PRESIDENTS CORNER             

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS

David Wyatt Seal, Ph.D.

It is a tremendous honor to become the Academy's next President.

As we move forward to the 2010-2011 program year, I want to share the essence of something Charles Storing used to always tell me when I was younger. Charlie was the long-term mayor of the city I grew up in. The city had a lot of problems- poverty, gangs, crime- and few assets. But Charlie was a relentless believer in the city of La Puente and a tireless worker toward the betterment of the quality of life of its residents. And he used to constantly tell me:

“We see the values and quality of life going down all around us. Our expectations are lower. If we can’t solve our problems, we lower our expectations to meet our problem. Thus, we lower our standards of life….What we need to do is raise our standards and expectations and strive to attain those standards. Then, we can improve the quality of life.”

Applied to the Academy, I think it is imperative that we never lower our standards and expectations of meritocracy in our membership and in our conference program. Scientific rigor is the foundation of this organization and a pillar that sets our meetings apart from others. It is the reason that I have returned every year since my first meeting in 2002 and consider the Academy to be my home professional organization.

At the same time, we must strive to be welcoming and inclusive in our membership. If people do not meet our high standards of meritocracy, we should not lower our standards. Rather, we need to provide support, encouragement, and mentorship to help individuals achieve our expectations. The long-term survival of the Academy is dependent upon developing the next generation of health behavior researchers and leaders. As someone who joined the Academy as an early-career academician, I am extremely grateful for the support I have received from senior Academy members and the opportunities they have given me to become involved in Academy leadership positions. Know that I am committed to giving support and opportunity to the next generation of leadership.

Third, the passion that Academy members have for their research is evident. But as the Academy matures, I hope it also will become known as an organization and a membership of compassion. An advisor once told me, "behind every piece of data is a person." In our quest for scientific rigor, let us never forget the people that our research impacts through their participation in our studies, the knowledge gained and disseminated, and the policy it drives. Next year's conference, being chaired by Dr. Lisa Benz-Scott, is titled "The Art and Science of Community-Based Participatory Research: Methods, Measures, and Evidence for Health Behavior Change." It is my hope that next year's conference will highlight "Community" in Community-Based Participatory Research and raise awareness of ways for all us to be more compassionate researchers.

Finally, in all of our work whether theoretical or applied, it is imperative that we never lose sight of meaningful outcomes. Ultimately, our research becomes meaningful when it leads to improved health, increased health equity, and reduced health disparity. In our individual and collective bodies of research, let's make AAHB known as an organization and a membership that makes an impact on improving the public health of communities- broadly defined- who are most in need through compassionate, rigorous research.

Toward this end, I have four primary goals for next year. First, I am committed to the continued promotion of the highest standards of scientific rigor in health behavior research.  Second, I want to foster meaningful dialogue and action related to minority health research issues. Yesterday, I had the pleasure of meeting with a small group of AAHB members to begin this dialogue and outline strategies for turning dialogue into action. This dialogue will not be about increasing diversity of membership. Rather, it will be about fostering an environment within our Academy and in our research that will show commitment and compassion to minority health research, and which will make people from diverse backgrounds and experiences feel welcomed and heard.  Third, I remain committed to cultivating the next generation of health behavior researchers and AAHB leaders. We must continue to reach out to our junior members and nurture their research talents and their leadership abilities.

Finally, it is notable that only 2 people on next year's board were original members of the Academy. As the founding leaders give way to the next generation of Academy leadership, it is critical that we do not lose our historical foundations. There remain large gaps in the documentation of the Academy's collective history, the development of standard operating procedures for the Academy, and the standardization AAHB materials. I have asked next year's leadership to work with me to address these gaps in order to inform future generations of leadership.

So what can you do? Well, first you can become an ambassador. Peer endorsement is the best advertisement AAHB can receive. I call on each and every one of you to recruit new members and new attendees to our annual conference.

Second, become involved. There are lots of volunteer opportunities within the Academy's leadership structure. Many of our current board leaders started out as volunteers on AAHB councils, committees, or workgroups. For example, Dong-Chul Seo, our newly elected delegate began as a judge for the Poster Competition. The next year, he was appointed to the Professional Development Council and was selected as the Research Review Abstract Chair. Now, he moves up to an elected position for the next 3 years. He's a great example of member working up the leadership ranks as his own career progresses from early- to- mid career.

Third, network and dialogue with other members and conference atttendees. To senior members of the academy, I call on you to reach out and support emerging and early-career scholars in our organization. To junior members, I remind you that networking is a bidirectional responsibility. Seek senior members out, talk with them, share your passion for your research interests and let them know who you are. And take advantage of the mentoring and training opportunities that the Academy offers to students and early career scholars in health behavior.

We encourage junior members to become involved in organizational workgroups and committees. Within these groups, you can receive mentorship from senior academy members and an opportunity to grow into leadership positions. We also offer several professional development opportunities at our annual conference. Professional Development Workshops are designed to provide in-depth experiential training on health behavior methodology, theory, and behavior change intervention. Professional Development Luncheon Seminars are aimed at young scholars and focus on strategies for successful grant development and manuscript submission. Class I CHE credits are available at the conference for people in need of continuing education. We further offer special invitation-events for students and new conference attendees to create linkages with senior academy members and make individuals feel welcomed at the conference. Finally, the academy recognizes outstanding scholarship among students and recent graduates. The Judy Black Award is in recognition of early-career health behavior research that is innovative, rigorous, and makes an important contribution to science or practice. We also recognize the Outstanding Student Poster at our annual conference.

Although I have focused on early scholars, I also recognize the need to develop mentoring and professional growth opportunities for mid-career, and even advanced career, scholars. We will continue to explore meaningful ways to provide these opportunities for more senior members.

Lastly, we welcome innovative ideas to improve the Academy. But I will apply the same rule I use with my research teams: don't offer criticism unless you also offer suggestions for improvement. It's easy to complain, but solutions require thought and creativity. We want your thought and creativity.

So the journey continues. Since I started my journey as a backyard philosopher, it seems only appropriate to cycle back in the end. I leave you with this: “Success is not measured by the number of pages in a person’s CV, but by the number of pages left behind along the way.” Often the most important contributions we make are not those which can be summarized in a CV. Rather, it's all the little things we do to reach out to others, to make them feel welcome and included, to mentor, to care- all those things that take time away from building our CV. Thus, the pages left behind. But in the end, it's all those things we leave behind that will make the American Academy of Health Behavior a place that health researchers from all spectrums will want to call home.

Thank you.

David W. Seal, Ph.D.

AAHB President