On this snowy Midwest January morning, I have come to the realization that the holidays have passed in what seems like a blink of an eye, as has my year as SOT President. In spite of the brunt of winter weather still laying ahead, my attention is quickly focusing on the many tasks requiring attention for the upcoming Society’s Annual Meeting and the warm inviting temperatures we can expect in San Diego.
With that in mind, I do want to thank Peter Goering, Chair, and John Morris, Co-Chair, as well as the entire Scientific Program Committee for their hard work in planning the 54th Annual Meeting of the Society of Toxicology. This group has assembled an outstanding scientific program, including more than 2,800 abstracts that will be presented. I am certain you will find the meeting both intellectually stimulating and enjoyable. It is also noteworthy that the abstract number for the upcoming meeting represents yet another important success as it is the fourth highest in the history of the Society.
In each of my previous President’s Messages, I have taken the opportunity to provide regular updates on what has been one of Council’s major undertakings during this past year, the development of a new strategic plan. I am pleased to report that a draft of the strategic plan now has been developed as well as preliminarily shared with the leadership of SOT component groups, including Specialty Sections, Regional Chapters, and Special Interest Groups as well as with key informants that were interviewed in summer of 2014 during our information-gathering stage.
Input from this initial vetting process, which occurred through a series of three webinars in December and January, was positive, highly constructive, and served as a mechanism for further adjustments to the draft plan. The next phase is distribution of the revised draft strategic plan to the entire SOT membership for their review, followed by two webinars in mid-February during which time Council will be soliciting additional input prior to the Annual Meeting. A session on Thursday morning during the Annual Meeting also has been scheduled to allow Council the opportunity to answer your questions and/or address any concerns in regard to the strategic plan. We look forward to receiving your input.
As strategic plans go, there is the development phase and then the implementation phase. Both are challenging if done well; however, implementation arguably is the more difficult of the two. SOT will be adopting several approaches to assist in facilitating implementation of our plan, once finalized. The first is that Council has prioritized which components (i.e., strategic objectives) within the strategic plan will be implemented beginning in 2015–2016 and which components will be phased in at a later date going forward. Second, during the January Council meeting, preliminary tactics and activities were developed for implementing those strategic objectives that were deemed to be of highest priority. Third, Council has identified committees and component groups within the Society that will be charged with assisting in the implementation of specific strategic objectives. I do want to emphasize that Council will seek input from committees and component groups for their ideas on implementation as well. The fourth component is to initiate implementation as quickly as possible.
In Council’s continuing discussions on setting priorities and implementation, one of the strategic objectives that received significant attention was to “Promote the Recruitment, Education, and Development of a Diverse and Creative Community of Toxicologists.” In these discussions, it was recognized that the aforementioned strategic objective is relevant to all career stages, very broad in scope, and highly cross-cutting, touching on the activities of numerous committees and programs within the SOT. In light of the breadth of this strategic objective, its importance as well as the diversity of SOT activities and resources that are currently being directed toward this area, Council felt strongly that a more in-depth analysis was required prior to initiating new tactics and/or activities in the implementation of this specific strategic objective. In light of that, Council will be undertaking a comprehensive analysis during the next year of current activities and programs in the areas of recruitment and retention, education, and diversity to assess their impact, strengths, limitations, and whether there are better ways to achieve the Society’s short- and long-term goals.
As I bring my last President’s message to a close, I would like to express my gratitude to our membership for giving me this opportunity to serve the Society. This past year I have had the pleasure of closely working with an exceptionally collegial and hardworking Council. Likewise, I have had the chance to meet and also work with many SOT members who I had not previously known. After more than 25 years as a member of the Society of Toxicology, I never cease to be amazed by the willingness of our membership to give so generously of their time to promote our Society and our discipline. Thank you for a challenging as well as highly rewarding year. I look forward to seeing you in San Diego.
Norbert E. Kaminski, PhD
2014–2015 SOT President