Dear ABMR Colleagues,

Each year, our annual meeting serves as a multidisciplinary forum for thoughtful discussions, engaging debates, and a stimulating exchange of ideas among thought leaders in behavioral medicine. I am proud to continue this tradition for 2024. Our theme is Promoting Healthy Aging and Reducing Chronic Disease Disparities Through Advances in Integrative Team Science and we have a terrific line up of speakers for our Keynotes, symposia, panel discussions and more.

Please see our draft agenda here for more information. Be sure to register for the meeting and book your stay at the conference venue, the historic Depot Renaissance Minneapolis Hotel in downtown Minneapolis – close to the Mississippi River, iconic Stone Arch Bridge, award-winning restaurants, walking trails, theaters and museums.

Early Bird Rates - Register by May 20, 2024, for the discounted rate.

We will welcome 21 newly elected ABMR Fellows this year, and with continued support from NIA, will again welcome a cohort of outstanding early-stage investigators to participate in our ESI program. Our ESI leaders this year are award-winning mentors and leaders in behavioral medicine and include Dr. Jeannette Ickovics from Yale University School of Public Health, Dr. Tracey Revenson from Hunter College, City University of New York, and Dr. Paige Green from the Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences at the National Cancer Institute. As many of you know, our beloved colleague, Dr. Norman Anderson, who passed away unexpectedly in early March, was one of the ESI leaders the past 2 years, offering a leadership skills workshop to our ESIs at the annual meeting. While his contributions to the program will be dearly missed, I am excited for the ESI program that Jeannette, Tracey and Paige will offer. We are looking for ABMR members to serve as mentors during the annual meeting to the 13 outstanding ESIs selected for the program this year. If you are interested in this role, please email info@academyofbmr.org.

I am excited to welcome you to ABMR’s annual meeting on June 20-24 in my adopted hometown of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Please join us for what promises to be a memorable meeting!

Now Launching: The ABMR Membership Survey

The ABMR DEIA Committee is proud to launch the new ABMR Membership Survey - open to all current and past ABMR members.

Please consider submitting a response so that we may better understand the organization’s identity and perceptions on the current state of inclusion and belonging.

Spring Elections

The email invite to vote for new ABMR leadership has been sent to all active, dues current members. Please reach out to info@academyofbmr.org if you are current on dues and did not receive your ballot. Payment for 2024 dues is being collected through the Annual Membership Dues webpage.

Honoring the Lives and Contributions of Past ABMR Fellows

Nancy Adler, PhD

Dr. Adler, the visionary who co-authored the foundational textbook of health psychology in 1979 and dedicated her life to understanding the profound link between social factors and health, died peacefully at her home on January 4, 2024, at the age of 77. "Nancy Adler is one of the most impactful psychological researchers of our era," said Elissa Epel, PhD, Past ABMR President and professor and vice chair for adult psychology in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and co-director of the UCSF Center for Health and Community (CHC), where Nancy had established her influential research home. Learn more about Dr. Adler’s legacy: https://psych.ucsf.edu/news/nancy-adler.

Norman B. Anderson, PhD

Dr. Anderson, clinical psychologist and well-known leader in the behavioral and social sciences, passed unexpectedly on March 1, 2024, while recovering from knee surgeries. Dr. Anderson has served as a valuable resource to ABMR Members in various capacities, including leadership training, mentorship, and his dedicated service to the ABMR DEIA Committee and to the ESI program. His parents were the late Drs. Charles W. and Lois J. Anderson, who were co-pastors of United Institutional Baptist Church in Greensboro. He is survived by his wife of more than 37 years, Elizabeth, and his extended family.  Learn more about Dr. Anderson’s legacy - https://news.fsu.edu/news/university-news/2024/03/02/fsu-remembers-eminent-psychologist-and-national-academy-member-norman-b-anderson/.

John Barefoot, PhD

Dr. Barefoot died peacefully at the UNC Hospice Home in Pittsboro after a long illness on April 11, 2023. From 1983 until his retirement, he was an Associate Research Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine at Duke University Medical Center where he specialized in investigating the correlation between psychosocial factors and heart disease. Learn more about Dr. Barefoot’s legacy: https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/newsobserver/name/john-barefoot-obituary?id=51630369. 

Neil Schneiderman, PhD

Dr. Schneiderman passed away on October 6, 2023, at the age of 86.  Neil was the James L. Knight Professor of Psychology, Medicine, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Public Health Sciences, and Biomedical Engineering.  Within the Psychology Department, he founded the Behavioral Medicine/Health Psychology Program and served as its director since the program’s inception in 1986.  From 2007 until the present, Neil was the principal investigator (PI) of the Miami Field Center of the National Institute of Health’s (NIH) Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos, which is the most comprehensive long-term study of health and disease in Hispanics and Latinos living in the U.S. He served as President of the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research. Neil gave his time and resources to train generations of researchers and clinicians in the field of Behavioral Medicine/Health Psychology, mentoring countless number of students and colleagues over the years. Learn more about Dr. Schneiderman’s legacy: https://www.psy.miami.edu/faculty/nshneiderman.

President: Susan Everson-Rose, PhD, MPH

Past President: Ian Kronish, MD, MPH

President Elect: Elizabeth Brondolo, PhD

Secretary: Paige Green, PhD, MPH

Treasurer: Joe Schwartz, PhD

Membership Chair: Matthew Muldoon, MD

Executive Council: David Chae, PhD, Alison Holman, PhD, Kim Lavoie, PhD, Susan Lutgendorf, PhD, Daniel K. Mroczek, PhD, Eli Puterman, PhD, Cheryl Woods Giscombe, PhD, RN

Admin: Jaclyn Sadiua