This year's Innovations in Disaster Psychology conference will be on the topic "Developing Public Health Models in Disaster Mental Health." The conference will be held September 30 - October 2 in South Dakota's glorious Black Hills.

We are very pleased to announce that Lewis R. Goldfrank, M.D., Director of Emergency Medicine, New York University School of Medicine, Bellevue Medical Center will serve as keynote speaker. He was chair of the Institute of Medicine Committee on Responding to the Psychological Consequences of Terrorism. He is the medical director of the New York City Poison Control Center. Dr.Goldfrank served as president of the Society of Academic Emergency Medicine and chaired the American Board of Emergency Medicine's Subboard on Medical Toxicology. He is coeditor of the Agency for Toxic Substances Disease Registry's Medical Guidelines for Managing Hazmat Incidents and senior editor of Goldfrank's Toxicologic Emergencies, a standard text in medical toxicology. Dr. Goldfrank previously served as the chair of the Committee on Evaluation of the Metropolitan Medical Response System Program and as a member of the Committee on Research and Development Needs for Improving Civilian Medical Response to Chemical and Biological Terrorism Incidents. Dr. Goldfrank is a member of the Institute of Medicine (IOM).

The conference committee is still working out the details of the format for this year's conference. Generally this is a small conference of 50-75 colleagues. We intend to have several speakers each of the first two days who will lay out their ideas in the morning and early afternoon. Then there will be small group discussions following, and a plenary session summarizing the small group activity to end each of the first two days. The final half-day session on the 2nd, a Saturday, will take place at the Crazy Horse Memorial educational center. This final session will feature a panel discussion of some of the major speakers, followed by a plenary discussion.

Please come back often. We will update information as the need arises and time allows.

Continuing Education Credit:

The DMHI is approved by the American Psychological Association to offer continuing education for psychologists. The DMHI maintains responsibility for the program. There is an additional charge of $25.00 for a continuing education certificate.