*2.1. The 1st International Symposium to Advance Total Worker Health®*

A vital and key event in the maturation of the TWH field was the convening of a TWH scientific conference. Building on prior initiatives and symposia, the Office for TWH held the 1st International Symposium to Advance *Total Worker Health*® in 2014, at the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) [11]. Given that this was the very first symposium of its kind, the theme was "*Total Worker Health*," and these were its goals:


The symposium brought together over 17 partner organizations and more than 350 national and international scientists and practitioners. These participants represented academia, labor, industry, and government, including workplace health, human resources, employee benefits, employee assistance, health promotion, organized labor, workers' compensation, disability management, emergency response, public health, health policy, health economics, organizational and occupational health psychology, industrial hygiene, and related disciplines.

Over the course of two days, attendees explored topics and issues relevant to a TWH perspective, such as TWH frameworks, research methods, integrated approaches, implementation, evaluation, and practical toolkits. Sessions highlighted high-risk industries such as construction, transportation, and health care, particularly in the areas of work stress and psychosocial factors, obesity, and musculoskeletal conditions. They also emphasized examples of integrated interventions for a changing workforce, new employment patterns, physical/built environment, community/workplace supports, advances in return-to-work policies, and disability and rehabilitation management.
