Message from the President
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
I hope you are all in good health and spirits. Meeting everyone in Salt Lake City and at the RASS mixer was a great pleasure.
Another exciting year has dawned upon us, and I am honored to have your support to serve you as your president for the 2024–2025 term. RASS continues to be more relevant and a beacon of excellence and collaboration, and I am fully committed to upholding these values as we navigate the challenges and opportunities ahead.
I am grateful for your unwavering support, active participation, and steadfast commitment to RASS. Your invaluable contributions are the driving force behind the RASS Executive Committee (EC). The EC members, including Cecilia Tan (Past President), Anne Loccisano (Vice President), Kan Shao (Vice President-Elect), Katy Goyak (Secretary/Treasurer), Sarah Burnett (Senior Councilor), Melissa Heintz (Junior Councilor), Chi-Yun Chen (Postdoctoral Representative), Alyssa Bellomo (Student Representative) and I, have already completed our first tasks, which were pre-proposal review and review and endorsement of the several high-profile proposals for the 2025 Scientific Sessions.
As a continuation of the past activities, we have an exciting lineup of events planned for the coming year. Our monthly informative and accessible flagship RASS Webinar Series continues to cover a range of subjects, from technical skills, emerging technologies, etc., to industry best practices. These webinars are generally from Fall to Spring on the 2nd Wednesday of each month. I want to give a special shout-out to our Webinar Series coordinator, Anne Jarabek, for serving in this role and for her dedication for almost two decades. If you have any suggestions for topics or speakers, feedback, etc., please get in touch with any of the EC members or Annie Jarabek. We also welcome proposals for joint webinars from other Specialty Sections. George Woodall and his colleagues also deserve a special mention for coordinating the RASS Risk Assessment Syllabus that complements the RASS Webinar Series and other RASS-related mentoring activities. We thank the organizing committee for making this training event possible. So many of our members have excelled in promoting the activities of RASS. Unfortunately, space will not allow me to mention everyone, but I commend everyone for your continued support and participation.
Your continued support, participation, and volunteering are crucial to our collective success and to make RASS as impactful as possible. As such, please consider ways to become more involved with RASS activities, such as contributing to the Endowment Fund, serving on the Endowment Fund Committee or the RASS Syllabus Committee, running for an EC officer position, being a speaker, or volunteering to assist in the award selection process or at the Annual Meeting. If you are interested in volunteering, please send your contact information to our volunteer coordinator, Alea Goodmanson, who has been a valuable volunteer for many years. Please get in touch with any of the EC members with any suggestions or questions.
You can also follow RASS on LinkedIn as an additional means of communication and involvement. We aim to serve you and provide the resources, support, and networking opportunities needed to make RASS the best community it can be and for all of us to excel in our respective fields.
Congratulations to all RASS members serving on the SOT Council and other committees. We are proud of all of you.
Finally, let’s remember those who are no longer with us. We shall forever be indebted to them for the time they spent with us and for promoting RASS activities.
Together, I am confident we will achieve great things and make a lasting impact on RASS.
I look forward to working with you all in the coming year.
Warm regards,
Bernard Gadagbui, MSc, PhD, DABT, UKRT
RASS President 2024–2025