ISBM, as an interdisciplinary organization that aims to serve the needs of all health-related disciplines concerned with the integration of psychosocial, behavioral, and biomedical sciences, wants to create forums for open and frequent communication among professionals who share similar interests in behavioral medicine. For this purpose, ISBM wants to establish a Special Interest Group (SIG) program.
ISBM SIGs will provide many advantages for the members of all ISBM national societies. We want to provide a forum for ISBM members, independent of the stage of their career, to collaborate, and to initiate activities to promote their interest in the field of behavioral medicine. SIGs will give room to encourage diverse activities – from organizing workshops/webinars, creating and giving awards, applying collaboratively for grants, or organizing special issues, just to give some examples. Any professional theme in the field of behavioral medicine can be proposed to become a focus of a SIG. One specific endeavor of our SIG program shall attract early career researchers and clinicians whom we want to give space to practice leadership skills, to learn from their senior colleagues, and to take over responsibilities and get actively involved in our Society.
We are searching for ISBM members who are very passionate about a certain topic in the field of behavioral medicine and who would be interested in taking action on promoting their topic and becoming involved as an organizer of a SIG on their topic. Our ISBM SIG Committee provides some ideas and procedures that will be helpful for the process of forming a SIG. You can find these resources here.
Dr. Maria Kleinstaeuber (ISBM Secretary, maria.kleinstaeuber@usu.edu) has already proposed a SIG on Somatic Symptom Disorders and is searching for more ISBM members to join. Please, contact her if you would be interested in becoming involved in a SIG in her field of research.
If you should be interested in becoming a group-in-formation organizer, please, get in contact with our ISBM SIG committee (contact: Maria Kleinstaeuber, maria.kleinstaeuber@usu.edu) and discuss your ideas with us.
