As the topical representative for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Physical Activity, and Health Promotion/Interventions, it is my great pleasure to call your attention to the exceptional programming that is coming your way at ACSM’s annual meeting in San Francisco! Our topical area is packed with 15 symposia, colloquia and tutorial lectures as well as 500 free communications (slide shows and thematic and traditional poster sessions). The reach and depth of research to be presented is impressive and speaks to the quality of the work that goes on in the ACSM community each year. Here, I would like to spotlight four particularly exciting events scheduled for the meeting.

On Wednesday, May 27, at 9:30 a.m. we kick things off with a highlighted symposium entitled “Leveraging Big Data: Using the Cloud to Advance Exercise Science” featuring four exciting speakers: Abby C. King, Ph.D., FACSM, from the Department of Health Research & Policy at Stanford University School of Medicine; Euan A. Ashley, M.D., a Director of the Stanford Data Science Initiative at the Stanford University Medical Center; Sean Co, Director of Special Projects at STREETLIGHT DATA, Inc.; and Peter James, Sc.D., from the Department of Population Medicine, Harvard Medical School. The session will focus on how Big Data can help advance exercise science research and the science of precision medicine, enhance mobility and smarter transportation, and move policy and systems approaches to increasing physical activity with environmental interventions forward.

On Thursday, May 28, at 4:55 p.m. after a jam-packed conference day, you don’t want to miss the colloquia entitled, “Communicating the Science of Exercise to the Media and the Public: A Conversation with Gretchen Reynolds of the NY Times.” Gretchen Reynolds is perhaps the foremost translator of exercise science to the public through her insightful weekly Phys Ed column in the New York Times. Gretchen will be joined by I-Min Lee, M.D., FACSM, an epidemiologist from Harvard Medical School and John Quindry, Ph.D., FACSM, a physiologist from the University of Montana, to discuss the challenges, pitfalls and strategies for success in communicating the science of exercise to the public. 

On Friday, May 29, at 9:30 a.m. get ready for a state-of-the-art symposium entitled “Leveraging Electronic and Mobile Health Technology to Promote Physical Activity among Racial/Ethnic Minorities” to be presented by David X. Marquez, Ph.D., FACSM, from the Department of Kinesiology and Nutrition University of Illinois at Chicago; Abby C. King, Ph.D., FACSM, from the Department of Health Research & Policy at Stanford University; Bess Marcus, Ph.D., Dean of School of Public Health at Brown University; and Rodney Joseph Ph.D., from the College of Nursing and Health Innovation at Arizona State University. The symposium will discuss the opportunities for leveraging mobile health (mHealth) technologies to implement culturally relevant, theory-based interventions to minority communities. Experiences and lessons learned from these leading scholars will be presented for mHealth interventions for physical activity in the African American and Latino communities.

On Saturday, May 30, at 9:00 a.m. you will not want to miss an engaging colloquium, entitled, “New Insights on Exercise, Medicine, Aging, and Humanity:  A Conversation with Gretchen Reynolds of the New York Times and Bestselling Dr. Louise Aronson.” Louise Aronson, M.D., is an author and practicing geriatrician at the University of California, San Francisco. Her critically acclaimed book, Elderhood, examines the paradox that we now often spend 30 to 40 years of our life in “old age” after retirement while at the same time old age has been made into a disease. This event, will be hosted by Gretchen Reynolds, the noted Phys Ed columnist for the New York Times, and will discuss insights and provocations about exercise, nutrition and medicine as we get older, and it will surely challenge our notions about exercise, aging and our own humanity.  

Learn more about the ACSM Annual Meeting Program. Ready to join us in San Francisco? Register today!

Charles Matthews, Ph.D., FACSM, is a Senior Investigator in the Metabolic Epidemiology Branch at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). He studies the relationship between physical activity behaviors and the development of cancer in humans.