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| 1998
Annual Spring Meeting - Summary |
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SUMMARY
ASSOCIATION OF NEUROSCIENCE
DEPARTMENTS AND PROGRAMS
SPRING MEETING SUMMARY
Marriott Metro Center Hotel
Washington, DC
MAY 2-4, 1998
ANDP Spring Meeting Draws Large
Audience to Discuss the Internet, Graduate School Restructuring, Federal
Funding Increases
The annual Spring meeting of the
Association of Neuroscience Departments and Programs was held at the
Marriott Metro Center Hotel in downtown Washington, DC from May 2-4,
1998. The theme was "Research and Graduate Education in the
21stCentury." The meeting began with a report to the membership
from ANDP President R. Ranney Mize about new ANDP initiatives, including
the graduate student jobs workshops, the post-doctoral/institutional
membership category, and the international affiliates listing on the
ANDP Web site. Reports were also made by Treasurer Dr. George Rebec,
Secretary Dr.Barbara Talamo, and President-elect Dr. Rob Milner). The
business meeting was followed by the keynote address from Dr. Gerald
Fischbach, Harvard University Medical School. The evening concluded with
a food and wine reception sponsored by local neuroscience programs at
Geroge Mason, Georgetown, and George Washington Universities, the
National Institute of Mental Health, Uniformed Services University, and
the University of Maryland.
The Sunday morning session,
"Electronic Teaching and Publishing," focussed on the impact
of the Internet and computer-aided instruction upon teaching and
publishing in neuroscience. Dr. Nello Spiteri of Elseiver Science
Publishers used an on-line Internet connection to demonstrate electronic
resources available from Elsevier, including a new push technology,
Neuronline. Dr. Graham Lees of Academic Press discussed the financial
implications of electronic publication. Dr. James Roberts of Mt. Sinai
introduced the contents of the new textbook, Fundamental Neuroscience,
which has been written in association with ANDP. Dr. Robert Fellows of
the University of Iowa then demonstrated features of the ANDP WEB site,
including the electronic version of the Neuroscience Training
Programs of North America. Dr. Jerome Kassirer, editor of the New
England Journal of Medicine, closed the session with a discussion of
ethical and practical issues created by the electronic publishing.
The Sunday afternoon session,
"Restructuring Graduate Schools and Universities," dealt with
ideas about how to reorganize graduate programs, medical schools and
universities and the impact of health care reform and dwindling
university budgets. Contrasting points of view were offered. Dr. Susan
Gerbi of Brown University presented conclusions from the FASEB Consensus
Report on Graduate Education, including the position that graduate
school admissions should not be limited because future manpower needs in
biomedical science are difficult to predict. Dr. Alan Shipp of the
Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) described the Graduate
Research, Education and Training (GREAT) initiative of AAMC. Dr. Robert
Jones, also of AAMC, presented data on the need for faculty performance
review and tenure reform imposed by financial pressures faced by medical
schools. Dr. Levi Watkins, associate dean of postdoctoral programs at
Johns Hopkins University, discussed the difficulties faced by
postdoctoral students in science, including job security, governance,
appointment status, and health care.
Presenter Dr. Robert Miller of the
University of Minnesota described the "battles" surrounding
Board of Regents efforts to reform tenure in that state's institutions
of higher education. Dr. Don Faber of Allegheny University of the Health
Sciences discussed the impact of health care reform and a medical school
merger upon the training and research environment of basic science
departments at Allegheny. Drs. Pat Levitt and Edward Stricker of the
University of Pittsburgh illustrated how a multidisciplinary
neuroscience training program can be effectively organized within the
framework of a traditional departmental structure. The session concluded
with a roundtable discussion of issues in which William Brinkley,
president-elect of FASEB, participated with the afternoon’s speakers.
The featured speaker at the Sunday
evening ANDP banquet was Dr. David Cohen of Columbia University, who was
introduced by Dr. Lorne Mendell, former president of ANDP and current
president of the Society for Neuroscience. Dr. R. Ranney Mize, ANDP
president, presented Dr. Cohen with the first Distinguished Service
Award of ANDP for his service as founding member and first President of
the Association.
The Monday morning session, "Science
Research Infrastructure," dealt with alternative approaches to
conducting biomedical research in the United States, including basic
versus clinical emphases, fundamental versus translational goals,
competitive versus cooperative environments, and the financial resources
and constraints imposed by different organizational structures. Dr.
David Clayton of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute described the
mechanisms of support provided by HHMI within traditional university
settings. Dr. Dorothy Gallaher of Neurogen Corporation discussed the
environment and goals of research in the biotechnology sector. Dr.
Enrico Mugnaini of Northwestern University showed how an Institute of
Neuroscience functions within a research university that spans two
campuses. Dr. Michael Gottesman discussed current and future initiatives
of the intramural research programs at the National Institutes of
Health, including a new Ph.D. program that will focus upon clinically
oriented translational research. Dr. Ed Kravitz of Harvard University
then presented seven modest proposals for funding biomedical research
using the traditional NIH R01 mechanism. The session concluded with a
description of RO1 and other NIH funding mechanisms presented by Dr.
Connie Atwell, Acting Deputy Director of NINDS.
The meeting concluded with a working
luncheon that included presentations of training and research program
initiatives at various federal agencies, including the National
Institute of Mental Health (Dr. Richard Nakamora), National Science
Foundation (Dr. Kathie Olsen), Center for Scientific Review (Brent
Stanfield), National Institute of Aging (Dr. Judith Finkelstein), the
Integrated Neuroscience Training Programs (Dr. Walter Goldschmidts) and
the National Eye Institute (Dr. Michael Oberdorfer).
Corporate and organization sponsors of
this year's meeting were Academic Press, FASEB Fitzgerald Publishers,
Elsevier Science Publishers, MIT Press, and the Society for
Neuroscience.
R. Ranney Mize, Ph.D.
President, ANDP
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