From the Americas, Africa, Europe, Iran, Oceania: Joyce Slater, Laura Rowe, Sandra Mutuma , Farzad Amirabdollahian, Christina Black, Chrisa Arcan

The membership team reports: At last, this is the month of our conference, organised with our Brazilian partners Abrasco. Here are six new Association members, five of whom will be attending and participating in Rio2012.

Joyce Slater (left, above) is from Canada. She believes that the effective practice of public health nutrition is vital for everybody: without it, safe and fair food regulations disappear, disparities in nutrition-related risk factors and illnesses expand, and people forget how fundamental food is to our very existence.

Laura Rowe (next) is an US citizen who spends most working hours in Liberia, Malawi, Rwanda, and Burundi. Currently, she directs the design and implementation of food fortification programs for a US-based INGO, Project Healthy Children (PHC), where they work in close collaboration with governments in five different countries to address micronutrient malnutrition.

Third from left is Sandra Mutuma, born in Bulawayo in Zimbabwe, who now lives and works in the UK. Her interest in nutrition and its relation to health came from understanding the health problems of her diabetic grandmother. She is currently senior advisor at Action Against Hunger. She tells in her profile: 'It was in fact one of my grandmother's daughters, my mother's younger sister, who planted the seeds of interest in public health, although the term itself was unknown to me at the time. She worked in child health and development in Zimbabwe and was forever off on what appeared to be exciting trips to conduct child health campaigns in mysterious rural areas of Zimbabwe. It just seemed so exciting and although I really didn't fully understand it, I knew I wanted to have a job like hers, full of adventure, I was inspired!'

Third from right is Farzad Amirabdollahian, born in Iran and currently living and working in the UK. He is senior lecturer in nutrition (public health) at the department of health sciences, Liverpool Hope University, and at the time of Rio2012 will be co-ordinating a seminar in England. He says that working as a public health nutritionist within the community and also as a research supervisor, assistant or collaborator on several research projects, together with his teaching and administration responsibilities, have helped him to comprehend and appreciate what public health nutrition is about.

Second from right is Christina Black, who is from Australia and now lives and works in the UK. She is now working at the University of Southampton, UK, on an intervention project that aims to improve the diets of women of childbearing age from disadvantaged backgrounds. As part of this project she is also completing her PhD part-time, investigating the relative influence of the local food environment and psychosocial factors on dietary inequalities among women.

Chrisa Arcan was born in Turkey and now lives in the US. Currently a research associate in the division of epidemiology and community health, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota. An extract from her profile: 'I was born in Istanbul, Turkey from Greek parents and spent the first 20 years of my life travelling between Turkey and Greece. The long and rich history of that region brought together people from diverse backgrounds, shaping the culinary traditions of that region with exotic ingredients, different cooking methods, and eating habits that hold till today'.

Rio2012 is and will be a new beginning for public health nutrition, to make it fit to face the challenges of this century. These include the linked finance, fuel and food crises, economic globalisation, population increases, climate change, and worsening inequity. The climax of the congress will be a series of agreed statements, and the Rio2012 Declaration , designed to be made the basis of rational policies and effective programmes. These will guide work to be progressed and achieved after the congress. Hope to see you there!