NECON, a not-for-profit, non-partisan organization that serves as a vehicle for the development and enhancement of disease prevention and health promotion public policies and practices in New England, held its 27th Annual  Conference on Promoting Prevention entitled "Shaping the Prevention Movement in New England" on October 23, 2009, at the Royal Plaza Hotel and Conference Center in Marlboro, MA. The conference opened with remarks by Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne, Jr., who grew up in Fall River. The luncheon address on "The Power of Prevention" was given by Dr. J. Michael McGinnis of the Institute of Medicine. The program closed with a presentation by Dr. Michael Jacobson, Director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest. NECON originated in Fall River in 1984 as an initiative of the Yaffe Foundation and is now comprised of working groups and healthcare coalitions in the six New England states that periodically make recommendations to the New England Governor's Conference and health care policymakers throughout New England for the improvement of the health status of the region. Click here for photos of the 2008 conference. For more information about NECON, contact Bert Yaffe.
 

(Top row, left) NECON organizer Bert Yaffe, who ran a Promoting Prevention institute at Bristol Community College in the 1980s and 90s, welcomes over 200 people to the conference. (Top row, center) Massachusetts Dept. of Public Health commissioner John Auerbach describes the Mass In Motion program which has funded a Fall River project. (Top row, right) Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne, Jr., recalls some of his experiences helping Mr. Yaffe his political campaign in Fall River in the 1970s. (Middle row, left) Chair of the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health Walter Willett, MD, DrPH, describes the current crisis in overweight and obesity in the U.S. (Middle row, center) Dr. David L. Katz, Director of the Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center describes some of the obesity programs he has pioneered in schools. (Middle row, right) Dr. Dan Levy, Director of the Framingham Heart Study, talks about the progress that has been made in reducing heart disease and stroke. (Bottom row, left) Jessica Collins of Partners for a Healthier Community in Springfield, MA, describes her work with the Shape Up Somerville and Children In Balance program in Somerville, MA. (Bottom row, center) Conference participants, including Amanda Szot of Southcoast Hospitals and Kelly Nevins of BMC HealthNet Plan, enjoy lunch. (Bottom row, right) Nathalie and William Kaufman, formerly of Fall River, enjoy the presentations.