President's
Message
Dear
SPR Members:
It
has been a privilege to serve as President of the
Society for Prevention Research and to work with the
SPR Board of Directors, each of whom are dedicated
to addressing the increasing challenges that face
the Society and the field of prevention science. The
Board, SPR standing committees and special task forces
have been very busy over the past year working on
advancing the field of prevention science and increasing
SPR’s presence as the leading scientific organization
in the field. I’m pleased to have the opportunity
to share with you some highlights of the contributions
of many outstanding SPR members who volunteer with
great commitment, time and energy for SPR.
Standards
of Evidence: Criteria for Efficacy, Effectiveness
and Dissemination: During the SPR Board of Directors
annual retreat held in October, 2012 the SPR Board
acknowledged that, given the advances in the field
over the last 10 years, a review and updating of the
SPR Standards of Evidence: Criteria for Efficacy,
Effectiveness and Dissemination was needed. In response,
the Board created the SPR Standards-Next Generation
Task Force to review the Standards and to recommend
revisions. The SPR Board is very pleased that Denise
Gottfredson (University of Maryland) has agreed to
chair the task force. Other members are Felipe Gonzalez
Castro, SPR President-Elect (University of Texas at
Houston), Frances Gardner (University of Oxford),
George Howe, SPR Treasurer (George Washington University),
Irwin Sandler (Arizona State University), and I. The
task force met in April 2013 in Washington, DC. We
are most appreciative that Thomas Cook (Northwestern
University) attended the meeting in an advisor capacity.
The goal of the task force is to submit a revised
set of Standards to the Board for review at its annual
retreat in October 2013.
The
SPR Standards of Evidence are frequently cited when
identifying effective prevention programs and policies,
to justify methods used in evaluation of programs,
and has been influential more generally in the policy
world. Once finalized, the updated Standards will
be disseminated to the membership, the prevention
science community, practitioners and policy makers
at the state and federal levels.
Type
2 Translational Research Task Force: The Type 2 Translational
Research Task Force is supported through the National
Institutes of Health, National Institute on Drug Abuse
R13 Conference Grant Supplement (5R13DA021047-08SI).
The Mapping Advances in Prevention Science (MAPS)
Task Forces are charged with advancing promising ideas
and scientific efforts generated through the Society
for Prevention Research annual meeting, in order to:
(1) foster promising, emerging areas of prevention
science; (2) articulate an agenda to move research
forward in such emerging areas; and (3) nurture the
scientific leadership and capacity required to make
the advances. The MAPS advance a specific focal area
in prevention science through mini-conferences, plenary
sessions, roundtables, invited symposium, and preconference
workshops at the SPR Annual Meeting, and journal articles
and policy briefs. With the outstanding leadership
of co-chairs, Richard Spoth (Iowa State University)
and Luanne Rohrbach (University of Southern California)
the MAPS II, Type 2 Translational Research Task Force
has been working for more than four years to address
a number of aims including: preparation of guidelines
for the conduct of Type 2 translational research,
development of training materials for new prevention
researchers, recommendations for support of Type 2
translational research, and development of materials
on the key elements of Type 2 translational research
designed for program implementers and practitioners.
The culmination of their work is the recent publication
of the article Addressing Core Challenges for the
Next Generation of Type 2 Translational Research and
Systems: The Translation Science to Population Impact
(TSci Impact) Framework in Prevention Science (Richard
Spoth, Louise A. Rohrbach, Mark Greenberg, Philip
Leaf, C. Hendricks Brown, Abigail Fagan, Richard R.
Catalano, et al) (http://www.preventionresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Advancing-Type-2-Translation-Research-PS-SPR-Task-Force-Springer-ONLINE.pdf).
The completion of the work of the task force coincides
with contemporary federal initiatives that have placed
a priority on supporting science based approaches
through encouraging and, in some cases, mandating
the use of evidence-based programs. The final work
of the Type 2 TF will include a document on the “state
of the science” and recommendations intended
to target agency directors and practitioners (essentially
a “brief” based on the work of this paper)
and a resource document for training in Type2 science.
Economic
Analysis in Prevention Research: During the October
2012 retreat the SPR Board also approved the creation
of the Economic Analysis in Prevention Research Task
Force. This task force is the third Mapping Advances
in Prevention Research (MAPS) initiated by SPR and
funded by the NIH R13 conference grant 1R13DA033149-01A1.
The purpose of the Economic Analysis task force is
to bring together prevention scientists working across
diverse fields and economists working within the area
of prevention science to outline elements of standards
for high-quality benefit-cost studies. Through this
work the goal is to inform the science and methods
to aid prevention scientist as they work to integrate
these data into their research. The Board is very
pleased that Kenneth Dodge and D. Max Crowley (Duke
University) have agreed to serve as co-chairs of the
task force. Members of the task force are: Steven
Barnett (NIEER/Rutgers University), Jon Baron (Coalition
for Evidence-Based Policy), Phaedra Corso (University
of Georgia), Sarah Duffy (National Institute on Drug
Abuse), Mark Greenberg (Pennsylvania State University),
Ron Haskins (Brookings Institute), Laura Griner Hill
(Washington State University), Damon Jones (Pennsylvania
State University), Lynn Karoly (RAND), Margaret Kuklinski
(University of Washington), and Robert Plotnick (University
of Washington). The task force will hold its first
meeting in late summer/early fall of 2013.
NIH
Office of Disease Prevention: I am very pleased to
report that in September 2012 long-time SPR member
David M. Murray was appointed as the NIH Associate
Director for Disease Prevention and Director of the
Office of Disease Prevention. One of Dr. Murray’s
first activities as Director has been to lead a strategic
planning process to develop a vision, mission and
priorities for the Office of Disease Prevention (ODP).
I was honored to be included in the strategic planning
working group. On March 13, 2013, the ODP released
a Request for Information (RFI) seeking comments on
the draft mission, vision, and strategic priorities.
This RFI is an extensive process to develop the ODP
Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2013–2018. The
deadline to respond to the RFI was April 30, 2013.
The SPR Board prepared a response to the RFI and provided
talking points to our members should they have been
interested in responding as individuals (http://www.preventionresearch.org/SPR_ODP_RFI.pdf
).
Prevention Science: I am very pleased to report that
Catherine Bradshaw, Associate Dean for Research and
Faculty Development and Professor in the Department
of Human Services at the Curry School of Education,
(University of Virginia) has accepted the appointment
as the next editor of Prevention Science effective
January 1, 2014 (Click here for press release http://www.preventionresearch.org/news-release-catherine-p-bradshaw-ph-d-m-ed-named-new-editor-of-prevention-science/).
The SPR Board is most appreciative of the work of
the SPR Publications Committee, chaired by Margaret
Ensminger, for recruiting Dr. Bradshaw to this critical
role. Dr. Bradshaw will succeed Robert McMahon whose
seven year term as editor will end December 2013.
Dr. McMahon’s distinguished service to SPR as
editor of Prevention Science will be acknowledged
at the 2013 SPR Annual Awards Presentations, May 30,
2013.
I
am also pleased to report that Luanne Rohrbach, Director
of the MPH Program and Associate Professor of Research,
Preventive Medicine (University of Southern California)
has accepted the appointment as associate editor of
Prevention Science and joins associate editors J.
Mark Eddy (University of Washington), Stephanie Lanza
(The Pennsylvania State University), David MacKinnon
(Arizona State University), Hanno Petras (JBS International,
Inc.), and Steven Schinke (Columbia University). Rohrbach
fills the appointment formerly held by Zili Sloboda
(JBS International, Inc.). We are most appreciative
of the service of Zili Sloboda who served twelve distinguished
years as associate editor.
2013
Annual Meeting Planning: The hard work of the 2013
SPR Program Planning Committee, chaired by Guerillmo
(Willy) Prado (University of Miami), will be evident
for all of those who will be attending the 21st Annual
Meeting “The Science of Prevention: Building
a Comprehensive National Strategy for Well-Being,”
May 28 – 31, 2013 in San Francisco, CA. The
committee is comprised of members of the board of
directors, chairs of each of the SPR committees, as
well as, representatives from the NIH, CDC, ODP, and
ACYF. In addition to the program planning committee,
the Early Career Preventionist Network (ECPN), the
Diversity Network Committee (DNC), and the International
Task Force (ITF) each plan their activities for the
annual meeting. The program development would not
be possible without the contributions from the 120
members who reviewed the 772 abstracts that were submitted.
Each abstract is reviewed by three reviewers and the
time commitment contributed by these volunteers is
highly valued. If you didn’t volunteer this
year, please consider participating next year!
SPR
Fellows: This year the first cohort of SPR Fellows
will be honored at the SPR Annual Awards Presentation.
The SPR Fellows program was created to honor a select
group of members who have a particularly distinguished
record of contribution to the field of prevention
science. Please join me in congratulating the 2013
SPR Fellows who are Gilbert J. Botvin (Weill Cornell
Medical College), Patricia Chamberlain (Oregon Social
Learning Center), J. David Hawkins (University of
Washington), Sheppard Kellam (Johns Hopkins University),
David MacKinnon (Arizona State University), David
Olds (University of Colorado, Denver), Irwin Sandler
(Arizona State University), Patrick Tolan (University
of Virginia) and Zili Sloboda (JBS International,
Inc.). We are very pleased that David M. Murray will
be giving the keynote address “Developing a
Strategic Plan for Prevention Research at NIH”
which precedes the awards presentation.
2013
Elections: The 2013 elections have concluded and I’m
very pleased to announce the new members of the SPR
Board of Directors for the 2013 – 2016 term
are Leslie Leve (Oregon Social Learning Center), Greta
Massetti (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention),
Irwin Sandler (Arizona State University) and Patrick
Tolan (University of Virginia). The new ECPN chair-elect
is Marie-Hélène Véronneau, (Université
du Québec à Montréal). The chair-elect
serves a two-year term before becoming chair.
It
has been my honor to have served as President of the
Society and work with the Board of Directors and the
members to advance the field of prevention science.
I
look forward to seeing you at the annual meeting in
San Francisco.
Sincerely,
Deborah Gorman-Smith, PhD
President