President's Report on the Eighth Annual Meeting
of the Iowa Physiological Society, 2003

The eighth annual meeting of the Iowa Physiological Society (IPS) was held on Monday, June, 2, 2003 at the Medical Education Center at Des Moines University in Des Moines, Iowa. Approximately 20 registrants participated in this one-day meeting and these individuals included faculty, research assistants, post-doctoral fellows, graduate students and one undergraduate student. Dr. Gerald Dibona, past President of APS, was also in attendance. The morning session consisted of oral presentations by each of the ten poster presenters. Although the topics covered by each poster varied considerably, most were directly or indirectly related to cardiovascular physiology.

The poster presentations (2 hours) were followed by a buffet lunch and a brief Planning Committee Meeting. Issues that were discussed included: whether the annual IPS meeting should be held in conjunction with the Annual Iowa Academy of Sciences meeting; whether next year’s annual IPS meeting should be held in Iowa City at the University of Iowa to attract a larger audience; whether the Nebraska Physiological Society should be invited to meet jointly with IPS on a yearly or every other year basis; and whether physiologists from South Dakota and Missouri should be encouraged to attend and participate in the annual IPS meeting. These issues will be further discussed by the IPS Board and decisions will be announced to the membership. Nominations were also sought for IPS President Elect and it was decided to keep the nomination period open until an appropriate individual was nominated and approved.

The major presentation in the afternoon session was a seminar entitled: “Reactive Oxygen Species in the Autonomic Nervous System: Novel Mediators of Cardiovascular Regulation and Dysregulation.” This research seminar was presented by Mark Chapleau, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Iowa, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Iowa City, IA. After Dr. Chapleau answered specific questions, participants continued to view the individual posters that were displayed throughout the large conference room.

Thomas J. Schmidt, Ph.D.

Past President, Iowa Physiological Society

June 4, 2003