartland
http://www.cambiodecolores.org
May 18-20, 2009
Millennium Center
University of Missouri - St. Louis
St. Louis, Missouri
The deadline for submitting abstracts is January 23rd, 2009.
The full Call for Abstracts is available in the Web, at the following address:
http://www.cambiodecolores.org/2009/Documents/2009CallForAbstracts.htm
Cambio de Colores is an annual conference that, since 2002, brings together researchers, practitioners, and community members to discuss the issues that Missouri and Heartland states face as a result of the demographic changes that became evident in the 2000 Census. The 2009 meeting will be a multi-state conference.  For this occasion, the  University of Missouri’s Cambio Center is working in cooperation with the twelve-state North Central Regional Center for Rural Development, and the Immigrants in Midwestern Communities Inter University Network.

2009 Public Health Preparedness Summit
Public health preparedness professionals from across the nation will share innovative best practices, tools, and resources to help you build and sustain your community’s capacity to prepare for, respond to, and recover from a public health emergency or disaster. http://www.phprep.org/2009/?CFID=2487407&CFTOKEN=48417005

This three-day summit attempted to showcase the collective contribution of NIH in the development of new knowledge in the Science of Eliminating Health Disparities; highlight the progress of NIH minority health and health disparities research activities to improve prevention, diagnostic, and treatment methods; increase awareness and understanding of disparities in health; showcase best-practice models in research, capacity-building, outreach, and integrated strategies to find solutions to health disparities; and identify gaps in health disparities research. View the webcast  at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/health_cast/hcast_index.cfm?display=detail&hc=3091

December 16 - 18, 2008 at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, MD
http://www.blsmeetings.net/2008healthdisparitiessummit/
The National Institutes of Health will host the largest national conference ever on health disparities. This is the first summit of its kind. It involves all of the NIH Institutes and Centers and brings together more than 3000 national and international clinicians, researchers, policy leaders, academicians, and community leaders to highlight recent progress made in addressing health disparities, and to redefine the agenda for the health disparities research.

I will be presenting a poster at this event, so will be on the road the rest of the week.

On Thursday, December 18, from 3 – 4 pm EST, join The Disparities Solutions Center and representatives from the American Hospital Association and the National Association of Public Hospitals (both to be confirmed) as [they] continue [the] Robert Wood Johnson Foundation sponsored web seminar series with an event launching Improving Quality and Achieving Equity: A Guide for Hospital Leaders. This Guide is constructed to be clear, concise, practical, and easy to read. It is targeted to hospital leaders - including CEO’s, VP’s, and others that focus on quality, safety, finance, and risk management. The 60-minute, interactive, web-based seminar is free and open to the public. Register online now as space is limited. http://tinyurl.com/63d4en [posted on Joint Commission Hospitals, Language, and Culture List]

Tuesday, December 16, 2008, 11:30:00 AM ET
http://videocast.nih.gov/summary.asp?live=7320
Dr. Varmus chairs the Scientific Board of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Grand Challenges in Global Health program and leads the Advisory Committee for the Global Health Division. He was a member of the World Health Organization Commission on Macroeconomics and Health, and is a co-founder of the Public Library of Science, a leading publisher of open access journals. In addition, Dr. Varmus serves as co-chair of the IOM’s committee on The U.S. Commitment to Global Health. The committee will issue its interim report on the day preceding the lecture. You will be able to view the event at http://videocast.nih.gov when the event is live. Read the complete NIH News Release is available online at
http://www.nih.gov/news/health/dec2008/fic-10.htm

Upcoming Webinar: Using Technology to Improve Access to Language Services
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
1:00pm EST/10:00am PST
The growing population of the Limited English Proficient (LEP) community is outpacing the funding available for language access programs. As this patient population continues to grow, hospitals are struggling to build cost-effective solutions to adequately meet the increasing demand for interpretation services.

This webinar, sponsored by Polyglot Systems, will explore these issues and discuss opportunities to leverage technology to extend the depth and breadth of your language access program. You will hear how the University of Washington Medical Center reduced barriers to equal access through a series of technology innovations. The webinar will also provide a detailed analysis of video-based interpretation and introduce you to several other new and innovative solutions that can have an immediate impact on the quality of care for your LEP patients.
For additional information, or to register, please visit:
http://www.pgsi.com/Products/Resources/Webinars/Webinar2.aspx

Hospitals, Language, and Culture
http://www.jointcommission.org/PatientSafety/HLC/
Download and read publications from The Joint Commission on its research study on hospitals, language and culture.

A Buyer-Side Event for Health Plans
Tuesday, 10th February 2009 from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm
The Westin, Los Angeles, California, USA
Speakers: Renato S. Beninatto (Common Sense Advisory), Diana Carr (Health Net of California), Donald A. DePalma (Common Sense Advisory), Nataly Kelly (Common Sense Advisory), Carolyn Wang-Kong (Kaiser Permanente).

Health insurance plans in the United States face an increased need to communicate with limited English proficient (LEP) members. In the State of California, plans are working to improve access to health care services – including translation and interpreting services – in part due to Senate Bill SB 853. Because of demographic and regulatory changes, health plans need to quickly ramp up their knowledge of the best practices and technologies that facilitate the provision of language services. Common Sense Advisory will convene health plans to share findings, best practices, and lessons learned. http://www.commonsenseadvisory.com/training/colloquium.php

8th Annual New Partners for Smart Growth Conference:
Building Safe, Healthy and Livable Communities
http://www.newpartners.org/about.html
January 22-24, 2009, Albuquerque, NM

North American Housing and HIV/AIDS Research Summit
http://nationalaidshousing.org/2008/08/save-the-date/
June 3-5, 2009, Washington DC

Third National Leadership Summit
A Bluepring for Change
http://www.omhrc.gov/npasummit2009/
February 25-27 National Harbor, MD