Few phrases turn me off as quickly as networking lunch. That’s only possibly outdone by networking foodless event. So it was strange that Tuesday morning as the networking lunch grew closer, and I had no exit strategy, I felt fine. I wasn’t thinking of phone calls I could make (or “phone calls” I could “make&rdquo
, or stairwells that looked like neat places to eat. I was actually a little excited.
Earlier I’d watched the sun rise over Oakland, a mix of nerves and East Coast brain scheduling having landed me in a suit writing notes to my near-future self by 4:30 AM. I was to speak at a meeting of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) on the role of media in obesity. The reputation of the IOM doesn’t extend far beyond health professionals, but it’s an independent nonprofit that “works outside of government to provide unbiased and authoritative advice to decision makers and the public.” And often what the IOM says clearly changes the direction of medical culture. But apart from issuing its definitive reports, the institute hosts intimate roundtables on specific pressing issues. They are essentially brainstorming gatherings, of the sort that bring together academia, government, industry, and advocacy. This week the IOM’s roundtable on “obesity solutions” gathered in the California Endowment high rise, shades mostly drawn in homage to PowerPoint, to dig into questions ranging from the future of soda taxes and colonizing food deserts to roles of school recess, childhood poverty, and family dynamics in weight gain.
“Did you know that chewing gum could increase a person’s metabolic rate by as much as 20 percent?” offered a seasoned ex-government official, as a curiosity, from behind a podium in the corner of the small conference room. Many in the audience, seated actually at multiple round tables, chuckled. Others jotted down a note. Some of them chuckled but also secretly jotted down a note. I’m not supposed to say who did what. Most of what happened in the meeting, I was directed, is not intended for public consumption at this point.
[For more of this story, written by James Hamblin, go to http://www.theatlantic.com/hea...ash-of-minds/384514/]
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