Dear SBSM Members,
I am thrilled to share that we are officially the Society for Biopsychosocial Science and Medicine (SBSM). Our name change was approved by the state of New York last week. We are continuing updates to our name in public forums and with external agencies.
Staff have been hard at work updating our website. Stay tuned for news of updates to our website address and social media channels. We also aim to enhance our social media presence in the coming year so please join in communications in our new SBSM social media platforms as they are launched and throughout the year.
The journal and our publisher have begun the process to update our journal name to Biopsychosocial Science and Medicine. The journal name change will take effect at the start of 2025. We encourage submission of your best science for consideration for publication in the inaugural year of our renamed journal.
We also look forward to our first annual meeting as SBSM in Seattle in March of 2025. Our Biopsychosocial Science and the Future of Health and Well-being Across the Lifespan annual meeting theme provides an ideal opportunity to showcase our cutting-edge science and its applications to the promotion of health and well-being. Join us in creating a history-making first annual meeting as the Society for Biopsychosocial Science and Medicine.
Council has been diligently developing strategies to advance the goals of the SBSM Strategic Plan, which we debuted at our 2024 annual meeting. This will include collaborating with our Committees, Special Interest Groups (SIGs), and other working groups in the coming months to optimize the strategic actions we will take in support of our goals of Scientific Excellence, Clinical and Public Health Impact, and an Inclusive and Engaged Membership. We appreciate your support of these efforts through your engagement in these groups. Visit our committee and SIG webpages to learn more about SBSM engagement opportunities.
Past President Pete Gianaros brought our members together for the monumental achievement of affirming a new name for our society. We now need to continue our collective efforts to move SBSM into a new decade of growth and innovative impact. Our many years of social, economic, health, and environmental challenges have clarified the need to identify, communicate, and implement effective biopsychosocial strategies for promoting health and well-being. The societal need is great, and the opportunity for impact is even greater.
I want to thank each of you for your excellent work in furthering SBSM’s mission to advance biopsychosocial science and its clinical and public health applications. I also want to call on each of us to be involved in cultivating our collective capacity as a society towards these ends. We look forward to your energetic engagement as we begin this inaugural year as SBSM.
Tara Gruenewald, PhD, MPH
President, SBSM 2024-2025