It is that time again! The 2008 annual meeting of COMSEP, Medical Students and Community: Using Medical Student Education to Address Health Disparities, will be held April 3-5, 2008 at the Omni Hotel CNN Center, Atlanta, GA. The meeting will feature presentations and workshops related to our theme, as well as an exciting selection of other workshops, task force sessions, posters and platform presentations of our research. Morehouse School of Medicine is honored to be your primary meeting host. Emory University School of Medicine, Medical College of Georgia, and Mercer University School of Medicine are co-hosts. Because this meeting is on the east coast we will have a slightly different format this year to allow for travel for some of our more distant members. All programming will finish up on Saturday night at our social event.

The Miller/Sarkin Invited Lectureship speaker is former Surgeon-General David Satcher, MD, PhD. Dr. Satcher has an amazing record of achievement in medical education, health policy, and advocacy for all of our citizens. A biography of Dr. Satcher would take more pages than our entire program book! Currently, Dr. Satcher serves as Director of the Center for Excellence for Sexual Health in the National Center for Primary Care at Morehouse School of Medicine. The mission of the National Center for Primary Care is to promote excellence in community-oriented primary health care and optimal health outcomes for all Americans, with a special focus on underserved populations and on the elimination of health disparities.

Three pre-conference workshops will occur on the morning of April 3^rd. Our highly evaluated new Clerkship Director workshop and a Grant-Writing workshop will take place at the Omni Hotel. In keeping with our meeting theme, the third pre-conference workshop, on Cultural Competency medical student education will take place on the campus of Morehouse School of Medicine in our clinical simulation and e-labs; attendees will have transportation included.

The site of the meeting is a resort hotel right in the middle of it all in downtown Atlanta! Attached to the CNN Center, with close walking distance to the Georgia Aquarium, The Children's Museum, and the new World of Coca-Cola, and many restaurants, visitors will get a great feel for our cosmopolitan city (but with a country feel!). The King Center is a long walk or a short cab ride as well. Our Saturday night social events are also affairs of legend! We will have a wonderful evening of dinner, live entertainment, and dancing. The event will be held at the Carter Center, only a short ride from the Omni.

For those of you that are allergy sufferers, please bring your antihistamines! April in Atlanta is at the height of our pollen season. With all of the dogwood trees flowering it is quite beautiful in Atlanta in the Spring; the weather should be in the upper 60s or higher!

Remember that the meeting is open to anyone at your institution who is involved in student education. We welcome new members to COMSEP and you will quickly feel at home. A meeting attraction that keeps us coming back is the opportunity to network and socialize with colleagues. We look forward to seeing you in Atlanta.

Best regards,

David A. Levine, MD Primary Host

Programs were mailed in January 2008. You may download the materials from the links below as well. Documents are also posted in the members-only library. If you have any questions about registration, please contact Lisa Elliott at 919-942-1993 or via e-mail at lhe@abpeds.org.

Meeting Program, Schedule, and Workshop Choices