We wish you and all the members of your Society a happy holiday season and a prosperous, peaceful, and healthy New Year 2023!
Reflecting on 2022, it has been another year of international challenges, among which we can count:
- military conflicts leading to millions of people losing loved ones and abandoning their homes
- a worldwide economic crisis leading to rising inflation and increased poverty
- quickly progressing climate change that endangers the future of our world
- the continued aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic
These international topics are also impacting the future work of ISBM. It is the responsibility of our Society and its members to consider how we can contribute with our expertise in Behavioral Medicine to face and handle these challenges.
At our ISBM Hybrid Meeting in June 2022, members of the ISBM Board came together in Sweden to create and discuss an agenda of action points regarding the future of our Society. Finding ways to strengthen the international voice of our Society and of Behavioral Medicine, for example to become involved in policy-making processes, has been discussed as a central point. Our 17th International Congress of Behavioral Medicine in August 2023 in Vancouver will be dedicated to a major world topic: “From Local to Global – Behavior, Climate and Health”. We very much look forward to this highlight of 2023 and to coming together in person for a great scientific exchange on Behavioral Medicine, the first time since 2018!
Now that we near the end of 2022, we take the opportunity to thank all our national societies and their members for their contributions and efforts. Our international work in Behavioral Medicine could never succeed without your engagement. We unite in continuing our fruitful collaborations and meeting the challenges we face as researchers, clinicians, colleagues and family members, to strengthen Behavioral Medicine in 2023!
