As we march toward the winter months and on to the beautiful spring at our Annual Meeting in San Antonio, I would like to keep you informed of the tremendous scientific offerings and opportunities for scientific exchange provided by the Scientific Program Committee led by Lois D. Lehman-McKeeman and Norbert E. Kaminski. The excitement surrounding the plenary speaker, Bruce Beutler, who will deliver the Opening Plenary Lecture on Monday, March 11, Genetic Analysis of Innate Immune Sensing, is building as he is the most recently acclaimed Nobel Laureate to speak to our membership. In addition, on Wednesday, March 13, Jeremy K. Nicholson will deliver the 2013 SOT Annual Meeting MRC Lecture, Phenotyping the Patient Journey: Making Systems Medicine Work in the Real World. These presentations are just two examples of the many scientific offerings including 21 symposia, 24 workshops, and many platform and poster sessions to be enjoyed.
To complement our 12 Continuing Education (CE) Courses and our Sunrise Course skillfully coordinated by our CE Committee led by J. Craig Rowlands, SOT Council has launched a Continuing Medical Education (CME) Task Force, aligned with the strategic priority of increasing the Impact of Toxicology on Human Health, Disease Prevention, and the Environment. The members of the CME Task Force include Chair John G. Benitez, Council Contact Dori R. Germolec, Martin A. Philbert, Kenneth S. Ramos, and Richard Y. Wang. Efforts are underway to seek a partnership with a CME-accredited institution as an important first step. In the months ahead, I will apprise you of the progress made toward providing these courses and a timeline to help you plan how to take advantage of these educational opportunities.
A significant component of the SOT membership and attendees at the Annual Meeting come from outside the United States. Furthermore, many of the issues and opportunities SOT confronts are global in nature. With this in mind, and to increase the visibility of SOT as a global resource and its members as scientific leaders, two well-received international activities will again be held at the 2013 SOT Annual Meeting in San Antonio, Texas: the Global Gallery of Toxicology and the Global Collaboration Coffee. Now in its third year, posters showcasing the formation, key accomplishments, strategic initiatives, and current and future activities of these sister societies will be prominently displayed during the meeting. In addition to SOT and IUTOX leaders, scientists representing international toxicology societies displaying posters in the Global Gallery of Toxicology, Special Interest Group Presidents, and the recipients of the SOT/AstraZeneca/IUTOX and SOT Endowment Fund Fellowships (senior scientists from developing countries) are invited to attend a Global Collaboration Coffee. This event offers an opportunity for scientific leaders to meet and make plans for future collaborations. Additional information about these global initiatives is available on the SOT website and by contacting SOT Headquarters.
The ability of SOT members to maintain funding for research and scientific travel to attend the Annual Meeting is an issue of great concern to SOT’s leadership. The role of the Research Funding Committee has become even more important in the wake of current tough economic times. Under the leadership of Chair David C. Dorman, the committee has developed and implemented the SOT Research Funding Blog to meet the needs of the Society. The intent of this blog is to spread the word about funding opportunities and grantsmanship and to bring together individuals who have successfully obtained federal or other grants with other SOT members who would like to learn more about the grant-writing process, including the ins-and-outs of submitting a successful grant. Active participation of SOT members on the Research Funding Blog will help advance the science of toxicology. Collectively, we can help Build the Future of Toxicology. You can access and participant in this blog via the Research and Grant Funding Community in ToXchange.
SOT leadership has again taken the initiative to act as responsible stewards of the Society’s financial health and to lessen our environmental footprint whenever possible. In an effort to reduce cost and resources, the printed Program with an electronic version of The Toxicologist will not be automatically mailed to all registrants and members. If you wish to receive your printed Program before the meeting (request made by February 15), please select the “I want to receive the printed Program before the meeting by mail” checkbox on the registration form, and these items will be mailed in late February (in the US and Canada only). These items also will be available from the SOT website in January and for pickup on-site.
As progress toward the SOT Annual Meeting has marched forward, SOT membership and potential new members have enjoyed three very successful Contemporary Concepts in Toxicology meetings (CCTs), coordinated by the CCT Conferences Committee chaired by Chris Corton. By bridging the scientific gap between our Annual Meetings, these CCTs actively carry out SOT’s commitment to enhancing scientific exchange and consensus building. In May 8–11, 2012, the risk assessment process and its improvement was the topic for a CCT held at the US EPA, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, titled: Building for Better Decisions: Multi-Scale Integration of Human Health and Environmental Data, orchestrated by Co-Chairs Lyle D. Burgoon, Robinan Gentry, and Annie M. Jarabek. Also on May 14–16 there was another CCT focused on developmental insult and adult onset disease titled: PPTOX III: Environmental Stressors in the Developmental Origins of Disease: Evidence and Mechanisms, organized by Co-Chairs Robert Barouki (France) and Philippe Grandjean (Denmark) and held in Paris. And finally, a third CCT was held in Arlington, Virginia, on October 18–19 that featured recent progress in incorporating new technologies into the safety assessment process. Organized by Co-Chairs James S. Bus and J. Craig Rowlands, this CCT was titled: FutureTox: Building the Road for 21st Century Toxicology and Risk Assessment Practices. Additional information about each of these CCTs is available on the SOT website.
Just as these scientific bridging meetings have kept us connected over the last several months, the many bridges and walkways along the Riverwalk in Ole San Anton are waiting to connect us to our scientific colleagues in this warm, inviting, and festive venue. So as we all prepare for our Annual Meeting in San Antonio, we can contemplate the many networking and scientific opportunities that await us.
See you in San Antonio.
William Slikker Jr., PhD, ATS
SOT 2012–2013 President