Pre-Season’s Greetings to all of you! This year was certainly special for our society, as we gathered for the first time since the pandemic at the ICBM 2023 in Vancouver.
I can vividly remember listening to the many talks on climate change while British Columbia (and many other parts of the world) witnessed another exceptionally hot summer. It was fantastic to see so many old faces and to welcome new members to our society. The Presidential gong has been passed from Anne H. Berman to Kerry Sherman and I would like to use this opportunity to once again congratulate Kerry for being elected as our new President and to express all my best wishes for her period of office! You can read Kerry’s inaugural letter at the very beginning of this Newsletter, followed by Michael Hoyt’s update on current developments with our beloved journal and another inaugural letter by the new leader of our Early Career Network INSPIRE, Allison Marzilliano.
On a much sadder note, the ISBM has lost one of its dearest members, Neil Schneiderman. This edition of the Newsletter will thus honour a researcher who was not only a co-founder of this society, but whose work and influence have been pervasive in all of behavioural medicine. Even though I only knew Neil through his work, it is clear by the way those who knew him well speak about him that he was not only an exceptionally gifted researcher, but also an extraordinarily kind person who profoundly affected those around him. When I started my Newsletter Editor term in 2020, it was an interview with Neil conducted by former Newsletter Editor Urs N. Nater, which led me to reinstate the luminaries in behavioural medicine interview series. The original interview is reprinted in this issue of the Newsletter, alongside an obituary and memories of Neil shared by companions Joost Dekker, Redford Williams, and Brian Oldenburg.
I hope you will enjoy this last issue of the Newsletter and wish you all a very happy holiday Seasons!
