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Obesity and the Built Environment Conference Scheduled May 24-26, 2004

NIEHS To Host "Obesity and the Built Environment: Improving Public Health through Community Design"

What: A 3-day conference which will focus on built environment and obesity links at cross-cutting levels and settings, across the board, from families and urban/suburban/rural residential communities, to schools and children, and work sites. Questions to be addressed include the areas of community and workplace design, policy, communication and education.

Why: With obesity at epidemic proportions and a major area of focus for the Department of Health and Human Services and the NIH, this conference will provide an excellent forum to discuss and illustrate how different environments contribute to obesity via access to food and physical activity, and how environmental health research and interventions can address this growing public health problem.

Hosts: The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) is organizing this conference.

When: Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, May 24-26, 2004.

Where: Wardman Park Marriott in Washington, D.C.

Who: More than 350 people are registered, representing multiple disciplines (including researchers from public and environmental health arenas, urban planners, policy makers, advocacy and public health professionals, etc.) and a variety of sectors (including federal, state and local governments, academia, private industry, and public interest groups). Keynote presenters include Drs. Jim Hill, Mike McGinnis, Adam Drewnoski, David Satcher, and Lou Sullivan.

Info: More details about the conference can be found at www.niehs.nih.gov/drcpt/beoconf/.

Part of the National Institutes of Health, NIEHS conducts and supports research to reduce the burden of human illness and dysfunction from environmental causes by understanding environmental factors, individual susceptibility and age and by discovering how these influences interrelate.

Fact sheets on Obesity and the Built Environment can be found on the NIEHS home page at www.niehs.nih.gov/drcpt/beoconf/factsht.pdf.