The New Year has been frosty so far but that will make the warmth of the SOT Annual Meeting all that much more enjoyable. Just a few weeks away, I invite all to the 52nd Society of Toxicology Annual Meeting in San Antonio Texas, March 10–14, 2013. The Scientific Program Committee has assembled an outstanding array of innovative presentations covering the broad area of Toxicology for scientists from around the world to enjoy.
Lively and inviting, San Antonio is a growing city—seventh largest in the US—with a river that winds through years of history, culture, and adventure. Although we know you are joining us for the science, you will be able to visit a host of sites that include the River Walk, the Alamo, the Spanish Governor’s Palace, and La Villita Historic Arts Village. Another attraction, HemisFair Park, is the location of the SOT Past President’s 5K Run/Walk, Tuesday, March 12, 2013, at 6:30 am.
Following an excellent assortment of well-conceived continuing education courses on Sunday, we will open up the scientific presentations with Nobel Laureate Bruce A. Beutler. He will deliver the 2013 SOT Annual Meeting Opening Plenary Lecture, “Genetic Analysis of Innate Immune Sensing,” on Monday, March 11, 2013, from 8:00 am–9:00 am in the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, San Antonio. In 2011, he shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for “discoveries concerning the activation of innate immunity.” Dr. Beutler is a Regental Professor and Director of the Center for the Genetics of Host Defense at the University of Texas (UT) Southwestern Medical Center.
A new feature this year designed by our Vice President, Lois D. Lehman-McKeeman, and our Scientific Program Committee, the Frontiers for Toxicology Symposium will feature “Systems and Computational Biology as Foundations for Toxicology Research.” In light of the broad utility of systems biology approaches to toxicology and risk assessment, the goal of this session is to feature eminent scientists who have made seminal contributions and advances in systems and computational biology.
The Membership Committee, with leadership from Chair, Abigail C. Jacobs, and Council Contact, John C. Lipscomb, once again has improved the efficiency of accepting and retaining quality scientists and students of toxicology into our Society. The efforts of the committee have resulted in a record number of new Full, Associate, Postdoctoral, and Student members entering the rolls of SOT. This year, after thorough review to determine that they meet the quality standards of membership, 849 new members were accepted. These numbers indicate that SOT is a growing and vibrant Society. New member contact information is now being sent directly to SOT Regional Chapters. In addition, the Membership Committee has expanded the new member application webpage to allow members to identify specialty area interest, and this information is being sent to Specialty Sections to aid their recruitment of new SOT members.
Because of its importance as a world-wide showcase of toxicology and the organizational engine of the Society, SOT Council selected the SOT Annual Meeting as their “Mega Issue” for 2012–2013. Denise Robinson Gravatt led an extremely active subcommittee including Lois D. Lehman-McKeeman, Norbert E. Kaminski, Jon C. Cook, and SOT Staff Betty Eidemiller and Debbie O’Keefe to address: “What strategic and/or tactical improvements can be made to enhance the value and impact of the Annual Meeting to the Society, its members, and the meeting participants.” Everything was on the table for review and initial actions and activities for the SOT 2013 Annual Meeting and beyond are underway. Attendees are moving away from a reliance on paper and this year’s Mobile App will provide comprehensive and readily searchable information, literally at your finger tips, and the use of QR codes on posters allows attendees to more fully utilize technological innovations to access additional information. Beginning with the 2014 Annual Meeting, themes will be defined based on the actual program content rather than prospectively. Member surveys are under development that will investigate other potential improvements for future annual meetings. More information is provided in this newsletter and a full Mega Issue report on the Annual Meeting will follow later in 2013.
In addition, Council has moved forward in implementing the SOT Strategic Plan. SOT Council encouraged the Committees and Task Forces to provide metrics of success toward achieving the Society’s Strategic Priorities. SOT Leadership engaged in similar activities to evaluate whether resources were balanced across all SOT sectors: academia, government, and private sector efforts, and Lorrene A. Buckley, Donald A. Fox, John B. Morris (Chair), and Michael P. Waalkes led this initiative. There is a clear recognition that the Annual Meeting and journal, Toxicological Sciences, benefits all sectors, and the remaining resources and activities are fairly evenly distributed to each of these sectors. Of equal importance, every Committee, Task Force, and Component Group (Regional Chapters, Special Interest Groups, and Specialty Sections) submitted input on their progress on the activities that each group identified as tactics toward the strategic plan. Council wishes to congratulate these groups for their successful efforts. Funds provided for aspirational activities helped realize a number of significant accomplishments including completion of the strategic review of Toxicological Sciences, improvements to our Mentor Match program and expansion of the Mentoring Breakfast, and development of a student summer internship program.
The Society continues to expand our global outreach and will host both an enhanced Global Collaboration Coffee and a Global Gallery of Toxicology poster session in San Antonio. This year, the ICTXV Committee, including Judith T. Zelikoff, Dori R. Germolec, Lorrene A. Buckley, Denise Robinson Gravatt, and Ivan Rusyn, with guidance from Clarissa Russell Wilson, has developed a comprehensive bid package to host the 2019 ICT meetings in Hawaii, an exciting opportunity to strengthen our relationship with IUTOX and build additional partnerships with our toxicology colleagues in Asia, India, and around the world.
As we transition through the yearly cycle of SOT leadership, I want to express my gratitude for the privilege of serving the Society. As I move to that revered position of Past President on May 1, I know that the SOT is in good hands with leadership from Dr. Lehman-McKeeman. And finally I thank my fellow Council members and the leadership and members of the many committees, boards, and task forces, as well as the AIM staff, brilliantly led by Shawn Douglas Lamb, for a most productive year. See you all in San Antonio.
William Slikker Jr.
2012–2013 SOT President