Passing the Flag - From Christchurch to San Diego!

As originally published in The Physiologist
Volume 44, Number 6, December 2001, page 387   

On Friday, August 31st, the XXXIV International Congress of Physiological Sciences closed with the continuation of a tradition initiated by Osmo Hanninen at the 1989 IUPS Congress in Helsinki. The tradition is to pass the IUPS flag from the country hosting the current Congress to a representative of the country hosting the next Congress. In this case, the IUPS flag was passed from Anthony Macknight, organizer of the New Zealand Congress to Virginia Huxley, Chair of the US National Committee of the IUPS (USNC), the official host of the 2005 Congress. By accepting the flag, the US physiological community had agreed to host the XXXV IUPS Congress. 

While initial plans called for the 35th Congress to be held during the summer in Washington, DC, constructive discussion within the APS Council and USNC resulted in a decision to propose shifting the meeting to March 31-April 5, 2005 to be held in conjunction with the Experimental Biology meeting in San Diego, CA. It was the opinion of both groups that holding the meeting in conjunction with the EB meeting would serve to strengthen both meetings and provide the IUPS Congress with advantages not available with a free standing Congress. The EB meeting already attracts nearly 3,000 physiologists who submit over 2,500 physiologically related abstracts for presentation.

In addition, a number of our EB sister societies, such as pharmacology, pathology, anatomy, biochemistry, nutrition, and immunology, offer sessions of interest to the physiological community, contributing to the scientific excellence of the 2005 Congress. Lastly, by meeting in conjunction with the EB meeting, Congress registrants will be able to avail themselves of an extensive exhibit program with over 500 exhibit booths. These advantages were important factors that led to the approval of the changes in venue and date by both the IUPS Council and IUPS General Assembly (with a vote of 71-3). In planning for the 2005 Congress, we should learn from the organizers of previous Congresses. The US has hosted two previous Congresses, in 1929 and 1968. For the first one, the American Physiological Society issued an invitation to physiologists worldwide to attend the XIII Congress held in Boston from August 19-23, 1929. As one would expect, international travel was not the easiest thing during that period of time. To facilitate their participation, a large contingent of European physiologists joined together to travel on the Minnekahda. An additional smaller contingent made the Atlantic crossing on the France. Of the approximately 1,700 people who attended the Congress, nearly 700 of the registrants were from countries other than the United States. In 1968, the American Physiological Society hosted the XXIV Congress in Washington, DC. Attendance was considerably better than in 1929, as airline travel had become more common. As a result, approximately 3,700 scientists attended the Congress, of which 1,200 were from a total of 56 countries other than the US. 

Unfortunately, we do not have sufficient documentation of the lessons learned from those two Congresses. Instead, the APS and its sister societies within the USNC of the IUPS—Society for Neuroscience, Society of General Physiologists, Microcirculatory Society, Biomedical Engineering Society, and the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology - will need to draw upon the experiences of the organizers of the last several Congresses which were held in New Zealand (2001), Russia (1997), United Kingdom (1993), Finland (1989), and Canada (1986). One of the primary lessons learned from all of these Congresses is to create an environment in which the scientists from the host country and the visiting scientists can mingle and interact in a welcoming environment. In this regard, the social aspects of an international congress are as important as the scientific aspects. The scientific program is the reason to attend the international Congress, the social activities and events are what we remember the most. 

The organizers of the New Zealand Congress managed to make the event both a scientific and social success. The opening Maori ceremony included native greetings and dancing that not only featured the Maori people but also included the participation of IUPS and international dignitaries. The ceremony was followed by a reception in the Christchurch Town Hall that included ample food and local spirits. This event was included as part of the registration fee. Tony Macknight also arranged to have internationally recognized pianist, Andras Schiff, perform during the Congress. The evening concert proved to be a highlight of the Congress, but one that was open only to those who had purchased a ticket. Similarly, the closing banquet was only open to those who had purchased a ticket. The event included a buffet dinner and open bar, along with native dancers from the Cook Islands. For those who were not selected to demonstrate their ability to dance in the Cook Island style, there was a more traditional band playing later in the evening. It is the hope of the organizers of the XXXV Congress, that all attendees will be able to attend both the opening and closing events as part of their Congress registration fee. 

Scientifically, the organizers of the scientific program for the New Zealand Congress had to contend with the loss of their leader, Rainer Greger, who was struck by lightening while riding his bicycle in a thunderstorm. The organizers were challenged on several fronts to make the Congress a success. Tony Macknight took on the responsibility of serving as the Chair of the International Scientific Program Committee and, with the assistance of the ISPC and the New Zealand organizing committee, created a scientific program worthy of Greger and of the physiological community. 

One of the early challenges was creating a scientific program that would encourage scientists from the Northern Hemisphere to travel "down under" to attend the Congress. In order to encourage scientists to explore the beauties of New Zealand and Australia, the organizers scheduled nearly 40 satellite meetings throughout the area. Unfortunately, only about 35% of the satellite attendees made it to the main Congress with the greatest turnout being from those satellite meetings held in New Zealand. It is for that reason that the organizers of the 2005 Congress in San Diego have  decided to have only a limited number of satellite meetings restricted to the greater San Diego metropolitan area. In that way, it will be relatively easy for the  satellite attendees to participate in the Congress.

The XXXIV Congress provided the attendees with some outstanding keynote lectures, starting with The President's Lecture presented by Jared Diamond and ending with The Fenn Lecture presented by Salvatore Moncada. In general, there were three to four Distinguished Lectures presented each day, including a newly initiated Distinguished Lecture to honor a former APS President and recent IUPS First Vice-President, Ernst Knobil. The Distinguished Lectures provided registrants with an opportunity to hear outstanding scientists discuss their research and comment on the state of research in their fields. The Distinguished Lecture format is one that will be continued at the XXXV Congress in San Diego.

In order to encourage the participation of both local and foreign physicians in the IUPS Congress, the New Zealand organizing committee arranged to have several continuing medical education (CME) breakfasts, sponsored by pharmaceutical companies, held each day. These events proved to be a successful. The organizers of the San Diego Congress will be exploring the possibility of holding similar sessions and plans to offer CME credit not only for the CME Breakfasts, but also for all the scientific sessions of the Congress.

The New Zealand Congress organizers created a new meeting format called synthesia, with the goal of synthesizing the presentations from the various satellite meetings into a continuum that reflected the meeting theme, "from Molecule to Malady." Many of the synthesia succeeded in fulfilling the goals of the format. For those that did not, it was a result of speakers not taking the time to reflect on the format's goals as they prepared their talks. In those cases, the sessions proved to be more traditional symposia. The NZ Congress organizers took advantage of current technology in the development of the meeting. Congress information was available on the IUPS 2001 web site and authors could both register and submit abstracts through the site. The Congress program was available online and on CD-ROM. Congress registrants received upon their arrival in Christchurch an abbreviated printed program and a CD-ROM containing full program information and the abstracts of each oral and poster sessions. The organizers also arranged for about 100 Compaq and Mac computers to be available on-site for checking of the program and abstracts, as well as for registrants to access their e-mail. The hard-copy program was eliminated, and some of the registrants seemed to miss it. By the time we reach the 2005 Congress in 2005, advances in technology may take us to unforeseeable modes of program "printing" and dissemination. The 2005 IUPS National Organizing  Committee will learn from the New Zealand Congress and strive to present the program materials in the best possible format.

As stated earlier, the IUPS Congress in San Diego will benefit from many of the advantages of the EB meeting. Most importantly, the close proximity of colleagues from related disciplines will enhance our ability to fulfill the theme of the Congress, "From Genomes to Functions." Throughout the meeting, efforts will be made to translate discoveries from multiple genomes into an understanding of physiological function. The format will also foster enhanced visibility of the tools of physiology in this time of transition from the genome to the physiome. The abstracts submitted to the Congress will be presented in poster sessions in the San Diego Convention Center in close proximity to the extensive exhibit program. Registrants interested in abstracts submitted to EB sessions will be able to visit them in the same exhibit area. Those abstracts selected for oral presentation, as well as all the symposia and distinguished lectures, will be presented in session rooms at one of the hotels in close proximity to the San Diego Convention Center. In addition, Congress registrants will be able to attend the sessions of the societies participating in the EB meeting, no matter if the sessions are presented in the Convention Center or another meeting hotel. The wealth of scientific opportunities will be immense. 

To ensure that all Congress registrants will be able to avail themselves of all the offerings, they will be provided with a program for the IUPS Congress and for the EB meeting. In addition, abstracts for both meetings will be readily available on CD-ROM and online. The IUPS Congress Organizing Committee hopes to create a scientific program that draws upon the best of physiology and encourages registrants to take advantage of the diversity of science presented within the EB meeting. 

The broad representation of international scientists in the Congress is a unique opportunity for students and post-doctoral fellows to meet colleagues from other countries and to develop collaborative interactions. The Congress will also encourage the participation of students and post-doctoral fellows by scheduling special sessions designed to meet their needs and by offering an extensive travel award program. In addition, the National Organizing Committee plans to encourage the participation of junior scientists from outside the US, with an emphasis on physiologists from developing countries, by allocating at least $200,000 in travel awards for their support. 

It is too early to define the scientific program for the Congress or to share information about the social aspects of the meeting. However, the IUPS Congress National Organizing Committee chaired by Shu Chien and the US Scientific Program Committee chaired by Walter Boron have already started to plan for the Congress. It is their goal to make the 2005 Congress a World Congress of Physiology, bringing physiologists from all over the world together in San Diego. It is sincerely hoped that you will be one of those in attendance.

I urge you to keep abreast of plans for the XXXV IUPS Congress by reading future issues of The Physiologist and by visiting the Congress web site (http://www.iups2005.org). In the meantime, please mark the dates on your calendar. The APS and our sister societies in the US National Organizing Committee look forward to seeing you in San Diego from March 31-April 5, 2005 for the XXXV International Congress of Physiological Sciences. Your participation will be very important in making the 2005 Congress a most memorable one!

A banner welcomes Congress attendees.	A group of Maori people participate in the opening ceremony of the IUPS Congress.
Sue Sabur, APS Marketing Manager, Margaret Reich, APS Director of Publications, and Martin Frank, APS Executive Director, work the APS booth together.	Native Cook Island dancers demonstrate their abilities at the closing banquet of the IUPS New Zealand Congress.

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