We are thrilled to announce the dates for the 2023, in person, APS Annual Meeting. This will be a time to reconnect and renew relationships with our colleagues.
The APS Annual Meeting is an open scientific and clinical forum where investigators from allied disciplines pool their knowledge, consider problems of conceptual relationships, and develop ideas that will stimulate further research.
The meeting is devoted to the presentation of scientific papers, symposia, workshops, poster sessions, and invited lectures, and special attention is given to networking opportunities to foster ongoing relationships within the community.
More about the theme: Health is not merely the absence of disease, or illness, but rather a state of well-being at the physical, psychological and social level. In light of Engel’s biopsychosocial model, as researchers and clinicians in the field of Psychosomatic Medicine, we systematically consider medical, psychological and social factors, and their complex interactions to understand illness. Importantly, there is a fourth factor to consider, which is our environment, the world we live in. Our current world brings several major global challenges, among which climate change, structural adversity and racism, and the global economic and personal consequences of war. It is eminent that we address these challenges also in the context of health.
The 2023 meeting will focus on promoting health and preventing (further) disease, with the best science we have, by addressing the following challenges:
Challenge 1: Promoting health in an uncertain world. This first theme pillar comprises a solicitation for research on identification of at risk individuals on different levels (individual, social, environmental), biobehavioral change efforts to promote health and the role of different mechanisms (behavioral, social, environmental) in the prevention of disease.
Challenge 2: Affecting biopsychosocial mechanisms. This second pillar solicits research on etiological and pathophysiological mechanistic pathways that may be promising to target in primary and secondary prevention and treatment.
Challenge 3: Maintaining the best health possible. The third and final pillar deals with tertiary prevention, or how can we maximize outcomes and prevent further disease. This pillar solicits research focusing on biopsychosocial and environmental predictors of disease progression, and potential ways to maximize outcomes for patients.