Welcome to Share the Health: NIH’s Premier Health & Fitness Expo, sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Community Liaison (OCL). Our role at the NIH is to partner with the community to address issues of common interest. The OCL works with community members to provide information about NIH and to share NIH’s resources with our neighbors. The cornerstone of this effort is the office’s annual health exposition, which enables community members to understand and access information on health promotion and disease prevention. I am pleased to announce that the planners of Share the Health 2005 are working with colleagues at the newly renovated Westfield Shoppingtown in Wheaton, Maryland to bring you an event that is not only educational, but fun for the entire family.

As the newly appointed Acting Director for the OCL, I am looking forward to seeing many of our NIH neighbors at this event! Achieving a healthy lifestyle can be challenging without the proper tools. NIH has led the nation in promoting good health through the prevention of disease and embraces the opportunity to promote good health at home. As a result, the OCL has put this event together so that NIH physicians and scientists can share their knowledge and tools with the community.

Previous Share the Health events were great successes, and we want to ensure that even more people have an opportunity to participate with us this year. Nearly all of NIH’s 27 Institutes and Centers, as well as components from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and other partners in health will be ready to speak with you about your health and fitness concerns. Staff from the NIH Office of Human Resources will also be available to talk about NIH job opportunities. As always, we will have many interactive exhibits geared for all ages and covering a wide range of health topics.

Because this event is designed specifically for you, please let us know if there are topics you would like to see covered, and we will do our best to accommodate your request.

Please review our Web site and check back often, because we update the information regularly. As always, we welcome your feedback. Please send your comments to Amy Blackburn on the OCL staff via e-mail at amyb@mail.nih.gov.

Sincerely,

John T. Burklow
Acting Director
NIH Office of Community Liaison