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Postdoctoral Assembly Activities Featured at the Annual Meeting
By Betina Lew (PDA chair, 2009–2010)
During the 48th Annual Meeting of the Society of Toxicology, the Postdoctoral Assembly (PDA) sponsored several events targeting SOT postdocs and early career scientists. All of the PDA-sponsored events were extremely well-attended and successful.
The PDA luncheon took place on Tuesday afternoon with about 150 postdocs present to meet old friends, make new friends, and enjoy a wonderful lunch provided free of charge. In a very friendly environment, the 2008–2009 Chair, Heather Floyd, opened the session. SOT Past President George Corcoran and the incoming Chair, Betina Lew then provided remarks. During the luncheon three SOT postdocs (Jeffrey W. Card, Cantox Health Services International; Kembra L. Howdeshell, U.S. EPA and Lewis Zhichang Shi, University of Wisconsin-Madison) were awarded the 3rd annual Best Postdoctoral Publication Award. Each awardee received an engraved plaque and a monetary prize. A fun and dynamic raffle was conducted with several door prizes donated from generous sponsors.
The PDA and the Student Advisory Council jointly sponsored a symposium session entitled "Gene-Environment Interactions: Epigenetic Pathways in Chronic Disease Promotion and Progression." The session was chaired by Heather Floyd (Alcon Laboratories, Ft. Worth, TX) and co-chaired by Sheppard A. Martin (Environmental Health Sciences Department, University of Georgia, Athens, GA). The session featured an innovative approach, with all of the talks presented by toxicology postdocs and students. The speakers were Adermi Dosunmu (Department of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI), Carlos Guerrero-Bosagna (School of Molecular Biosciences, Washington State University, Pullman, WA), Wan-Yee Tang (University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH), and Donna Ray (University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI). All of the presenters did an excellent job in communicating their research, presenting their achievements, and representing their laboratories. Our session addressed one of the meeting's 2009 themes by highlighting toxicologically-relevant epigenetic alterations in various disease states.
In addition to the scientific session, the PDA sponsored an informational session entitled "Career Opportunities and Transitions in Toxicology" in partnership with the Toxicologists of African Origin Special Interest Group. The session was co-chaired by Lauren Aleksunes (University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS) and Bernard Gadagbui (Toxicology Excellence for Risk Assessment, Cincinnati, OH). The turnout for the session was excellent with 199 attendees. The majority of attendees were early-career scientists (less than 5 years of toxicology experience). Speakers represented diverse career sectors and included James Lamb (Exponent Consulting), Myrtle Davis (National Cancer Institute), Nancy Gillett (Charles River Laboratories, Inc.), David Jacobson Kram (U.S. FDA), Jerry Hjelle (Monsanto Company), and Michael Dourson (Toxicology Excellence for Risk Assessment). At the end of the individual talks, the speakers answered questions during an interactive panel discussion.
The PDA had an extremely productive meeting with a number of successful and well-attended events. We are thankful for the exceptional work done by the outgoing members of the PDA board (Heather Floyd, Chair for 2008–2009; Betina Lew, Vice-chair; Valerie Mitchell, Secretary/Treasurer; Lauren Aleksunes, Councilor; Ronald N. Hines, Council Liaison and Betty Eidemiller, SOT Staff Liaison).
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