While Washington, D.C., is the setting for this year's annual meeting of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) Oct. 27 and 28, participants can stay at home and partake via the World Wide Web.

The two-day event is being offered as a live audio webcast. Participants can listen in and submit questions using an e-mail form on the days of the event at  http://national-academies.org.

Speakers and presentations on day one of the meeting will focus on "Science and Public Policy to Improve Mental Health" and day two on "Protecting the Public's Health: How Prepared are We?"

For additional information on participating in the meeting, visit the organization's Web site at www.iom.edu.