Society of Behavioral Medicine 2020 Annual Meeting & Scientific Sessions - PROJECT ABSTRACT
The Society of Behavioral Medicine (SBM) will hold its 41st Annual Meeting & Scientific Sessions April 1-4,
2020, in San Francisco, CA. This application seeks funding in support of meeting programming addressing the
following specific aims: (1) to train attendees in the skills necessary to effectively integrate emerging
technologies into the behavioral medicine landscape, including (but not limited to) wearable sensors,
telemedicine, and artificial intelligence; (2) to showcase effective models of cross-disciplinary collaboration that
facilitate acceleration of the discovery-to-dissemination pipeline for behavioral medicine interventions; (3) to
enhance the diversity of behavioral medicine professionals by providing mentoring, leadership training,
professional development, and employment networking opportunities to trainees, junior and midcareer faculty,
clinicians, industry professionals, and others who attend the meeting; and (4) to enhance the methodological
rigor of behavioral science research by having expert-led discussions on clinical trial methodology,
reproducibility, open science, and interdisciplinary collaboration to produce new theoretical models and
methods. SBM is the nation’s leading scientific society dedicated to behavioral medicine, representing
approximately 2,400 researchers and clinicians from more than 20 disciplines. SBM’s members include
researchers, clinicians, educators, and industry professionals who focus on the development and integration of
behavioral, psychosocial, and biomedical theory, knowledge, and interventions relevant to the understanding of
health and disease. They work to understand, prevent, and treat chronic diseases such as cardiovascular
diseases, respiratory diseases, diabetes, and cancer. They conduct research and translate findings into real-
world settings to improve lives while also reducing healthcare costs. SBM’s annual meetings are the premier
forum for disseminating behavioral medicine’s important ideas and breakthroughs. The meeting’s educational
sessions, networking events, and exhibit halls facilitate exchange of information and ideas. Attendees apply
the knowledge gained to disease prevention and management, and development of innovative research
designs, effective interventions and strategies, and evidence-based policies. SBM meetings feature high-
impact plenary speakers who present topics such as “Health and Technology Megatrends” (Susannah Fox,
2019). The 2020 SBM Annual Meeting will be attended by an estimated 2,100 individuals from the United
States and abroad, featuring more than 1,500 presentations. The meeting theme is “Accelerating Our Science:
Finding Innovative Solutions to Tomorrow’s Health Challenges.” Sessions will energize attendees to accelerate
behavioral medicine by using new methodological approaches, advanced behavioral theories, and novel
technologies as well as by overcoming key barriers, such as health inequities, policy challenges, health
misinformation, and cross-disciplinary communication difficulties. Most of our country's health challenges have
behavioral origins. Behavioral medicine and the evidence it generates are more important than ever.
