A record number of over 400 participants and 56 exhibitors met for the 25th Annual Dakota Conference on Rural and Public Health at the Alerus Center in Grand Forks, N. Dak., on April 13–15, 2010. The theme “Health Care in Transition: Creative Strategies” set the tone for the pre- and post-conference workshops, breakout sessions, poster presentations, and annual awards banquet.

The keynote speakers included
•  Jim Hart, MD, director, Executive Program in Public Health Practice and the North Central Public Health Leadership Institute, University of Minnesota School of Public Health;
•  Robert O. Kelley, PhD, president, the University of North Dakota (shown above);
•  Wanda Agnew, PhD, director, Nutrition Service, Bismarck Burleigh Public Health; Sandra Poitra, RD, LD, community dietitian, Quentin N. Burdick Memorial Health Care Facility; and Karen Ehrens, LRD, health and nutrition consultant, Ehrens Consulting; and
•  Tom Morris, director, Office of Rural Health Policy, Health Resources and Services Administration,
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Next year’s Conference on Rural and Public Health will be held March 23–25, 2011 in Mandan, North Dakota.