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SPR News – June 25, 2004

Dear SPR Member:

This issue of “SPR News” includes information on the following:

• SPR Holds 12th Annual Meeting
• SPR’s Strategic Plan Updated
• SPR Election Results – New SPR Board Members
• 2004 SPR Award Recipients
• SPR Service Appreciation
• The Mothers of Prevention

SPR HOLDS 12TH ANNUAL MEETING

More than 660 attendees from 43 states and 16 countries, including 131 Canadians, traveled to the 12th Annual Meeting, held in Quebec City, May 26 – May 28, 2004. The 12th Annual Meeting “Crossing Borders: Linking Prevention Science, Policy and Practice” included a successful blend of cutting-edge science presented by prevention researchers from the U.S., Canada, Europe, South America, Africa and Australia and linked prevention researchers, policy makers and practitioners.

The three-day program included 80 sessions with 270 paper presentations and two evening poster sessions with 240 poster presentations. A special thematic emphasis on early childhood development throughout the conference included a one day pre-conference co-sponsored by the University of Montreal, Centre of Excellence for Early Childhood Development that was attended by 250 researchers and practitioners. Two additional pre-conferences focused on the design and analysis of group-randomized trials and the training of prevention researchers and practitioners.

This year the SPR Early Career Preventionist Network (ECPN) annual meeting activities included: the “Meet the Scientist Dinner” that provided an opportunity for informal discussions between senior scientists and ECPNers, the annual ECPN luncheon “An Historical Perspective from Voices in the Field: The Science of Prevention” and an ECPN training session “Publishing as an Early Career Scientist – Strategies and Tips for Success.” The Power Point training presentations are available at http://www.preventionresearch.org/ECPN_Publishing.php.

Many thanks to our NIH partners, the William T. Grant Foundation and to our annual meeting sponsors for their wonderful financial support of meeting events and activities. With their support SPR awarded $20,000 in meeting travel grants to 43 young investigators presenting at the annual meeting. Thanks are also extended to contributors to the SPR Minority Scholarship Fund, which awarded $2,900 in travel grants to 6 minority investigators presenting at the meeting. Special thanks to Ray Peters, Chair of the 2004 Program Planning Committee, and the members of the committee for their work for an excellent conference.

We encourage attendees to follow up with presenters for copies of handouts or slides, as available. Author and presenter e-mails are included in the printed program now available on line at http://www.preventionresearch.org/meeting2004.php

SPR’s STRATEGIC PLAN UPDATE

Three of the subthemes of the 12th Annual Meeting advanced SPR’s strategic goals. The first, Prevention Research in Real World Settings, examined research on tested and efficacious practices and policies as they are disseminated on a large scale, in different cultures, and in different countries. Approximately 50% of the meeting sessions focused on this subtheme.

The second subtheme, Monitoring Systems for Children and Youth, highlighted research on community, state and national monitoring systems that measure important aspects of child and adolescent well-being and the factors that influence it. SPR’s new monograph Community-Monitoring Systems: Tracking and Improving the Well-Being of America’s Children and Adolescents was released at the meeting. The monograph is available as a PDF file at http://www.preventionresearch.org/CMSbook.pdf.

The third subtheme, Evidence-Based Standards, focused on the development of criteria for evidence-based standards and how these standards influence prevention policy. SPR’s newly adopted Standards of Evidence: Efficacy, Effectiveness and Dissemination was released at the meeting and is available as a PDF file at http://www.preventionresearch.org/StandardsofEvidencebook.pdf.

SPR ELECTION RESULTS – NEW SPR OFFICERS AND BOARD MEMBERS

J. David Hawkins announced the election results at the awards banquet on May 27 in Quebec City. The newly elected board members for three-year terms are Cheryl Perry, Robert Saltz, Richard Spoth and Pamela Thurman. Congratulations to the new board members.

2004 SPR AWARD RECIPIENTS

The SPR Award Recipients announced at the annual awards banquet are:
* International Collaborative Prevention Research Award – Matthew Sanders,
* Science to Practice Award – Frances M. Harding,
* Public Service Award – Charles G. Curie,
* Presidential Award – Linda M. Collins and John Graham,
* Nan Tobler Award for Review of the Prevention Science Literature – Mark Lipsey,
* Prevention Science Award – Richard Price,
* Community, Culture, and Prevention Science Award – Tracy Harachi,
* Service to SPR Award – Anthony Biglan,
* Friend of ECPN Award – Irwin Sandler,
* ECPN Early Career Award – Esteban V. Cardemil.
Please visit http://www.preventionresearch.org/sprnews_awards2004.php for the text of the awards presentation.

SPR’S APPRECIATION AWARDS

The Annual Meeting marked the end of terms for several SPR Board Members. J. David Hawkins thanked the following out-going board members for their commitment and dedication to SPR over the past three years: Doug Coatsworth, Denise Gottfredson, Chris Ringwalt and Alex Wagenaar. Hawkins also presented certificates of appreciation to Ray Peters, Chair of the 2004 Program Planning Committee, and Brian Flay, Chair of the Standards of Evidence Committee.

On behalf of SPR, Hawkins awarded certificates of appreciation to Jan Howard, retired Director of the Prevention Branch of NIAAA, and Larry Seitz, Prevention Research Branch (PRB) at NIDA’s Division of Epidemiology, Services, and Prevention Research, for their service to their respective institutes and their contributions to the field of prevention research.

MOTHERS OF PREVENTION AT ANNUAL DANCE

The highlight of the annual meeting for the second year in a row was the performance of the Mothers of Prevention band at the annual dance. The MOP featured everyone’s favorite prevention researchers and musicians: Brian Bumbarger, drums and vocals; Gil Botvin, trumpet and vocals; Celene Domitrovich, vocals; Jim Emshoff, electric piano and vocals; John Graham, guitars and vocals; David Hawkins, guitar, harmonica and vocals; John Jimenez, lead guitar; Michael Newcomb, guitar and vocals; and Randy Swaim, bass guitar. Dan Olweus, Friday morning’s plenary speaker filled in on electric piano during the breaks. The band dazzled the high-energy dancers until 1:00 am with a mix of popular dance tunes, jazz and blues songs. The annual dance is a fund-raising event for the Minority Scholarship Fund.

Please don’t hesitate to contact me at jdh@u.washington.edu or Jennifer Lewis at jenniferlewis@preventionresearch.org if you have any questions or comments about SPR activities.

J. David Hawkins, President

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