2008 Women in Physiology Committee Report
Schmidt-Nielsen Distinguished Mentor and Scientist
Award
This award, first given in 2004, honors an APS member
who has made outstanding contributions to physiological research and
demonstrated dedication and commitment to excellence in training of young
physiologists whether by mentoring, guiding and nurturing their professional
and personal development, developing novel education methods/materials,
promoting scientific outreach efforts, attracting individuals to the field
of physiology, or by otherwise fostering an environment exceptionally
conducive to education in physiology. The award was established to recognize
Bodil M. Schmidt-Nielsen, distinguished physiologist and the first woman
President of the Society.
Fourteen nominations were received for the fifth Bodil
Schmidt-Nielsen Distinguished Mentor and Scientist award. Members of the
Women in Physiology Committee reviewed the nominations and selected Joey P.
Granger, Univ. of Mississippi Medical Center as the 2008 awardee. Granger
gave a talk on mentoring entitled: “Mentoring: A Lifelong Process,” and an
article based on the lecture will be published in The Physiologist. The
lecture was followed by a buffet luncheon to which were invited APS Council
members, the former Schmidt Nielsen Awardees, Granger’s nominators and
mentees, awardees of the various APS award programs (tum Suden, Minority
Travel, Porter Fellows, etc.), other trainees, and guests specified by the
awardee. More than 100 physiologists attended the award presentation.
Caroline tum Suden/Frances Hellebrandt Professional
Opportunity Awards
These awards provide monetary ($500) prizes and
complimentary registration for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows of
either gender who give presentations at the EB meeting. To be considered for
the award, the candidate must be the first author of an abstract submitted
to APS and must be a student or regular member of APS at the time of
application; the membership requirement was implemented in 2008. This is one
of a limited number of student awards that allow international applicants.
The Women in Physiology Committee received 110
applications for the 2008 Caroline tum Suden/Frances Hellebrandt
Professional Opportunity Awards. The number of applications has been
steadily increasing over the past few years. At its EB meeting, the
Committee discussed whether previous tum Suden awardees should be allowed to
apply for the award a second time. As shown in the table below, more than a
quarter of the awards each year on average go to students or postdocs who
have already received a tum Suden award in a previous year. Two students
have won the award three times. The Committee voted that students should not
win the award a second time; the Committee feels it is important to provide
opportunities for more students and postdocs to win this prestigious award
than to allow students to win it multiple times.
Career Mentoring Website
The APS Career Mentoring Website provides resources for
both women and men trainees who are looking for information and assistance
in developing and maintaining a good mentoring relationship with more senior
and junior scientists. The website includes not only links to mentoring
articles and resources, but access to EB workshop materials, discussion
forums, and guidelines for successful mentoring. The Committee stimulates
discussion at the website through the development and publication of topic
papers in The Physiologist with continuing discussions at the website.
MentorNet Mentoring Program
MentorNet (www.mentornet.org)
is an award-winning (2001 Presidentia Award for Excellence in Science,
Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring) nonprofit e-mentoring network that
addresses the retention and success of those in engineering, science, and
mathematics. It especially, but not exclusively, focuses on women and other
underrepresented groups. All APS trainee members are eligible to participate
as proteges. All APS members and all physiologists are eligible to
participate as mentors. The Committee launched the APS MentorNet
collaboration in October 2007. To date, 16 students and 32 mentors have
signed up for the program. The Committee will continue to recruit students
and mentors in the coming year and anticipates additional program growth as
students become aware of the program.
EB Mentoring Workshop
Each year the Women in Physiology Committee co-sponsors
an EB workshop with the ASPET Committee on Women in Pharmacology. APS and
ASPET alternate roles in taking the lead on the content and scheduling of
the session.
For EB 2008, APS was the lead organization. The
Committee selected “Gainfully Employed: From Launching a Job Search to
Navigating Negotiations,” as the topic. This was chosen to complement the
Trainee Symposium topic of “Marketing Yourself on Paper for Academic
Positions.” The organizers were Sinya Benyajati and Colleen Hegg (APS) and
Jelveh Lameh (ASPET).
The 2009 workshop will be coordinated by ASPET. The
topic will be “Pathways to Leadership: Developing Critical Skills.” The
ASPET organizers are Holly Brevig and Andrea del Tredici, and the APS
organizer is Barbara Alexander.
Women Serving on Committees/Sections
The Women in Physiology Committee annually reviews the
number of women serving on APS Committees and Section Steering Committees.
Women members currently comprise about 25% of the APS membership (22% of the
regular membership and 45% of the student membership). The Committee will
continue to monitor these numbers.
FASEB Excellence in Science Award
The Excellence in Science Award was established by
FASEB in 1989 to recognize outstanding achievement by women in biological
sciences. All women who are members of one or more of the FASEB societies
are eligible for nomination. Nominations recognize a woman whose career
achievements have contributed significantly to further our understanding of
a particular discipline by excellence in research. The award includes a
$10,000 unrestricted research grant, funded by Eli Lilly and Company. The
Chair of the Women in Physiology Committee serves as the APS representative
to the FASEB selection committee for the award.
For the 2008 award, 56 applications were received, of which eight were
primary APS members. Mina J. Bissell, University of Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
(member of ASBMB and SDB) was selected as the 2008 award recipient. The
Committee will continue to work with APS members to enhance their nomination
packets. In addition, the Committee is discussing strategies to increase the
number of APS women who are National Academy of Science members, as that is
a critical element for successful candidates for this prestigious award.
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