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2009 Conference Committee Report
Current and Future Meetings: The initial goal of the committee was to have
two high quality APS Conferences per year. Two conferences were held in
2009: “ET-11 APS International Conference on Endothelin,” September 9-12,
Montreal, Canada, and “Sex Steroids and Gender in Cardiovascular-Renal
Physiology and Pathophysiolo-gy,” July 15-18, Broomfield, CO. For 2010 there
will be an APS Intersociety Meeting: “Global Change and Global Science:
Comparative Physiology in a Changing World,” August 4-7, Westminster, CO,
and “Inflammation, Immunity and Cardiovascular Disease,” Westminster, CO.
The dates for later conference have not yet been set. The conference
“Aldosterone the ENaC/Degeneration Family of Ion Channels: Molecular
Mechanisms and Pathophysiology,” will be held in 2011, and the Committee has
approved and sent to Council for approval, a meeting entitled: “Autonomic
Regulation of Cardiovascular Function in Health and Disease.”
Website for Proposal Submission: At last year’s Conference Committee
meeting, website submission of proposals was discussed. Some improvements
were recommended which included items such as a field for: “what is the
scope of the meeting” in 50 words or less; how will you include
career-developmental workshops; how do you plan to incorporate junior
investigators; and what are the competing meetings? There were other
suggestions that have improved the quality of the information that is
provided in the application without making it too cumbersome. This has
allowed the Committee to more thoroughly evaluate applications. There was
discussion as to how to continue to promote and emphasize of junior
investigators, gender, and ethnicity participation and representation.
Criteria for APS No Cost Sponsorship: It was agreed that the science should
be within the scientific area of APS. The program should have minority
representation, junior researcher representation, and gender balance and
should be scientifically appropriate for the Society. There should be
opportunities for training of junior investigators (mix of
presentations/workshops). In return for allowing the APS moniker to be used,
meeting organizers must supply APS with the meeting registration list free
of charge.
Conference Financing: Since contributions from industry are decreasing, and
with the downturn in the stock market and economy, there are continued
concerns about how to make the APS Conferences less costly and more self
sufficient. The Committee emphasizes to the conference organizers that they
need to do everything possible to secure additional funding. Based on the
comments received from NIH on the ET-11 conference, there is concern about
how NIH is evaluating proposals for conference grants. The Committee
requested to see the grant applications and NIH’s responses for the two 2009
conferences. There was discussion about possibly changing the instructions
to conference proposers to better address issues NIH is now focusing on.
There is also the continued emphasis on reducing the number of invited
speakers; the goal is to have more revenue from paid attendees.
Soliciting for New Proposals: There continues to be suggestions and ongoing
discussions for recruiting new proposals. Suggestions range from contacting EB Symposium Speakers and Organizers to APS award winners at EB, and working
with the JPC and the various section representatives.
Number of Conferences: Although the members of the Committee believe that
organizing conferences on new and exciting topics should be strongly
encouraged, it was also recognized that establishing a cohort of highly
successful meetings that met periodically would help to solidify the APS
conference program and move it towards an equal footing with the Gordon and
FASEB summer conferences.
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