Thank you for joining us in New Orleans!

Chair's Message

Welcome to the Southern Section of the American Federation of Medical Research (AFMR). Our mission is to develop and mentor tomorrow's leaders in medical research. It is the perfect venue for medical students, residents, fellows, junior and senior faculty to collaborate and network, all eager to share their research and interesting case reports. I have been associated with AFMR since 2012 – first as part of the Western Section Council, including Secretary-Treasurer, and now presiding over the Southern Section Council. 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. All abstracts are published in the AFMR's signature journal, the Journal of Investigative Medicine (JIM). After a highly successful 2019 conference with record number of attendees, I invite you to submit your highest quality research and case reports for the 2020 Southern Regional Meeting in NOLA, from February 13-15, 2020. We have outstanding speakers for the joint plenary sessions, which will focus on "Fetal Origins of Adult Onset Diseases". Additionally, there will be speed mentoring sessions, sessions for clinical educators and lots more! Take advantage of the opportunity to display your work by submitting your abstracts this fall and applying for AFMR Awards: Henry Christian Award, Junior Physician Investigator or travel award. Get involved by joining AFMR and serving on a committee. 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. We are looking forward to a successful year and to meeting new researchers and colleagues!

Samrat Das, MD
Chair, Southern Section Council