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President’s Message
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President
Jon C. Cook |
SOT celebrated its 50th Anniversary at the Annual Meeting, March 6–10, 2011, in Washington, D.C. Several unique activities and programmatic sessions commemorated this milestone. In keeping with our 50th Anniversary theme, Frances O. Kelsey and William C. Hays were presented with SOT Honorary Memberships at our Sunday Awards Ceremony. In 1961, the founding year of SOT, Dr. Kelsey denied the approval of thalidomide because of safety concerns, a decision that prevented the U.S. population from experiencing the birth defects seen across Europe. She was honored by President Kennedy with the Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service and went on to institutionalize protection of the patient in drug investigations by championing issues such as informed consent. We also honored William C. Hays, Esquire, the nephew of founding member Harry W. Hays, who has been SOT legal counsel for the past 50 years. We are indebted to Bill, who has provided sage advice to every Council since 1961 and guided our Society throughout the years on matters from Constitution and By-Laws to shaping the strategic vision of the Society. His son, Andy Hays, who is also an attorney, will continue the family tradition! I also want to highlight the additional awardees: Michael Aschner—Merit Award, Joseph F. Borzelleca—Founders Award, Nathan J. Cherrington—Achievement Award, Michael A. Gallo—Education Award, Oliver Hankinson—Distinguished Toxicology Scholar Award, Bette Meek—Arnold J. Lehman Award, Joan B. Tarloff—Endowment Fund Undergraduate Educator Award, Weida Tong—Translational Impact Award, and Masayuki Yamamoto—Leading Edge in Basic Science Award. I extend my hearty congratulations to all of these scientists and the other award recipients who through their contributions are creating a safer and healthier world by advancing the science of toxicology.
At Monday’s 50th Anniversary Plenary Lecture, 2010–2011 SOT President Michael P. Holsapple presented a landmark plaque to the National Academy of Sciences, where the SOT was conceived by the nine founding members. At Tuesday’s 50th Anniversary Member Celebration Meeting, Dr. Holsapple presented an overview of SOT’s rich history and exceptional members, and recognized the four Charter members who were attending, John Doull, Bernard E. Hietbrink, Ted A. Loomis, and Bob West. One of the highlights of this meeting was the presentation of memorabilia items that were placed in the SOT Time Capsule. The capsule will be opened in 2036 at our 75th Annual Meeting and is being archived by EPL, Inc. Council donated a bottle of single malt scotch and I plan on being there to drink it when it is opened in 2036!! After the membership meeting, the Celebration Event was held in the Grand Ballroom where we enjoyed food, drink, games, and dance featuring music by BeatleMania Live. As mementos, each SOT member attending the Annual Meeting received a “Benchmarks in Toxicology” poster, a “Snapshots from History” brochure, and a book chronicling the first 50 years of our Society. It is impossible to thank everyone for their contributions to this celebration, but a special “shout out” goes to the members of the 50th Year Anniversary SOT Task Force (FAST): Martin A. Philbert (Chair), Meryl Karol (Co-Chair), Linda S. Birnbaum, James S. Bus, Gary P. Carlson, Jack H. Dean, Dennis J. Devlin, John Doull, David L. Eaton, William C. Hays, Ernest Hodgson, Michael P. Holsapple, Lisa A. Opanashuk, Dennis James Paustenbach, Robert A. Scala, and Ronald B. Tjalkens.
Our Scientific Program Committee (SPC) worked diligently to construct an outstanding scientific program that served as an excellent indication of the strength, breadth, and depth of our science. With significant input from the SOT Specialty Sections, Special Interest Groups, and Committees, the program included more than 210 sessions, over 3,000 abstracts, and 15 Continuing Education (CE) courses. Our CE Committee put together an excellent series of courses that attracted 2,620 attendees. The 2011 meeting also surpassed all attendance records with 8,100 attendees, compared to our previous record of 6,861 attendees, a 20 percent increase despite the economy and the threats of a government shutdown. Other special programs commemorating our anniversary included four plenary lectures, three of which featured leaders of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA), U.S. Food and Drug Administration (U.S. FDA), and National Institutes of Health (NIH) and six “Meet the Directors” sessions: Linda S. Birnbaum, Director of NIEHS and NTP, Jesse Goodman, U.S. FDA Chief Scientist and Deputy Commissioner for Science, John Howard, Director of CDC/NIOSH, Yvonne Maddox, Deputy Director of National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), Sy Garte, NIH Director of the Division of Physiological and Pathological Sciences of the Committee for Scientific Review, and Kevin Teichman, U.S. EPA Deputy Assistant Administrator for Science in the Office of Research and Development. I would like to extend my personal thanks to all of the individual members of the Society whose collective contributions made the 50th Annual Meeting such a success!
As I write this message, I know that many of you are already preparing for the next SOT Annual Meeting, which will take place March 11–15, 2012, in San Francisco, California (my home town!!). This year, the six scientific themes are: Aberrant Gene Expression in Toxicity and Disease—Epigenetics and MicroRNAs, Characterizing Toxic Modes of Action and Pathways to Toxicity, Influence of Global Climate Change on Environmental Health Issues, Clinical Toxicology from Bedside to Bench and Back, and Regulatory Science: Bridging the Gap between Discovery and Product Availability. Hopefully, many of you have already submitted proposals aligned with those themes. The stewardship of the Scientific Program Committee is in the capable hands of William Slikker, Jr. (Chair) and Lois D. Lehman-McKeeman (Co-Chair).
Over the next year, I will communicate the Society’s efforts to refresh our Strategic Plan, established in 2008, which was designed to carry us through 2011 and was reviewed and extended through 2012. Under Dr. Holsapple’s leadership, the 2010–2011 Council focused each Council meeting on reviewing one of the Strategic Priorities, by which we captured achievements and opportunities. We shared this information with the committee chairs at the Annual Meeting and sent out a progress report to the membership in May. The 2011–2012 Council spent two days in May updating our Strategic Plan with the help of a professional facilitator. We have sought and will continue to seek input from Committees and the membership on this plan. The direction of the Society is shaped by you so it is critical that you voice your opinion when we survey the membership. We also will remain committed to expanding and deepening member engagement through the implementation of 21st century communications tools, such as ToXchange. By the way, we have just formed a ToXchange Task Force to help us develop strategies to better engage members. The Global Strategy Task Force, under the leadership of Ruth A. Roberts, has been implementing initiatives to solidify SOT as a global organization. Two such initiatives at the 2011 Annual Meeting were the Global Gallery of Toxicology where toxicology societies outside the U.S. had 25 posters describing their activities and a Global Collaboration Meeting that had over 40 scientists participating. Council also has met regularly with IUTOX throughout the year. We had a record of 21 percent international participants at the 2011 Annual Meeting and exhibiting at the ToxExpo™ were international companies from 23 countries including Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mauritius, Netherlands, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom.
Before I close, I want to thank the SOT Councilors whose terms have ended for their exemplary service, including Matthew S. Bogdanffy, Susan J. Borghoff, Lawrence R. Curtis, and Cheryl Lyn Walker, and to welcome the new Council members, Dori R. Germolec, Lois D. Lehman-McKeeman, John C. Lipscomb, and Judith T. Zelikoff. I will certainly miss the contributions of the outgoing councilors and look forward to working with the new members of Council. The Society is truly blessed to have these individuals who are willing to give up their personal time to serve in such important leadership positions. Lastly, I want to thank Michael Holsapple for his stewardship of our Society this past year and his wife, Mona, and his sons for their understanding when Mike was away tending to Society business.
Jon C. Cook
2011–2012 SOT President
Past Presidents of the Society
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