Develop obesity prevention and reduction strategies at October summit

posted 09.13.12

The Texas Health Institute and Youth Empowered Solutions invite physicians to attend the 6th Annual Southern Obesity Summit Oct. 14-16, 2012, in Charlotte, N.C.

The Southern Obesity Summit is the largest regional obesity prevention event in the United States, drawing hundreds of participants from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia.  Together, these states are joining forces to fight obesity.

• 400 participants from 16 southern states will convene to publicize effective and emerging obesity prevention and reduction practices in the region and energize grassroots efforts in each state.
• Youth from across the 16 states will come together to identify effective strategies, share experiences and provide their perspective on creating environments to support eating healthy and being active.
• Attendees will consist of policymakers, leaders from community-based organizations, federal and state government officials, health care providers, youth and members from national and state associations.
• SOS provides an opportunity for regional partnering and provides each state access to technical assistance through learning collaboratives.
• The three-day conference offers networking opportunities, fast-paced breakout sessions, workgroup meetings, and plenary sessions that will focus on cross-state collaboration, best practices and youth leadership in obesity prevention.

The Southern Obesity Summit began with seed capital from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation as a spinoff project of the Southern Rural Access Program, a seven-year initiative to improve access to care. The Southern Rural Access Program’s National Advisory Committee was led by Regina Benjamin, M.D., M.B.A., family physician and current Surgeon General of the United States. The Texas Health Institute and Arkansas Center for Health Improvement partnered to put on the inaugural SOS in Little Rock in 2007. 

Registration is now open. Go to www.southernobesitysummit.org for details.