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. 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.

Public Policy Update 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

Journal of Investigative Medicine 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.

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

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

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.