On behalf of the 2013 planning committee, I'd like to welcome you to the 44th annual conference of the International Association for Aquatic Animal Medicine, hosted by The Marine Mammal Center, Sausalito, CA. The theme of this year's conference is "Aquatic Animal Health in a Changing World." Our world is indeed changing and with these changes impacts on aquatic animal health are on the rise. Shipping, overfishing, oil and gas exploration and drilling as well as harvesting of other natural resources, pollutants, changes in climate, prey and pathogen distribution impact and threaten the health of aquatic animals globally. Over the next few days we will focus on the threats and impacts to aquatic animal health with integration of individual health assessments and the status of aquatic animal populations worldwide. What is our role as a clinician and/or researcher in assessing and mitigating impacts that threaten aquatic animals? How does the research we do make a difference? What is our role in conservation? We hope you will all contemplate and discuss these topics and more; resulting in "making a difference" for the field of aquatic animal health and for the conservation of aquatic species worldwide.

We would like to pay special tribute to the founding members of IAAAM, our honorary life members and our past Presidents and all those that have served on the board and/or leadership of our organization. With participants from over 25 countries this year's conference has more international presence than ever. To help in stimulating discussion, panel presentations have been integrated throughout the program and experts of many disciplinary fields asked to contribute to the presentations and discussion. We welcome all those attending their first IAAAM conference and especially all the new and returning students of the IAAAM.

We hope you enjoy our conference venue, the lodge at Golden Gate located in the heart of Golden Gate National park. We are proud to hold our meeting in a venue that is LEED gold certified and prioritizes sustainability and green practices at the forefront. We hope you take advantage and enjoy all that is here and all that the local area has to offer.

As President-Elect I personally thank all those on the planning committee at the Marine Mammal Center who worked tirelessly to organize and host the conference. First and foremost this conference was the vision of Dr. Frances Gulland who began talking up the conference over a year in advance, resulting in the largest volume of abstracts submitted to date - 202! None of the ideas and logistics would have become reality without the host team at The Marine Mammal Center: Jeff Boehm, Frances Gulland, Sophie Guarasci, Shawn Johnson, Shelbi Stoudt, Tenaya Norris, Michelle Barbieri, Scott Buhl, Marissa Kalashian, and Kate Harle. THANK YOU!

We acknowledge and are grateful for all the sponsors listed in the program book, the workshop organizers and our Board members (listed in the program) and Committee Chairs (Sam Dover, Site Selection Committee; Craig Harms, Judy St. Leger, Lisa Mazzaro, Nominations and Awards Committee; Kathleen Colgrove, Student Liaison Committee; and Lisa Murphy, Student Endowment Oversight Committee) and participants. A special thank you goes to the IAAAM Board for hiring Event Ready to host the registration site for the conference this year! Special recognition goes to John Jones who only until now did I realize how much work and dedication goes into all he does for our organization. Many thanks to Ilze Berzins for her guidance and assistance and to Pam Tuomi for trouble shooting all the financial and "difficult" issues that came up. Thank you to Allison Tuttle and Paul Anderson for assistance with the initial review of abstracts and to Stephanie Oliveras for assistance with the abstracts. A special thank you goes to Ron Katz for all of his help with the proceedings for the conference. Thank you to all the session chairs who provided further review and editing on the abstracts in addition to contributing to the conference itself. A special thank you goes to Genny Dumonceaux for still being willing to chair the poster session after finding out we have 67 posters! Thank you to all who contributed to the scientific program and THANK YOU for participating in the conference and for being a part of IAAAM. I wish you a wonderful conference!

Tracy A. Romano
Program Chair & President Elect IAAAM