Cancellation FAQs

While the in-person meeting will likely not be rescheduled, SOT is presenting as much of the 2020 Annual Meeting content and sessions as possible through alternative methods.

Many of the Scientific Sessions are being presented as live webinars on Tuesdays and Thursdays, with Continuing Education courses occurring as live webinars on Fridays. The full schedule of these presentations is available on the “Virtual Meeting Program” web page. Thank you to the 2020 SOT Virtual Meeting Supporters for helping make this programming possible.

In addition, SOT Committees, Regional Chapters, Special Interest Groups, and Specialty Sections are being encouraged to incorporate some 2020 activities, such as award presentations, into their 2021 meeting planning.

The leadership of each Component Group is responsible for determining how the group is addressing business, professional, and community needs in light of the SOT Annual Meeting cancellation. Some SOT Component Groups are hosting virtual meetings via webinar to announce their 2020 award recipients as well as conduct other business. Notifications of these webinars are being shared with Regional Chapter, Special Interest Group, and Specialty Section members through email, so if you are a member of a Component Group, please be on the lookout for these announcements. Of course, Component Groups are under no obligation to hold virtual meetings.

In addition, SOT Component Groups are being encouraged to incorporate some 2020 activities, such as award presentations, into their 2021 meeting planning.

The leadership of each Component Group currently is deciding whether to confer their awards and will be in touch regarding next steps. It is expected that most 2020 travel awards will be presented as part of the 2021 Annual Meeting.

At this time, SOT leadership and staff are working to identify all costs that will be incurred by canceling the Annual Meeting and ToxExpo. We are attempting to mitigate the costs as much as possible. We anticipate a financial loss to SOT that will likely curtail some strategic priority initiatives. The SOT Finance Committee is exploring options that will mitigate the use of the SOT reserve fund while allowing SOT to continue to support the programs and activities that provide value to its members and pursue the Society’s mission.

SOT has event cancellation insurance for the Annual Meeting and ToxExpo that covers the most typical kinds of disruptions, but the threat or fear of communicable diseases is not covered.

We will present Scientific Sessions from the originally planned 2020 meeting program by webinar on a regular basis, typically on Tuesdays and Thursdays, until the end of June. These virtual session webinars have attracted an average of 290 attendees per session. Details and registration information are available on the “Virtual Meeting Program” web page of the Annual Meeting website. Thank you to the 2020 SOT Virtual Meeting Supporters for helping make this programming possible.

The 2020 Merit Award Lecture by Norbert E. Kaminski will be delivered during the 2021 SOT Annual Meeting and ToxExpo, as will the 2021 Merit Award Lecture. Presentations of other Award Lectures, either during the 2021 meeting or as virtual events, are being considered.

On Fridays into June 2020, CE courses will be presented as live webinars. The schedule for these CE webinar presentations is available on the “Virtual Continuing Education Courses” web page. If you registered to attend a CE course during the 2020 Annual Meeting, you are automatically registered for the online live course. For registrants who are unable to attend the course during the live webinar presentation, a recording will be available to review at your leisure. Note: recordings will be available to registered individuals only. If you were not previously registered, you may register to attend.

In addition, the digital course books for each CE course were made available on the Annual Meeting website for course registrants to download before the meeting and are still available for download by course registrants.

Abstracts are published in The Toxicologist PDF and The Toxicologist: Late-Breaking Supplement PDF on the SOT Annual Meeting website.

No, because all 2020 abstracts were published as expected and are available in The Toxicologist PDF or The Toxicologist: Late-Breaking Supplement PDF and as part of the SOT Event App and Online Planner.

Abstracts for presentations accepted for the 2020 SOT Annual Meeting are published in The Toxicologist PDF and The Toxicologist: Late-Breaking Supplement PDF and cannot be republished. If you wish to submit this work to another scientific society meeting, the identical abstract should not be submitted.

Poster presenters are encouraged to upload a PDF of their posters to the ePosters gallery, available on the SOT Event App and the Online Planner. All presenting (first) authors have received email instructions on how to upload an ePoster. If you need assistance uploading your poster, contact  SOT Headquarters via email.

No. SOT is presenting many of the Scientific Sessions and Continuing Education (CE) courses as live webinars. Plan to attend Scientific Sessions on Tuesdays and Thursdays or register to attend a CE course on Fridays.

As always, the Scientific Program Committee and Continuing Education Committee are interested in the latest science for sharing during the SOT Annual Meeting and ToxExpo. Therefore, the Committees have decided not to allow proposals that are the same as the sessions accepted for the 2020 Annual Meeting. Please do not resubmit a proposal that was part of the 2020 program. As noted, we have scheduled many of the 2020 Scientific Sessions and Continuing Education courses as virtual sessions, and there is room on the schedule for more. We expect the science presented at the 2021 Annual Meeting to be fresh and new. If you decide to propose a session on the same topic for 2021, make sure it is revised and updated and that the updates are clear to the Scientific Program Committee or Continuing Education Committee.

No. Planning is already underway for the 2021 SOT Annual Meeting and ToxExpo, and in general, no significant alterations to the normal deadlines and timelines are expected.

The 2021 Proposal Submission Site is now open and ready for session proposals. However, owing to the ongoing situation with the COVID-19 global pandemic resulting in many working from home and juggling personal and professional duties, SOT will be extending the traditional May 15 deadline for session proposal submissions by four weeks, to June 12, 2020. We hope this extra time will allow everyone to develop exceptional proposals for 2021 sessions and courses.

Also, due to the effect of the COVID-19 global pandemic on research projects, we are extending the deadline for 2021 abstract submissions to December 1, 2020. The abstract submission period will begin in mid-September. With the December 1 deadline, abstract acceptance notifications will be delivered by January 8, 2021.

Finally, the early-bird registration is being adjusted to accommodate this later abstract deadline and will now be January 22, 2021.

Yes. All 2020 Annual Meeting and ToxExpo registrants were asked to complete an online Registration Request Form indicating whether they (1) would like a refund; (2) would like to transfer their registration to the 2021 Annual Meeting and ToxExpo; or (3) would not like a refund or transfer.

Registration refunds began the first week of June 2020 and will be completed by June 30, 2020.

For those who requested to transfer their registrations to 2021, additional information will be provided when registration for the 60th SOT Annual Meeting and ToxExpo opens in August 2020.

Yes. Exhibitors can participate in the 2020 SOT Virtual ToxExpo. For more information on how to participate in this opportunity, please contact the SOT Exhibits Team.

Recordings of Exhibitor-Hosted Sessions are now available on the "Virtual Exhibitor-Hosted Sessions” web page. Please contact the SOT Exhibits Team if you are interested in presenting a planned 2020 Exhibitor-Hosted Session as an online recording.

Yes. Please contact the SOT Exhibits Team for more details.

SOT is currently accepting 2021 ToxExpo booth requests. All 2020 exhibitors have been contacted regarding their opportunity to request a booth.

If you booked your housing via Connections Housing, your reservation was canceled.

Contact Connections Housing via email for assistance to reinstate your reservation.

If you booked your housing via Connections Housing, your reservation was canceled. If you booked your housing on your own, please contact the hotel or other housing vendor directly for assistance.

If you booked your reservation with the SOT travel agency, ATC Travel Management, SOT canceled your airline reservation.