Chair's Message

Welcome to the Southern Section of the American Federation of Medical Research (AFMR).

The current, unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic presents us with many challenges, but we believe that with them come opportunities for advancement in medical research. The Southern Section Council continues to promote AFMR’s mission “to develop and mentor tomorrow's leaders in medical research”. We invite you to join with us to promote the mission and goals of AFMR.

As a S-AFMR member, you will be able to collaborate and network, as well as showcase your research and interesting case reports. AFMR is a unique multidisciplinary society and offers one of the friendliest forums for medical students, residents, fellows and junior faculty to present their work and get feedback from senior faculty members and colleagues.

Given the pandemic, we are working hard to plan a 2021 Southern Regional Meeting (SRM) which will provide safe and valuable programing for our members. The tentative theme of the meeting will be "Confronting the New Realities of the COVID-19 Era and Beyond." I invite you to submit your highest quality research and case reports. All abstracts will be published in the AFMR's signature journal, the Journal of Investigative Medicine (JIM).

AFMR members can also apply for AFMR Awards — Henry Christian and Best of Abstracts awards. Member benefits include discounted meeting registration, as well as subscriptions to our two journals: JIM and JIM-High Impact Case Reports— both PubMed and Medline indexed. You can also get involved by serving on a committee.

We are looking forward to a successful year and to meeting new researchers and colleagues!

Viranuj Sueblinvong, MD
Chair, Southern Section Council