Call for Nominations: ICA/NCA Health Communication Dissertation & Thesis of the Year Awards 2009

ICA and NCA are pleased to release a call for outstanding doctoral dissertations and masters theses in the area of health communication. A cash award is given in the amount of $500 each for the top dissertation and top thesis.

To be considered for the 2009 awards, theses and dissertations must have been completed (defended) between 1 September 2007 and 31 December 2008. If the completion date was in the last four months of 2007, the thesis or dissertation cannot have been submitted for last year’s competition. Individuals may nominate themselves, but advisors must be notified of the nomination. Thesis and dissertation papers will be evaluated by a panel of elected officers of the ICA and NCA Health Communication Divisions, with the ICA Chair serving as the award coordinator.

The nomination packet should include (a) a cover letter with the name, postal address, telephone number and email address of the nominee and his or her advisor(s) and completion date of the dissertation or thesis, and (b) a manuscript that acts as an integrated summary of the thesis or dissertation not exceeding 30 pages (double-spaced, one-inch margins on all sides) excluding references and title page. Reviewers will be instructed not to read beyond the first 30 pages of text. Complete theses or dissertations or chapters of same will not be accepted for review. The summary paper should describe the study’s rationale, theoretical framework, research questions, relevant literature, methods, results and conclusions. The summary paper should include a title page that contains only the title and the abstract. Care should be taken to mask the identity of the author within the text of the paper.

Send an electronic copy of the cover letter and manuscript to:

David Buller
Chair, ICA Health Communication Division
Email: dbuller@kleinbuendel.com

The deadline for receipt of the papers is March 31, 2009. Manuscripts received after that date will not be reviewed. Awards will be presented at the business meeting of the ICA Health Communication Division at the 2009 ICA Annual Conference in Montreal, Quebec in May 2009.

National Collaborative on Childhood Obesity Research

The National Collaborative on Childhood Obesity Research (NCCOR) is a new joint program from the CDC, NIH, and RWJF. From the press release on RWJF:

Through the collective efforts of these organizations, NCCOR will aim to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of research on childhood obesity. It will evaluate new and existing prevention approaches, rapidly assess promising policy changes and speed the application of interventions that work.

Hopefully this will pay off by bringing together talented organizations and researchers, there is more information on the NCCOR website.

Related to childhood obesity, I had a great opportunity to present some new research at the UT School of Nursing Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Research in Underserved Populations (CHPR) annual conference. The presentation focused on the use of the Internet by low health literate parents in trying to raise children with healthy eating and physical activity habits. I probably need to wait before posting more, because the formal article reporting that research is currently under review. But the conference in general was great, I highly recommend it to anyone with interests in health disparities research.

New Bill Would Repeal NIH Open Access Policy

Browsing around a few websites this morning, I came across this gem on Slashdot: New Bill Would Repeal NIH Open Access Policy.

There's a long and spirited discussion there about how and why this might be a bad idea, though some of the comments in that thread do wander a bit from the core issues of this particular bill and NIH open access. Even with the occasional tangents, though, the conversation includes interesting thoughts on not taxpayer-funded research, changes in the publishing industry, etc. It's definitely worth 15 minutes to look through information about the bill and that discussion.

2009 NIH Regional Seminar - Atlanta, GA in April

I don't know if everyone out there subscribes to the NIH mailing lists, so here's a cool program I got an e-mail about today...


The National Institutes of Health (NIH) would like to inform you of an exciting opportunity in the Southeast region of the U.S. to learn about the NIH funding process. The first NIH Regional Seminar on Program Funding and Grants Administration for 2009 will be held in Atlanta, GA in April. These seminars are held only twice each year and are intended to help demystify the application and review process, clarify federal regulations and policies, and highlight current areas of special interest or concern. Approximately 25 leading NIH & HHS policy, program, and grants management officials will share their expertise and guidance on topics such as:

• Fundamentals of the NIH Grants Process
• How to apply for and manage an NIH grant
• What’s new in NIH peer review
• Latest grant policies
• Grant writing for success
• Public access
• Cost issues
• Compliance
• Small business opportunities
• Human and animal policies/resources
• NIH’s Loan Repayment Payment Program
• How to interact electronically with NIH
• And so much more!

On the day prior to the seminar, attendees have the option of participating in electronic Research Administration (eRA) Computer Workshops designed to provide hands-on experience in utilizing the eRA Commons for administrators and investigators. For an additional fee, participants can attend the eRA Electronic Application Submission Workshop or the eRA Commons Workshop: Account Administration Basics & Post Submission Functionality. These workshops are geared to administrators, principal investigators and assistants with little or no eSubmission or eRA Commons experience and focus on how to use the electronic systems to facilitate application/grant administration.


I haven't done this kind of workshop, but I certainly appreciated the chance to review for NIH last year and get a better feel for how that whole process works. If you're interested in the workshop, more information is online at: http://www.osp.gatech.edu/NIH_Seminar.html

National Communication Association Conference Deadline

Just a reminder to any health communication researchers out there, the NCA conference deadline is February 11th. Full convention info is at http://www.natcom.org/nca/Template2.asp?bid=10332. I'm looking forward to ICA in May and then NCA, I like things falling back-to-back in Chicago.