THE EYE SITE Tour Continues
August-November 2002
Nationwide

In the coming months, THE EYE SITE—A Traveling Exhibit on Low Vision for Shopping Centers—will visit malls in Connecticut, New Hampshire, Mississippi, and Indiana. The schedule includes stops in the cities listed below. Planning is underway for 2003-2004 tours, with possible stops scheduled in Washington, DC; Pennsylvania; Colorado; and northern California.

The National Eye Institute (NEI) developed THE EYE SITE as part of its Low Vision Education Program. The program is designed to help people understand what low vision is (vision problems that interfere with the ability to perform everyday activities) and explain what steps they can take to stay independent despite vision loss. Approximately 1 in 20 Americans has low vision.

By the end of 2002, two identical exhibits will have visited 32 malls in 14 states, including Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Florida, Indiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, Nevada, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia.

Since the exhibit tour was launched in 2001, NEI has:

• Provided almost 11 million people with the opportunity to visit the exhibit and learn about low vision.
  
• Distributed nearly 34,000 publications.
  
• Worked with almost 30 vision-related organizations.

For more information, visit THE EYE SITE Web site at www.nei.nih.gov/nehep/eyesite or contact Jean Horrigan at (301) 496-5248.

NIH Joins RadioUnica, Wal-Mart for Hispanic Health Fairs
September-October 2002
Nationwide

The NIH is participating in a series of health fairs to be held from July to October in 10 U.S. cities with large Hispanic populations. The health fairs are being developed and sponsored by RadioUnica, the nation's leading Hispanic media company, in collaboration with Wal-Mart, the nation's largest retail chain, and are held outdoors in a large tent set up on the parking lots of selected Wal-Mart stores.

Visitors to the NIH booth will find information on a variety of conditions and disorders that are a focus of NIH research, including diabetes, cancer, arthritis, stroke, hearing loss, glaucoma, depression, heart disease, and drug and alcohol abuse. Also available are materials promoting healthy eating and exercise. Information is available in both Spanish and English.

The first fair was held on July 21 at a Wal-Mart store in Panorama City, CA, near Los Angeles, and attracted thousands of participants. Additional fairs have been held in Fresno, CA, and in various locations in Texas. Sites and dates of future fairs are:

For street addresses or other information about the fairs, contact Sylvia Shaffer at (301) 402-4507 or via e-mail at shaffers@id.nih.gov.

NIAAA to Co-Sponsor Conference on Addictions and Special Populations
October 7-8, 2002
Binghamton, NY

NIAAA will sponsor the Treating Addictions in Special Populations: Research Confronts Reality conference which is being planned by Binghamton University in collaboration with a statewide planning committee. This conference will involve gathering a multi-disciplinary audience, from all professional fields involved in managing addictions, to enhance research to practice efforts and to encourage teamwork and collaboration at all levels of addiction management. NIAAA will provide opening remarks to kick-off the conference and will present a workshop on results related to treatment-related health disparities in special populations, as well as explore knowledge gaps. Two timely poster sessions will also be exhibited that focus on the NIAAA Task Force on College Drinking and its award-winning Web site, www.collegedrinkingprevention.gov.

Researchers, educators, policymakers, practitioners, service providers, and students are encouraged to attend in order to share and discuss the latest research, policies, and practices with a special focus on the research and treatment needs of special populations. Visit http://sehd.binghamton.edu/pdr/index.htm for program and conference information or contact Jane Angelone, Conference Coordinator, at (607) 777-4447 or via e-mail at angelone@binghamton.edu or Kelly Green Kahn at (301) 443-0347 or via e-mail at kgreenka@mail.nih.gov.

NIAAA and MADD Partner for Annual Symposium
October 17, 2002
Anchorage, AK

NIAAA will cosponsor a research symposium at the Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) annual conference: an event conducted every year to translate research into practice on behalf of Americans who care deeply about impaired driving and underage drinking issues. In support of NIAAA's college initiative, the symposium will focus on issues around college drinking in which more than 1,400 college students die of alcohol-involved deaths every year; approximately 1,100 of which are due to automobile crashes. Presenters will review NIAAA's College Task Force Report, discuss recommendations for prevention interventions, and suggest how community members can support the results of research in practical, real world settings. For additional information, contact at Geoffrey Laredo at (301) 443-6371 or via e-mail at glaredo@willco.niaaa.nih.gov.

NIAAA Invites Public to Participate in National Advisory Council Meeting
September 19, 2002
NIH Campus

The National Advisory Council of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) will meet on the NIH Campus in the Natcher Building, Conference Rooms E1 and E2. Council Meetings are open to the public and include space on the agenda for liaison groups and other members of the public to address Council members. Immediately following the close of the official meeting, a roundtable discussion will be held with NIAAA's Acting Director, Raynard Kington, M.D., Ph.D., and other NIAAA senior managers. The meeting agenda and summaries of previous Council meetings can be found on the NIAAA Homepage at www.niaaa.nih.gov. For additional information, contact Kelly Green Kahn at (301) 443-0347, or via e-mail at kgreenka@mail.nih.gov.

NIH "Shares the Health" with Its Neighbors
October 26, 2002
NIH Campus

Join the NIH Office of Community Liaison for its fourth annual FREE community health forum, Share the Health: An Exposition of Health Resources from NIH to Its Neighbors. The event, which features health-related lectures, workshops, information, and screenings, will be held on Saturday, October 26 from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., at the Natcher Conference Center in Building 45 on the NIH campus in Bethesda, MD.

Community members will have an opportunity to have their blood pressure checked; attend health seminars led by NIH experts; collect health information on the latest NIH research; visit state-of-the-art exhibits by NIH institutes; access NIH's healthy Web sites and its links to reliable health information; learn stress-reducing relaxation techniques; and use the Internet to find important health information on-line, including a new Web site just for seniors and their unique health needs.

Children and teens can explore the "Drunken Brain"—an interactive exhibit including a giant brain model with flashing lights; learn about fire prevention, good nutrition, and the hazards of mercury; tour NIH fire and rescue vehicles; see the NIH police canine team in action; and discover children's healthy Web sites. They can also enjoy a free screening of the classic comedy, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, at the National Library of Medicine.

Sign language interpretation will be provided. Call the Share the Health coordinator at (301) 650-8660—TTY users should call the Federal Relay Service at (800) 877-8339—send an e-mail to tlamotte@palladianpartners.com, or visit the Web site at http://sharethehealth.od.nih.gov.

NIAID Provides Outline of Biodefense Research Agenda to Community
October 26, 2002
NIH Campus

"A Biodefense Agenda for the NIAID Intramural Program" will be the title of a lecture by Thomas Kindt, Ph.D., director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases' (NIAID) Division of Intramural Research at Share the Health, NIH's community health forum, on Saturday, October 26, at 11:00 a.m. in Natcher Auditorium on the NIH campus. NIAID has made key contributions to biodefense research over the years. The government's renewed focus on biodefense funding will enable NIAID to expand ongoing projects and to establish much-needed new initiatives to prepare for potential bioterrorism attacks. For more information on NIAID's biodefense research portfolio, go to www.niaid.nih.gov/publications/bioterrorism.htm or contact James Hadley at (301) 496-5717.

Web Videocast and Public Lecture in the Science of Complementary and Alternative Medicine
November 7, 2002
NIH Campus

Each year, the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) will invite two leading figures in science and medicine to speak about their unique perspectives on the field of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). The lectures will shed light on the evolution of CAM practice and research and the current use of CAM by the public. On November 7, Arthur Kleinman, M.D., Professor of Social Anthropology, Harvard University, and Maude and Lillian Presley Professor of Medical Anthropology and Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, will present the second lecture of 2002, "The Global Transformation of Health Care: Cultural and Ethical Challenges to Medicine." Lectures are free and open to the public. You may also view the lecture through a Web videocast. For more information, visit the NCCAM Web site at http://nccam.nih.gov/news/lectures/index.htm. For more information, contact Linda Gaskill at (301) 984-7191.

Interagency Autism Meeting Open to the Public
November 22, 2002
NIH Campus

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) will sponsor an Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) meeting on November 22, organized by the National Institute of Mental Health. Committee members include representatives from several institutes of the NIH, other Federal agencies, nonprofit organizations, and families of individuals with autism spectrum disorders. The mission of the IACC is to facilitate the efficient and effective exchange of information about autism activities among the member agencies and between them and public members; to serve as a forum for enhancing public awareness of the member agencies' activities, programs, policies and research; and to serve as a forum for bringing important matters of interest forward for discussion.

The November meeting will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in Building 31 (Conference Room 10, 6th Floor) on the NIH campus in Bethesda, MD. The session will be open to the public, with attendance limited to space available. Further information about the IACC, including membership roster, reports from previous meetings, and contact information, can be found at www.nimh.nih.gov/iacc/index.cfm.

NIAAA to Host Town Meeting at U.S. Department of Education's Annual Meeting
November 21-24, 2002
Seattle, WA

NIAAA will host a town meeting at the 16th Annual National Meeting on Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse and Violence Prevention in Higher Education. The town meeting titled From Report to Reality-Barriers to Implementing the Recommendations of the NIAAA Task Force on College Drinking, will focus on the challenges that colleges are likely to face when developing programs and policies based on the recommendations outlined in the report. The Task Force Report, released on April 9, 2002, offers a series of recommendations for college presidents, prevention program planners, and the research community. This session will include perspectives from various stakeholders about the recommendations and the barriers to implementing them. Dr. Mark Goldman of the University of South Florida and one of the co-chairs of the Task Force will preside over this event. For further information, contact Fred Donodeo at (301) 443-6370 or via e-mail at fdonodeo@niaaa.nih.gov.

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