USPHS Physicians Professional Advisory Committee -- PPAC News & Announcements

Call in number: 866-756-7152, Participant Code: 4318558 or, for those of you who can't use toll-free numbers, 210-835-2533.

2. COERs were released on October 7th. You should all have received the OCCO notification sent to you on October 6th. Please see the attached documents for assistance with the COER.

3 . On October 1, 2009, President Obama released an Executive Order on reducing test messaging while driving, demonstrating federal leadership in improving safety on our roads. Please see the attached link. http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Executive-Order-Federal-Leadership-on-Reducing-Text-Messaging-while-Driving/

4 . Upcoming AMSUS Meeting : The Annual AMSUS meeting is scheduled from 14-20 November in St. Louis, Missouri. Please see the following link for registration information if you are interested in attending: http://www.amsus.org/convention/attendees/

5. Announcement: NEW Online Course in "Clinical Occupational Medicine and Medical Surveillance". Please see the attached document related to this opportunity labeled "Announcement."

6. Communications:

A. PPAC Listserve: PPAC newsletters such as this one will go out periodically, providing important information on topics relevant to all PHS medical officers (e.g. active duty, retired, and IRC). Past PPAC newsletters are archived on the web, at listserv.nih.gov. To sign up, send an email to Listserv@list.nih.gov with the following text: subscribe Commcorps_medoffcrs firstname lastname.

B. PPAC Website: The PPAC website is a rich source of information for PHS officers. In addition to information about the Physicians Professional Advisory Committee (PPAC), it provides links to key information deemed useful for PHS officers and is often a quick and easy way to find the most relevant information about recent news, policies, promotion, uniforms, etc. Available at: http://usphs-ppac. net /

C. PPAC Portal: The PPAC Portal is a password-protected area of an NIH server for use by PHS medical officers. The Portal is used to share draft policy proposals for comment, job openings for medical officers, PPAC Committee minutes, discussion threads, and other material whose intended audience is limited to PHS medical officers. Copy and paste the following link for instructions on how to obtain access: http://usphs-ppac.org/PPAC_Portal__Instructions_09-17-08.pdf

7. 2009 Schedule of PPAC Calls and Forums: PPAC meetings and Open Forums will continue to occur bimonthly on a staggered basis on the dates listed below. They will begin at 1300 EST on Wednesdays. A call number and an agenda will be sent out prior to each meeting. ALL PHS MEDICAL OFFICERS ARE WELCOME TO JOIN THE CALLS AND THE FORUMS!!! The calls are formal meetings (required for voting members) intended to share and discuss issues the PPAC is working on. The Forums are intended to be opportunities to explore issues of interest to medical officers in greater depth and less formality. Please let me know if you have topics or speaker suggestions for the Forums since we'd like to make sure that we cover relevant and engaging issues. In October, CAPT Jerry Farrell (ret.) will join us to talk about the Commissioned Officers Association (COA).

PPAC Meetings: Jan 28, Mar 25, May 20, July 15, Sept 16, Nov 18
PPAC Forums: Feb 25, April 15, June 17, Aug 19, Oct 21, Dec 16

Tejashri

Tejashri Purohit-Sheth, M.D.
CDR, Medical Category, USPHS /PPAC Chair


Last Updated: June 6, 2009 Contact Web Master: