3rd National Obesity Student Meeting, Edmonton, June 20-23, 2012

Yesterday was the beginning of the 3rd Canadian Obesity Student Meeting here at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. Regular readers may recall previous posts on the 1st meeting in Laval and the 2nd at the University of Ottawa.

This year’s meeting, organised by the Canadian Obesity Network’s Students and New Professionals (CON-SNPs), once again brings well over a 100 of Canada’s brightest and finest students and trainees from across Canada for three days of intense scientific and social exchange.

The local CON-SNP organisers, Becky Mercer, Nicole Glenn, and Angela Coppola, have done a tremendous job of pulling the program together. Thanks also to their faculty advisors Bill Colmers and Kim Raine.

The over 100 oral presentations and posters at this meeting cover every conceivable topic from sedentariness and physical activity in kids to school interventions, maternal and infant health, food insecurity and aboriginal health, fat tissue biology and neuroscience, body image and mental health, cancer, inflammation, fatty liver and cardiovascular disease, as well as behavioural, medical and surgical treatments.

Accompanying the conference is an art exhibit ‘The Big Idea‘, featuring a visual exploration of contemporary culture and obesity by ten Canadian, US and UK artists (selected from over 60 submissions), curated by Julian Forrest.

The opening reception for The Big Idea, featuring the noted US performance artist, writer and sociologist, Kimberly Dark, will be held at the Peter Robertson Gallery, June 21, at 7.30 p.m.

I look forward to a couple of exciting and engaging days here in Edmonton,

AMS
Edmonton, Alberta