The Asian & Pacific Islander Caucus for Public Health (APIC), in official relations with the American Public Health Association (APHA), invites abstracts for the 2017 APHA Annual Meeting & Exposition.

We encourage submissions that focus on the annual meeting’s theme, "Creating the Healthiest Nation: Climate Changes Health" as it applies to Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities. Abstract submissions authored by or in collaboration with AAPI community-based partners are highly encouraged.

Although we will consider ALL submissions, the 2017 APIC scientific program will highlight work that addresses the annual meeting theme and these emerging public health challenges and priorities:

• AAPI Epidemiology, Climate Changes, and Environmental Health
  
  • Behavioral health epidemiology among AAPI populations
  • Mental health epidemiology among AAPI populations
  • Chronic diseases among AAPIs (cancer, cardiovascular disease, obesity, etc.)
  • Substance abuse epidemiology among AAPI populations
  • Advancement of research methods in AAPI epidemiology, climate changes, and environmental health
  • Climate change, its impact on AAPI climate change refugees and America's health care systems
• Ensuring the Right to Health among APIs
  
  • AAPI Immigrant Health: health trends among AAPI immigrants, refugees and undocumented persons
  • Determinants of AAPI health and AAPI mental health equity
  • Health disparities and inequalities related to gender/sexual orientation, spoken word, poverty, health literacy among AAPIs
  • Barriers and facilities promoting or impeding health in AAPI immigrant and refugee communities
  • Innovative strategies and policies to promote health in refugee and immigrant communities
  • The future of the Affordable Care Act and the implications for AAPIs
• Health Education, Health Communications and Community-Based Interventions among AAPIs
  
  • Health Communication among AAPIs and recent AAPI immigrants and refugees
  • Public health education and interventions
  • Social marketing and health communications
  • Innovative community-based programs, and the research, and evaluation of those programs in addressing health issues in AAPI communities
  • Supporting and sustaining the community health worker (CHW) workforce and CHW programs through policies and systems changes in AAPI populations
  • Ensuring cultural and linguistic access to care
• Innovative research to examine AAPI health
  
  • New methods to elucidate health and health care utilization patterns among AAPIs (e.g., spatial data analysis, etc.)
  • Measuring, analyzing, and harmonizing API health data from multiple sources (e.g., survey data, clinical data, EHR, HIE, etc)
  • Meta-analysis of AAPI health literature
  • Innovative statistical and health services research methods
• Other priority AAPI concerns
  
  • Aging and AAPIs
  • Disparities among disaggregated AAPI subgroups
  • Programs/initiatives on sustainability (e.g., food systems, etc.)  in AAPI communities
  • Representation and Diversity in America’s health workforce (e.g., health care, health research, health equity)

The session topics are preliminary and do not reflect the precise content of the final program.  Presenters selected to give oral or poster presentations will be required to register for the APHA Annual Meeting and become an individual member of APHA and APIC. Therefore, individuals should submit an abstract only if they are committed to making the presentations themselves or have a substitute willing to register, attend the meeting, and deliver the presentation.

Abstract guidelines and requirements:

1) Format

• Abstracts must be limited to 250 words or less.
• Abstracts should be structured to include the following sections: Background/Significance, Objective/Purpose, Methods, Results, and Discussion/Conclusions.
• Do not include references or citations in the text of the abstract.
• Do not include trade or commercial brand names in the abstract.

2) Submission

• Indicate if you wish to present the abstract as an oral or poster presentation.  APHA has general guidelines for each format option. There are limited slots available for oral presentations, so please give the Program Committee as many options as possible.
• Do not include your name or contact information in the text portion as this prohibits blind peer review.

3) Continuing Education Credits:

• APHA values the ability to provide continuing education credit to physicians, nurses, health educators, and those certified in public health at its annual meeting.  Please complete all required information when submitting an abstract so members can claim credit for attending your session. These credits are necessary for members to keep their licenses and credentials.
• For a session to be eligible for Continuing Education Credit, each presenter, panelist, discussant, and/or faculty must provide:

i)             An abstract free of trade and/or commercial product names;

ii)            At least one MEASURABLE SINGLE outcome (“to understand” or “to learn” are not measurable outcomes and compound outcomes are not acceptable). Use ONLY the following Measurable Action Verbs: Explain, Demonstrate, Analyze, Formulate, Discuss, Compare, Differentiate, Describe, Name, Assess, Evaluate, Identify, Design, Define or List.

iii)           A signed Conflict of Interest Disclosure Form with a relevant qualification statement; Example of Acceptable Biographical Qualification Statement: I have been the principal or co-principal of multiple federally funded grants focusing on the epidemiology of drug abuse, HIV prevention and co-occurring mental and drug use disorders. Among my scientific interests has been the development of strategies for preventing HIV and STDs in out-of-treatment drug users. Please note that I am the Principal Investigator of this study is NOT an acceptable qualification statement.

iv)           All continuing education learning content must be of sound science or professional practice and serve to maintain, develop, or increase the knowledge, skills and professional competence of the health professional. Learning content should be evidence-based if available. A list of over 30 areas will be provided online for you to choose from. You will be asked to choose at least one or up to 6 areas that your presentation will address.

v)            Thank you for your assistance in making your session credit worthy. Contact Mighty Fine at mighty.fine@apha.org if you have any questions concerning continuing education. For program questions, contact the program planner listed below.

Blind peer review of abstracts by the Program Committee is based on the following selection criteria:

• Importance. Abstracts should highlight importance and significance of the public health problem or issue. 
• Relevance. Abstracts should be relevant to Asian and/or Pacific Islander health. 
• Innovation. Abstract should highlight innovative and novel topics.
• Quality. Abstracts should completely describe research/project/concept and provide supporting data where appropriate.
• Clarity. Abstracts should be concise, clearly written, and convey the primary goals and/or ideas of the project/program.

APIC Student Abstract Award: The Student Primary Author of the highest scoring student abstract will be recognized with an award during APIC’s annual award ceremony at the 2017 APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition in Atlanta, Georgia. To be considered eligible for the 2017 APIC Student Abstract Award, the primary author must be enrolled as a full-time or part-time student at the time of abstract submission. She/he must also note that she/he is a “Student Primary Author” on the abstract. The invitation to present and/or receive the APIC Best Student Abstract Award will be withdrawn should the primary student author be unable to present at the Annual Meeting. To apply, please refer to the abstract submission guidelines at https://apha.confex.com/apha/145am/oasys.epl.

Those interested in Asian and/or Pacific Islander health are invited to join APIC. Further details on the Caucus can be found at http://www.apicaucus.org. For more information about the 145th APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition, please visit http://www.apha.org/events-and-meetings/annual. 

Submitting an abstract to APIC implies that you understand the terms of this call for abstracts. Failure to adhere to the above-mentioned instructions may result in your abstract not being considered and could impact future submissions. Furthermore, submitting the abstract implies that you (and/or your co-authors/colleagues) are willing to present at the Annual Meeting and Exposition.

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Ready?

Program Planner Contact Information:

Feng Qian, MD, PhD
Department of Health Policy, Management, and Behavior
University at Albany - State University of New York
One University Place, GEC Rm 169
School of Public Health
Rensselaer, NY 12144
Phone: 518-402-0325
Fax: 518--402-0414
fqian@albany.edu

and
Wei Perng, MPH PhD
Nutritional Sciences
University of Michigan School of Public Health
1415 Washington Heights
Room 1860 SPH1
Ann Arbor, MI 48104-2029
Phone: 7347170982
perngwei@umich.edu