Media Advisory

CDC Holds Inaugural Conference to Address Obesity Crisis in the United States

What:

Weight of the Nation Conference

Who:

Elected and appointed public policy makers; federal, state and local public health leaders; organizations and researchers engaged in policy-related obesity prevention and control initiatives.

Weight of the Nation is designed to provide a forum to highlight progress in the prevention and control of obesity through policy and environmental strategies and highlight strategies that overcome barriers to the primary prevention of obesity for youth and adults in four settings: communities, medical care, schools, and workplaces.  Highlights:

Monday, July 27
The following speakers will be featured during the opening remarks on Monday, July 27. (Please note that due to security reasons, all visitors must be seated in the Regency ballroom no later than 8:30. Those individuals arriving after 8:30 may be seated in the Ambassador Room to view opening remarks on a monitor.) 

• 8:30 a.m. — 9:30 a.m.
  Janet Collins, Ph.D.
  Director, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion
  
  Thomas R. Frieden, M.D., M.P.H.
  Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
  Administrator, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
  
  James S. Marks, M.D., M.P.H.
  Senior Vice President, Health Group Director
  Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
  
  Rear Admiral Steven K. Galson, M.D., M.P.H.
  Acting Surgeon General, Office of the Surgeon General
  Department of Health and Human Services
• 9:30 a.m. — 10:15 a.m.
  President Bill Clinton
  Founder, William J. Clinton Foundation
  42nd President of the United States
• 11:00 a.m. — 12:00 p.m.
  Media Briefing
  Release of New Obesity Economic Data
  Release of Community Solutions to the Obesity Problem
  
  Call in information:
  Media: 888-795-0855
  International: 630-395-0031
  Listen Only: 800-857-5020
  Passcode: CDC Media 
  
  A listen-only webcast of the media briefing will be available at http://www.videonewswire.com/event.asp?id=60935.
• 12:45 p.m. - 1:15 p.m.
  Senator Tom Harkin
  2009 ASTPHND Award Recipient

Tuesday, July 28

• 8:00 a.m. — 8:30 a.m.
  Opening Remark
  Kathleen Sebelius, M.P.A.
  Secretary of Health and Human Services
• 12:45 p.m. — 1:15 p.m.
  Remarks
  Howard Koh, M.D.
  Assistant Secretary for Health, Health and Human Services

Wednesday, July 29

• 9:30 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.
  Presentation of 2009 Pioneering Innovation Awards

When:

July 27-29, 2009

Where:

Omni Shoreham Hotel
2500 Calvert Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20008

Important instructions: Registration for media is free onsite.  Press credentials will be verified at the onsite registration table. 

Some sessions will be broadcast live. For more information about the conference and to view the full program schedule and list of live broadcast sessions, visit: www.weightofthenation.org

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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES