The activities of the Women in Physiology Committee are coordinated and closely intertwined with the activities of the APS Education Office. This report provides summaries of Women in Physiology Committee activities.
Bodil Schmidt-Nielsen Distinguished Mentor and Scientist Award
Eleven nominations for the third Bodil Schmidt-Nielsen Distinguished Mentor and Scientist award were received by APS office and reviewed by the Women in Physiology Committee. L. Gabriel Navar of Tulane University School of Medicine was selected as the 2006 awardee. The awardee receives an honorarium of $1,000, a plaque, and reimbursement of expenses to attend the EB 2006 meeting. The awardee gave a 30-minute lecture on mentoring entitled "From Mentee to Mentor: Lessons Learned Along the Way," 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 Dr. Bodil Schmidt-Neilsen, the former Schmidt-Nielsen Awardees: Drs. R. Clinton Webb and Christin Carter-Su, Dr. Navar's nominators and mentees, awardees of the various APS award programs (tum Suden, Minority Travel, Porter Fellows, etc.), APS Council members, other trainees, and guests specified by the awardee.
Trainee Symposium
The Women in Physiology Committee was pleased to see the initiation of a Trainee Symposium at Experimental Biology 2006. The Committee consulted with the Trainee Advisory Committee concerning the Trainee Survey results and the professional development topics that are of most interest to trainees. The two Committees discussed developing complementary EB symposium topics to avoid overlap. This discussion will continue in future years to best meet the needs of APS trainees.
Other activities
For the other tactics proposed by the Women in Physiology Committee, the Committee will be developing proposals in future years to bring to the Council for consideration.
Collaborative Career Mentoring Workshops
The Committee will investigate the possibility of joint workshops with the Women's Committee (or relevant similar committee) of other IUPS-member societies at IUPS meetings. The Committee saw a great potential for collaborative sessions that are of interest to women scientists world-wide based on professional skills issues.
Program Models and Resources
Many of the programs and resources developed by the Women in Physiology Committee are of great interest to other organizations and societies as model programs or resources. As appropriate, the Committee has allowed other groups to use APS programs as templates to develop similar programs and APS resources to assist women scientists in developing countries. As future opportunities occur, the Committee will look at each request individually for appropriateness.
Caroline tum Suden/Frances Hellebrandt Professional Opportunity Awards
The Women in Physiology Committee received 134 applications for the 2006 Caroline tum Suden/Frances Hellebrandt Professional Opportunity Awards. The number of applications has been steadily increasing over the past few years (101 in 2003, 113 in 2004, 115 in 2005, 134 in 2006�an 18% increase from previous year with more graduate student applicants). These awards provide monetary ($500) prizes and complimentary registration for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows of either gender who give presentations at the EB 2006 meeting. The applications include an abstract submitted for presentation at EB and a supporting letter from the applicant indicating the goals of his/her research project, his/her specific role in the project described in the abstract, and the reasons why he/she is deserving of the award. This is one of a few trainee awards that allow international applicants.
Each Committee member critically reviewed and rated 36-37 applications. From that pool of candidates, 36 were selected to be recipients of the tum Suden Award. Three alternates were also determined. In accordance with new procedures on selection of awardees, the selection process was coordinated with other APS awards and the tum Suden Awards were selected before other awards, including section awards, to reduce the chances of a student winning multiple awards in the same year. The Awardees were invited to attend the APS Business Meeting where they each received a certificate and a check for $500.
Career Mentoring Program
An APS Mentoring Program directed toward young physiologists-in-training and to junior faculty has been in existence since 1993. Over the years the Committee and staff have tried many different formats and program components in an attempt to increase the utilization of the mentoring program by trainees. During the past year the Committee effort has been put into refining the mentoring website to make it even more useful and interactive, since it has already been cited for excellence by a national publication and receives a considerable number of hits each month. The APS Career Mentoring Website is a valuable resource 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.
Mentoring Discussion Board
A new feature for the APS Career Mentoring website that will be introduced this year is a Mentoring Discussion Board. The "Mentoring Advice & Discussion Forum" page will provide timely and practical career information to young physiologists. This page will feature a new topic every other month. A member of the Women in Physiology or an invited guest will write a short essay on a topic relevant to the career development of a young scientist. That issue will then be the focus of the interactive discussion for two months. Mentees will be able to anonymously ask topic-specific questions of Committee members and other mentors and of other mentees. A list of potential topics has been developed, including how to find a mentor, what different careers are like, career training, preparing a job talk, sharing childcare in a marriage with two professionals, starting a laboratory, teaching that first course, career transitions, and other similar topics.
Proposed Participation in the MentorNet Program
The Committee received a proposal through FASEB from MentorNet.org. MentorNet is an award-winning (2001 Presidential 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. Founded in 1997, MentorNet provides highly motivated protégés (students, postdocs and untenured faculty) from many of the world's top colleges and universities with positive, one-on-one, email-based mentoring relationships with mentors from industry and academia. MentorNet pairs protégés and mentors from all 50 US states and 55 countries on six continents. The MentorNet Network also offers an E-Forum (web-based discussion group), resources on mentoring and careers, and a resume database. MentorNet has recently begun promoting its services to professional societies. Currently, there are nine professional societies participating in the MentorNet Network and APS will be the first FASEB society to do so.
MentorNet's director approached FASEB-member societies with the opportunity for member trainees (graduate students and postdoctoral fellows) to participate in its mentoring program. The MentorNet program would contact APS trainees directly with program information. Trainees wanting to participate would be matched with APS and other mentors registered with MentorNet. They would then have access to dynamic, online mentoring components and personalized follow-up to ensure the match was successful. APS currently has about 1,200-1,500 trainee members. The Women in Physiology Committee sees this program as a much more effective mentoring tool than the former APS Career Mentoring Program. The benefits of MentorNet are the larger number of students and mentors involved, creating a more dynamic and informative online environment, and the increased monitoring and resources available. The Committee supports APS involvement in this service.
Mentoring Resources for International Members
The Women in Physiology Committee will focus over the next year on identifying mentoring resources that are specifically targeted to issues of interest to international members. Links to these resources will be added to the Career Mentoring website.
EB Mentoring Workshop
One of the roles of the APS Women in Physiology Committee is to coordinate activities with other such committees within FASEB. For EB 2006, the Women in Physiology Committee co-sponsored a workshop with the ASPET Committee on Women in Pharmacology on "Mastering the Juggling Act: Laboratory, Life, and Leadership Roles." This year APS was the primary lead on the workshop. Two representatives from the Women in Physiology Committee and a representative for the Committee on Women in Pharmacology served as co-organizers. The workshop was designed to inform young physiologists of how to deal with many of the issues they will face balancing research, teaching, service activities, job and family, and dual careers. The session was very well attended. Approximately 220 young (85%) and senior scientists attended the session, with many remaining for discussions during a breakout session of six groups. Each group was well represented by members of the APS Women in Physiology Committee and ASPET Committee on Women in Pharmacology. Each workshop attendee received a handout of resource material for the topics discussed by the speakers. This session was the first time that an audio recording was simultaneously made with the PowerPoint presentations and both will be made available as a resource on the APS website. The presentations received very high ratings from the participants, as indicated by the evaluation results.
APS Women in Physiology and ASPET Women in Pharmacology Committees will once again partner to organize a mentoring workshop for EB 2007 in Washington, DC. ASPET will serve as the lead organization on this session. The focus of the workshop will be "Being Heard: The Microinequities That Tilt the Playing Field," with specific topics that include being heard as students and postdocs, being heard as junior faculty, and being recognized as senior faculty. The target audience is young scientists of both genders interested in learning skills for their future/current careers. The workshop also offers a venue for networking between junior and senior scientists. This session fulfills one of the aims of the APS Strategic Plan to support trainees and early career physiologists in career development and transitions to help them become successful and competitive.
Web-based Professional Skills Courses
With support from the NIGMS Minority Opportunities in Research (MORE) division, the APS is developing live, web, and CD-ROM short courses that focus on critical professional skills areas. Each course will include a strong focus on the interaction of racial/ethnic background and culture with the development of these skills.
Although direct oversight of the project resides with the Education Committee, the Careers in Physiology, Porter Physiology Development, Trainee Advisory, and Women in Physiology Committees are actively involved in the project, particularly through the project�s Advisory Board.
The Chair of the Women in Physiology Committee serves on the Advisory Board and has been instrumental in helping to plan the topics for the courses. Her role is key in that the Women in Physiology Committee Mentoring Workshop topics provided the basis for the original grant proposal. Both the first and second topics are taken directly from two of the APS-ASPET workshops, in addition to many of the resources used for the courses.
Women Serving on Committees/Sections
The Women in Physiology Committee actively encourages women to be active members of the APS by serving on APS Committees and being in leadership positions. The Women in Physiology Committee annually reviews the number of women serving on APS Committees and Section Steering Committees. The Committee was pleased to see that there are 74 women serving in 203 committee slots (36%). This is the same percentage as last year. In addition, eight of the 22 (36%) Committee chairs and four of the 12 members (33%) of the elected Council are women (including the third female President-elect). There are 40 women serving in 122 (33%) steering committee member slots. The Committee will continue to monitor these numbers and encourage the Committee on Committees, the sections, and general membership to continue to include women in governance roles.
FASEB Excellence in Science Award
The Women in Physiology Committee Chair serves as the APS representative to the FASEB selection committee for the prestigious FASEB Excellence in Science Award, which carries a $10,000 cash prize (supported by Eli Lilly and Company) and the opportunity to present a plenary talk at a FASEB-sponsored meeting. Competition is very rigorous for this award. Most nominees have extensive dossiers documenting their numerous contributions to research, education, service, and mentoring. The FASEB selection committee received a total of 101 nominations for the 2007 award, of which 82 complete nominations were reviewed. The Chair of the Women in Physiology Committee is precluded from coordinating a nomination because of the conflict of interest that this represents. However, members of the Committee assisted three APS members in enhancing their nomination packets for the 2007 competition. The Committee plans to nominate a qualified APS member for the 2008 award and will continue to work with APS members to enhance their application packets.
Women and APS Awards
The Committee again noted that the number of women among the top Society awardees (Cannon, Bowditch, and Distinguished Lectureships) has not been high. There have only been five female Bowditch awardees (1957, 1993, 1995, 1996, 2004) and two female Cannon awardees (2004, 2006). However, the Women in Physiology Committee is pleased to note the selection of three women scientists for the 2006 Distinguished Lectureships. The Committee will help develop nomination packets for outstanding women for Cannon and Bowditch awards this summer. In addition, the Committee will encourage the sections to consider women as Distinguished Lecturers.
Recent Doctoral Survey
Each year, the APS receives the names and contact information on those students who have completed their doctoral degrees during the past year. The students are surveyed about their employment status 6-12 months after receiving their degrees. The report on data for 1998-2004 will be prepared this summer.
The Women in Physiology Committee recommended that staff conduct a follow-up survey of all those who have now been out of their degree program for five or more years on a regular basis to determine whether they continue to be employed in the science field and in what types of positions. The survey will include analysis by gender and racial/ethnic group. The Committee will assist in the development of the report.