Fulfilling our assignment to improve the health of all: good science just isn't enough

Judith K. Ockene, University of Massachusetts Medical School

Abstract

This article was the presidential address presented at the Society of Behavioral Medicine 2005 SBM Annual Meeting and Scientific Sessions, April 13 to 16, 2005, Boston, Massachusetts. It comments on the role of the Society of Behavioral Medicine (SBM) and the University of Massachusetts in improving health care in the U.S. The mission of SBM is focused on the important integration of biomedical and behavioral science, behavioral medicine has expanded to a full ecological perspective and includes each of the levels of the ecological model. One of the themes focused is that behavioral medicine has made lasting contributions to the public's health.