The 57th Annual Research Conference—which is being hosted by the Council on Research of the American Osteopathic Association (AOA) in conjunction with the AOA's annual Osteopathic Medical Conference & Exposition in Las Vegas, Nevada—will have a new thrust this year: the Council on Research worked with several AOA affiliates (Figure) to provide participants with integrated continuing medical education opportunities. These sessions will highlight osteopathic medical research “From Bench to Bedside” by members of osteopathic medical schools, including faculty, and other osteopathic physicians. These sessions will also provide a national forum for osteopathic physicians, scientific researchers, residents, interns, and osteopathic medical students to network and collaborate. All of the AOA affiliates' members and other AOA registered individuals are invited to attend the research meetings as part of their continuing medical education programs. The presentations will begin on Monday, September 30, 2013, at 7:50 am in the Mandalay Bay Convention Center. 

Taking the first step into the world of medical research can be daunting to physicians. To ease that transition, many sessions will cover research basics. For example, presenters at this year's research conference will provide information about research networks and funding resources—material that should prove beneficial to both novice and experienced researchers. Presenters will also emphasize the importance of encouraging osteopathic medical students, residents, and others to present research posters and abstracts at future conferences. Sessions are planned to teach the basics of how to develop suitable research projects, as well as how to construct a dynamic poster presentation. And as with previous years, this year's admitted posters will be displayed and student posters will be judged during the conference. Abstracts of poster presentations submitted through the AOA Council on Research are posted online with the current issue of The Journal of the American Osteopathic Association at http://www.jaoa.org/content/113/8/e1.full. 

In addition, presenters will discuss innovative techniques of osteopathic manipulation. Attendees will be offered a rich array of topics, from nonsurgical repair of an anterior cruciate ligament tear to vertigo, from evidence-based guidelines on chronic low back pain to clinical effects of microorganisms on pacifiers. Cutting-edge research on brain trauma associated with contact sports brings “bench” research to the “bedside.” This year's sessions represent the diverse research being conducted in the osteopathic medical profession today. 

The 57th Annual Research Conference program schedule, summaries of presentations, abstracts, and speaker photographs and biographies are available at http://www.osteopathic.org/conference-schedule. Speaker presentations will be available on Osteopathic.org after the conference. 

On behalf of the Council on Research, we hope to see you there!