The first day of the ARM focused on the outstanding progress that the field of health services research has made in the past 30 years, and included discussions and perspectives on what opportunities and challenges the future holds. We kicked off the meeting with our first special 30th Anniversary Session, "What a Long Way We've Come: Methods to Inform Policy and Practice," moderated by Bryan Dowd of the University of Minnesota. Panelist Partha Deb of Hunter College spoke on the past, present, and future of statistical methods. Ashish Jha of Harvard University, discussed significant advances in the quality revolution, and Mark McClellan of Brookings Institute discussed the unmet needs of the past thirty years and how we as a field can impact the future. AcademyHealth president and CEO, Dr. Lisa Simpson opened the plenary session by discussing the ARM’s origins, the significant impact that the field has had over 30 years, and the ways AcademyHealth is working to support the field’s future needs. Also in the opening plenary, panelists Whit Ayers of North Star Opinion Research and Anna Greenberg of Greenberg Quinlan Rosner, moderated by Robert Blendon of Harvard University, discussed the partisan debate over health care reform and the vital role that health services researchers have in producing the robust research to help inform health care policy and delivery. New this year, poster walks offered a unique opportunity for students and new professionals to get a guided tour of the most innovative research presented during the poster session. Afternoon breakouts covered the gamut of research themes, augmented with methods sessions, policy roundtables and the popular “meet the editors” series. After sessions were done, attendees headed to this evening’s Opening Reception, where one of the highlights was the photo booth! Don’t forget to check out participants’ perspectives from day 1 on our YouTube channel. We hope that you enjoy day 2 of the ARM! Be sure to follow us on Twitter @academyhealth, @phsr_ah, @hcfo, @edm_ah.