This has been another great year for the Family Therapy Section. After years of planning and selecting from a very competitive pool of nominees, the Kathleen Briggs Mentoring Award was presented to the first (shared) recipients, Karen Wampler and Richard Wampler. And the membership of the section voted to support Karen Wampler’s proposal for a new Mentoring Focus Group to be sponsored by the FT section.

At the 2012 NCFR Annual Conference in Phoenix, we are sponsoring or cosponsoring an exciting array of workshops, roundtables, symposia, paper sessions, and posters. Two of the most exciting offerings in Phoenix will focus on the conference theme of “Families and Health.”

The first is a collaboration with the Feminism and Family Studies Section, a special session titled “Medical Family Therapy—Bridging Medical and Relational Discourses.” Panelists Aimee Galick, Elizabeth Patrick, and Barbara Hernandez will discuss their clinical and research experience with the gendered nature of medical care, facilitated by Carmen Knudson-Martin.

The second, a symposium titled “Relational Intervention with Gendered Health Issues,” will feature presentations on breast cancer, obesity, and infertility by Alison Wong and Stephanie Trudeau-Hern; Heather Hoshiko and Stephen Fife; and Constance Shapiro.

I want to personally thank all of the hard-working and responsive volunteers who contributed to the make the selection process a success: Kevin Allemagne, Jared Anderson, Shayne Anderson, Deborah Bailey, Iva Benkomir, Blake Berryhill, Markie Blumer, Greg Brooks, Stephen Brown, Tom Carlson, Jessica Chen, Shonda Craft, Raquel Delevi, Brian Distelberg, Matthew Dodd, Lindsey Edwards, Tony Faber, Stephen Fife, Patti Follansbee, Erika Grafsky, Mary Sue Green, Dale Hawley, Kay Higgs-Adams, Cody Hollist, Kendal Holtrop, Jeff Jackson, Mary Jo Jones, Carmen Knudson-Martin, Linda Ladd, Yvonne Makidon, Christine McGeorge, Susan Meyerle, Bobbi Miller, Megan Murphy, Matthew Mutchler, Alba Nino, Spencer Olmstead, Martha Perry, Colleen Peterson, Shruti Poulsen, Hye-Sun Ro, Rachel Tambling, Volker Thomas, Jackie Williams Reade, and Carolyn Wright.