Newsletter of the
Toxicologic and Exploratory Pathology Specialty Sectionof the SOT /Volume 4, Issue 2November 2003
TEPSS Newsletter - 1
TEPSS Newsletter - 1
Presidents corner, by Bruce McCullough
Dear TEPSS Members:
I hope this newsletter finds you enjoying your families, comfortable with your current assignments and eager for another new year of toxicologic pathology and its many ramifications (recall it is November!). Each week it seems I am reminded of the tremendous importance of my personal network of valuable professional relationships. The TEPSS was established to provide opportunities for expanding and strengthening of these elements of our professional lives. The point I wish to make in this brief message is that networks and relationships only exist with mutual participation. At first you may have thought that I would be telling you what you would gain from being active in TEPSS. No, I want you to consider the converse, because networks are not linear. The inputs come from all directions and frequently not from the individual with whom you had first contact. Networks are effective because people, like you, put energy into them. Interestingly, energy inputted isn’t lost from the network; rather the energy is magnified by the network and others outside sense the benefits and are drawn in seeking to appreciate the apparent rewards. If these new members do not contribute energy to the network eventually the network will falter. Let’s not allow this to happen to TEPSS. We have roughly doubled in size in the past couple of years to more than 85 members. I regard this as an impressive expansion for the idea and energy of a single person. The TEPSS needs your energy and in response TEPSS will contribute to the success of the Society of Toxicology and eventually the network will find its way back to you magnified many fold. As always, the SOT annual meeting is the premier international forum for toxicology issues and an exciting and stimulating program is planned. So, come and participate. Rewards will follow.
*****In this issue******
President’s Corner 1
TEPSS Student Travel Award 1
Membership in TEPSS 2
TEPSS 2004 Annual meeting & reception
Program for SOT 2005 in New Orleans
Summary of Summer 2003 officer’s telecon
Upcoming meetings
Volunteer opportunities
Officers 2003-2004
TEPSS Student Travel Awards
by Tom Monticello
Our specialty section will once again sponsor one award this year for a graduate student's travel to the annual SOT meeting in Baltimore, MD March 21-25, 2004. To be considered for a TEPSS student travel award, nominees must be the senior author of an abstract accepted for presentation at the annual SOT meeting, dealing with basic or applied research on the pathogenesis of a toxic response. Preference will be given to candidates whose professional goals include the incorporation of pathology into their professional activities. A letter of recommendation from an academic advisor who is an SOT member should accompany the application as well as a current CV of the student. Abstracts will be judged based on clarity of presentation and scientific merit. Deadline for submission of nominations for this award is January 10, 2004. Please see the SOT website (Information / Awards and Fellowships/ Specialty Section Awards) for details or contact .
****************************Toxicologic & Exploratory Pathology Specialty Section
Annual Meeting and Reception
will be onWednesday, March 24 at 6PM.
Please attend and support your specialty section
****************************Our membership drive was successful, but don't stop now. by Doug Wolf
I want to thank everyone who renewed their membership in the Toxicologic and Exploratory Pathology Specialty Section (TEPSS) or joined this past year. We have been successful in our membership drive activities growing from just over 60 members at the 2003 meeting to now over 80 members. This is a great step forward and an excellent growth rate. The challenge now is to not only maintain our current membership but to continue this growth trend. Remember the goal of TEPSS is to inform the toxicology community of the value and importance of pathology assessment. The TEPSS does this by supporting continuing education courses, workshops, and symposia that highlight pathology endpoints in toxicity assessment. Your paid membership is vital for us to achieve these goals and we thank you for your continued support.
Please remember at the upcoming SOT renewal to check the box next to TEPSS in the on-line form before submitting your payment. For those of you who have an administrative assistant perform these functions, please remember to tell them to include TEPSS in the SOT renewal. Remember specialty sections are the core of SOT as it is the source of influence on meeting programming and the main route into SOT committees and elected positions. In order to maximize our influence as a specialty section we need as broad a support as possible. My charge to you all this year is to invite one of your colleagues to join our specialty section and invite a second colleague to attend our specialty section meeting at the upcoming SOT meeting in Baltimore where I look forward to seeing all of you.
Program for 2004 SOT Meeting
Please plan to attend / support a number of TEPSS sponsored or cosponsored events in the upcoming 2004 SOT meeting in Baltimore. We are co-sponsoring one continuing education course on Adrenal Gland Toxicity & Carcinogensis. There will also be a symposia on Toxicogenomics in Preclinical Drug Development and three workshops dealing with Agricultural Chemical Safety, Biomarker Development and Immune Modulation. There has been a great deal of time planning and preparing for these presentations. Organizing and presenting topics of interest to SOT members is one of our specialty sections biggest impact and contribution to a successful meeting. Thanks to all the members who contributed their time and talent in getting these programs submitted and accepted.
TEPSS Reception: Are we ready for automated tissue examinations?? The potential use of electronic imaging technologies to examine tissue sections is receiving increased attention. A portion of our annual meeting will be devoted to discussion/debate of the pros and cons associated with such an approach. With a shortage of qualified toxicologic pathologists, senior management will likely embrace whatever techniques to increase capacity for histopathological examinations. Should we be supporting or resisting such proposals. Come join in the discussion and ensure that your views are heard. We will not agree necessarily, but we will listen, at least for little while. Fortunately, this is a debate, which can take place while drinking beer, which should improve open exchange of views. Looking forward to seeing your happy faces at the debate.
Program for the 2005 SOT meeting
by Brian Short, TEPSS Pres-Elect, 2005 Program Chairperson
It seems far away, but now is the time for everyone in the Toxicologic and Experimental Pathology Specialty section to start planning for the 2005 SOT meeting in New Orleans, LA. The primary objective of TEPSS is to “…sponsor scientific and educational programs including symposia, workshops, and continuing education courses that advance the science of toxicology through the tools of the toxicologic and experimental pathologists” (Bylaws plagiarism!). This year we nearly doubled our membership, which should mean we double the number of ideas and proposals! I will be establishing a program committee, so please let me know if you would like to help (before I draft you). The deadline for submitting ideas for presentations for the 2005 SOT meeting is less than 6 months away (April 2004). We must begin preparing well before the deadline for a successful proposal submission. These sessions are usually most successful if they are cosponsored with other specialty subsections, but it is not mandatory. In addition to your ideas for programs, I know all of you have interests and expertise that would be of value to share at SOT meetings. I also invite you to visit the TEPSS membership roster and other specialty memberships in the SOT website directory for other potential speakers. The SOT meeting is our opportunity to make an impact on the education and scientific direction of a wide population of society members and make everyone aware of the critical and diverse role of our specialty. Please contact me with your ideas for topics and speakers at .
Summary of TEPSS Officers Teleconference,
September 26, 2003. The teleconference began at 2:34 pm with Jeff Everitt, George Foley, Bruce McCullough, Tom Monticello, Brian Short, and Doug Wolf attending.
Budget: In a post-meeting note, George Foley reported the current balance of the specialty section with monies derived from membership renewal and the fund drive is $6,043 as of July 2003. Based on the new method of fund distribution, continued membership support will provide sufficient funds to accomplish our goals of student support and reception speakers.
Committee reports:
Membership: There was a discussion on status of the membership drive. Currently (as of September 26, 2003) there are 86 TEPSS members. It was discussed about following up on the membership drive list and each officer contact non-members on the list and suggest they join TEPSS. Timing of the letters and contact would be in the October-November timeframe.
Communications: There was a discussion about timing and content of the fall newsletter. Articles will be due by October 24 with newsletter distribution by October 31.
Fundraisers: The Fund drive was planned as a one-time event so it was agreed to not continue at this time.
Student Awards: Tom discussed the student travel awards. He has already received one application. After discussion it was agreed that Tom would seek two to three TEPSS members to evaluate the student abstracts. There was also a discussion about previous efforts employed to generate sufficient abstracts for the competition.
SOT 2004: The format of the annual meeting was discussed along with potential topics and speakers. Bruce and Tom will consider topics for a brief (15-20 minute) presentation during the TEPSS reception.
Program 2005: Brian is in the early stages of soliciting program committee members for the 2005 program committee. Volunteers will be sought individually and through the newsletter.
Nomination committee: Three positions will be open in the upcoming election: President-elect, Secretary/Treasurer, Councilor. Jeff, Bruce, Brian and Tom will solicit potential candidates with the aim of getting two candidates per office for the election.
No further business was presented and the teleconference was adjourned at 3:20 pm.
George L. Foley, Secretary/Treasurer TEPSS
TEPSS Newsletter - 1
UPCOMING MEETINGS OF INTEREST
TEPSS Newsletter - 1
PhRMA/FDA Workshop: Risk Detection, Management and Communications: Quantitative Perspectives, Nov 5-6, 2003. Bethesda, MD
ACVP Annual Meeting, November 15-19, 2003, Banff, Alberta, Canada,
Predictive Toxicology, by Cambridge Health Instit., November 17-18, 2003, Boston, MA.
Joint JSTP-IFSTP Congress, February 15-18, 2004, Kobe, Japan.
43rd Annual SOT, March 21-25, 2004, Baltimore, MD.
23rd Annual STP, June 14-17, 2004, Salt Lake City, UT.
2nd Drug Discovery and Development Summit: Novel concepts and Technologies to Accelerate Drug Development; December 1-5, 2003, Honolulu, HI,
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Upcoming volunteer opportunities:
SOT 2005 Program Committee
Timeframe: Aug 03-Apr 2004 develop programs (CE, Symposia, Workshops) for annual meeting. Brian Short, chair
Student travel award committee
Timeframe: Nov 2003-Jan 2004 review applications, abstracts and supporting letters, Tom Monticello, chair
SOT volunteer opportunityinformation is available at the Forms & Applications section under Member Services menu option at
Please feel free to contact your officers of the section with any questions, comments or suggestions. Your suggestions for programs and membership are especially welcome and encouraged. The section exists to serve its members by providing CE courses, workshops and symposium as well as supporting student travel.Office /
Name
/Term
/ e-mail / Committee/TaskPresident /
Bruce McCullough
/ 2003-4 / / 2004 ProgramPresident elect / Brian Short / 2003-4 / / 2005 Program
Sec-Treas / George Foley / 2002-4 / / Newsletters
Councilor / Tom Monticello / 2003-5 / / Student Awards
Councilor / Doug Wolf / 2002-4 / / Membership
Councilor/ Past Pres / Jeff Everitt / 2003-4 / / Sage advice
TEPSS Newsletter - 1