American Federation for
Medical Research

NEWS

SOUTHERN REGION Edition

The Southern Regional Meeting of the AFMR in New Orleans concluded February 19, 2011. This event was held at the Hotel InterContinental, in conjunction with several other regional societies. More than 700 people, including nearly 400 students and trainees, came to learn, network and share information. 608 research abstracts were submitted by students, trainees and junior faculty, and are available on our website (www.afmr.org/Southern/). We were pleased to provide 74 Awards to support travel and accommodations for many who presented research at the meeting, and hope to be able to offer even more Travel and Scholars Awards for the 2012 Southern Regional Meeting. The meeting began with the AFMR-sponsored Career Development Workshop, led by Dr. Jesse Roman, MD. This workshop was a great success and included discussion on how to identify and select a mentor, fostering the mentor-mentee relationship, training program selection, and development of research projects and funding opportunities. The workshop was well-attended and the discussion was lively. This workshop was followed by the student/trainee Welcome Reception and Joint Plenary Poster Session. Many junior and senior faculty were on hand that evening to meet with trainees and discuss ongoing research and provide an opportunity to learn about various regional training programs. The scientific sessions continued Friday and Saturday with the Joint Plenary Session and Concurrent Subspecialty Scientific Sessions.

Several Southern AFMR leadership positions were filled with the start of the new section term. Haimanot Wasse, MD, MPH moved from Chair-Elect to Chair, and Marion Evatt, MD was elected to Chair-Elect. Two new councilors, Robert Hoover MD and Fadi Hage, MD were elected, and will play an important role in recruitment and retention of AFMR members and institutional representatives. Opportunities for AFMR leadership will be available again in February 2012, and an official call for region-wide nominations will be announced in December 2011. Let us know if you are interested! We look forward to another exciting in 2010, so be sure to save the dates for the 2010 Southern Regional Meeting, scheduled for February 9-11, 2010.

Haimanot (Monnie) Wasse, MD, MPH
Chair, SAFMR

« BACK TO HEADLINES

The AFMR has taken recent steps toward advancing its public policy agenda by partnering with FASEB and with Research!America. Here are a few:

   FASEB provided comments to the Department of Health and Human Services on proposed changes to the HIPAA Privacy Rule.
   The AFMR identified priorities for future investment in biomedical research that were forwarded to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy by FASEB.
   Congress has recessed without passing the FY2011 funding bills for NIH and other agencies. The Continuing Resolution is based on FY2010 levels and does not include the $1 billion NIH increase that President Obama proposed. When lawmakers return in November, FASEB will mobilize the community to press Congress to pass legislation that includes the higher NIH and NSF funding levels.

« BACK TO HEADLINES

The Journal of Investigative Medicine publishes work of broad interest to academic physicians and research scientists in areas pertaining to clinical and biomedical research.

Publications Upcoming in Issue #5:

EB symposium manuscripts
A collection of manuscripts summarizing the topics of the presentations at the AFMR EB symposium entitled "Translating Your Ideas: Drug Development, Intellectual Property and the State of Academic-University Relations". The manuscripts from this symposium detail pathways and problems that surround the process of translating scientific ideas and discoveries into beneficial treatments for patients. The papers provide an overview of the drug development process, beginning with approaches to innovation and the selection of promising ideas for development, through to the steps in drug assessment and clinical trials. They also examine issues of technology transfer for individual researchers, academic institutions, government funding sources and commercial entities, and issues of public trust and conflicts of interest in the current changing landscape of Academic-Industry collaborations.

Mason W. Freeman, Andrew P. Dervan, "The Path from Bench to Bedside: Considerations Before Starting the Journey".
Charles D. Smith, “Your Idea and Your University: Issues in Academic Technology Transfer”.
Indrani Mukharji, "Patent & License Pearls and Pitfalls for Taking an Idea to the Marketplace".
Deborah Zucker, “Ethics and Technology Transfer: Patients, Patents and Public Trust”.

Highlighted Original Contribution:
Susan Matulevicius, Laura C Huff, Lidia S Szczepaniak, Colby R Ayers, Matthew Budoff, Roderick McColl, Amit Khera, Ronald M Peshock, "The Potential of Electron Beam Computed Tomography for Coronary Artery Calcium Screening to Evaluate Fatty Liver: Comparison with 1H-MR Spectrocopy in the Dallas Heart Study".

« BACK TO HEADLINES

Data Mining: Functional Statistical Genetics & Bioinformatics - Laura Kelly Vaughan, PhD
Design and Analysis of Genome-Wide Association Studies - Tasha E. Fingerlin, PhD
Introduction to Epigenetics/Epigenomics - Xiangqin Cui, PhD
Pathway Analysis Hypothesis - David B. Allison, PhD

« BACK TO HEADLINES

Outstanding Investigator Vance G. Fowler, Jr., MD, MHS Associate Professor with Tenure Duke University Medical Center Durham, North Carolina

Junior Physician Investigator Carmella Evans-Molina, MD, PhD Assistant Professor of Medicine Indiana University School of Medicine Indianapolis, Indiana

« BACK TO HEADLINES

1. Submit an abstract to your AFMR Regional Meeting.
2. Learn about and influence important public policy issues.
3. Apply for a Research Day Award to be presented at your institution’s college or departmental research day.
4. Obtain information regarding career development, research and training opportunities, funding sources, and grant development at AFMR Career Connections.
5. Submit a proposal for a symposium at the 2012 Experimental Biology meeting.
6. Listen to the opinions of diverse thought leaders expressed in the AFMR sponsored The Current Crisis in Clinical Research: Where Do We Go? held in 2009 in Washington, D.C.
7. Contact the chair of your section and join the council.
8. View presentation videos from the AFMR Career Development Workshops held in Chicago in 2009 and 2010.
9. Access the Journal of Investigative Medicine.
10. Renew your membership and recruit a colleague to join AFMR

« BACK TO HEADLINES