APS News

As originally printed in The Physiologist,
February 2001, Volume 44, Number 1
Page 3

Council Meets in Scottsdale
    The APS fall Council meeting was held in Scottsdale, Arizona, at the Regal McCormick Ranch on November 18-20, 2000.
    During the meeting, several new initiatives were approved in an effort to continue to provide the Society’s membership with ongoing opportunities.
    With respect to publications, Council approved providing the APS online collection (now available for $49.50) free to all members in good standing, including students, as of January 2002. This will enable members to have access to the online journal collection at home and on the road. This is an especially welcome member benefit for overseas members who will have access to the current journal issues more quickly. Also approved was the recommendation of the Publications Committee to bundle all of the review articles from the various journals at one location on the HighWire website. This will allow readers to go to one site and see all the review articles that were published in all the APS journals rather than having to go to each individual journal.
    The 2000 Strategic Plan had called for a new conference series on physiological genomics. Curt Sigmund and Craig Gelband are organizing the first of these new conferences, which will be entitled “Physiological Genomics of Cardiovascular Disease.” A tentative date of February 21-23, 2002 has been set, with a tentative location of San Francisco, CA. Council reiterated its determination to make this new conference series a high-quality and exciting venue for the dissemination of information on the fast growing field of physiological genomics. Future conferences will focus on other organ systems and the effect of physiological genomics on that particular field.
    Another outcome of the 2000 Strategic Plan was the establishment in 2000 of the first four task forces: a Journal Pricing Task Force (chaired by Dale J. Benos, Publications Committee Chair), a Task Force on Communications/Public Information (chaired by Hannah V. Carey, APS Councillor), a Physiological Genomics Task Force (chaired by William J. Chin, APS Councillor), and a Translational Research Task Force (chaired by Steven C. Hebert, APS Councillor, and John E. Hall, APS President-elect). Council received preliminary reports from these task forces at the fall meeting (see companion report, p. 4). A new task force, the Task Force on Sections and Groups, is currently being assembled. Former Section Advisory Committee Chair, Richard J. Traystman, has agreed to serve as Chair of the Task Force. Other Task Forces in the planning stages are a Task Force on Awards and a Task Force on APS Foundation/Fund Raising. These will be assembled later in 2001.
    The new procedures enacted last fall with regard to processing membership applications on a monthly basis have been proceeding very well and have been met with enthusiasm and appreciation from potential members. Another new benefit for members will begin in January 2001 with the initiation of a new members-only area of the APS web site. In that area, members will be able to update their membership information, including address and sectional affiliation, pay dues and subscriptions, search the member database for other members in their field or locale, modify which listservs they are subscribed to, and access the APS bulletin boards and chat rooms.
Council continued to be impressed with the efforts of the International Physiology Committee. The Latin American Initiative is a new program initiated by the Committee this past year. The first full round of applications were received this fall for consideration. Council approved the funding of four proposals for courses or symposia. These are 1) a course on “Molecular Modeling of Macromolecules,” hosted by the Institute of Biotechnology, Universidad Autonoma of Mexico (UNAM), Mexico, organized by Mario Amzel, Johns Hopkins University; 2) a symposium on “Stressor-Induced Alterations in Sleep,” hosted by Department of Psychobiology, Universidade Federal de Sao Paulo, Brazil, organized by Mark R. Opp, University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston; 3) a workshop on “Comparative Aspects of the Oxidative Stress in Biological Systems,” hosted by the Center for Biological Research, La Paz, Baja California, Mexico, organized by Tania Zenteno-Savin, Center for Biological Research, Mexico; and 4) a course on “Mechanisms of Ion Transport Across Cell Membranes,” hosted by Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Cientificas (IVIC), organized by Reinaldo DiPolo, Department of Biophysics, IVIC, Venezuela. The International Physiolo-gy Committee recommended that the deadline for application proposals for the Latin American Initiative be changed from August 1 to March 1, which will allow the Committee to discuss the applications during their annual face-to-face meeting during EB and provide a recommendation for the Council to discuss during its meeting in July as well as providing the organizers more rapid feedback.
    Council accepted the final 2000 budget and the proposed 2001 budget. It also accepted a proposal to use investment pooling in managing long-term investments, as recommended by the Finance Committee. In the past, each of the Society’s several reserve accounts were handled independently and according to different investment philosophies. Pooling the Society’s long-term investments will spread the gains, losses, and income to all the funds proportionately according to each fund's share of total invested assets.
    In addition the wording of the Bylaw change to move the dues year from July-June to the calendar year of January-December was approved. This Bylaw change will be presented to the membership for a vote at the annual Business Meeting in April 2001.
Additional details of the Council’s actions during the November meeting will be communicated to the membership at the April 2001 APS Business Meeting.

APS Council in Scottsdale: Back row (left to right): Dale Benos, Jo Rae Wright, Steven Hebert, Gerald DiBona, John Hall, Doug Eaton, Hannah Carey, Barb Goodman, Mordecai Blaustein. Front row (left to right) Walter Boron, Phyllis Wise, William Chin, Celia Sladek, Curt Sigmund (for Judith Neubauer).

As originally printed in The Physiologist,
February 2001, Volume 44, Number 1
Page 4

Task Force Reports
    As a result of the 2000 Strategic Plan, Council decided to establish eight task forces, each of which would be charged with examining a particular issue for the Society and developing goals and recommendations for future actions. These task forces will be implemented over a period of three years. The first four were established in 2000: a Journal Pricing Task Force, a Task Force on Communications/Public Information, a Physiological Genomics Task Force, and a Translational Research Task Force. Below are the reports from those task forces.

Journal Pricing Task Force
    The Journal Pricing Task Force was established by the Strategic Plan “to develop a new paradigm for ensuring financial stability and increased accessibility of electronic and print publications.” It was composed of representatives from the Society’s leadership and staff, past or current Editors, publishers from the commercial and non-profit sectors, and an academic librarian. Participants were Dale Benos (Chair), Walter Boron, Martin Frank, Margaret Reich, Edward Blaine, James Stull, Lenne Miller, Brian Crawford, Beth Weil, and consultant Morna Conway. The chief assumption accepted by the Task Force was that it should work with the financial goal established for the journal program by Council in 1995 to continue to produce 10% surplus over costs, including overhead and G&A costs in the future.
    The Task Force developed the following main recommendations:
1. The journal pricing model should reflect the fact that content forms the base product that is marketed as a subscription or site license and that method of delivery (online, print) is the secondary product. It was determined that content management, the “value-added” of publishing, currently accounts for ~70% of the cost of the journals (i.e., editorial acquisition, peer review, copyediting, composition, archiving), whereas online delivery (i.e., tagging, transmission of electronic files to HighWire Press, mounting on the HighWire site, and provision of online services to the marketplace) currently accounts for ~10% of the cost of the journals, and print delivery (i.e., paper, printing, binding, mailing, postage) currently accounts for ~20% of the cost of the journals. These figures should be accurately reflected in the journal pricing model. The pricing model will be used for future years until print is insufficiently in demand to warrant sustaining it.
2. For the foreseeable future (5-10 years), there will be a continuing, although declining, demand for print delivery and a growing demand for online delivery. The Task Force recommended that the APS recognize the continued duality of media and give the market options to purchase online only, online plus print, or print only.
3. The Task Force recommended that legacy data should begin to be put online as quickly as possible.

Council approved the journal pricing model.
Council approved a plan to put the past 10 years of articles online in 2001.

Public Information/Communications Task Force
    The Task Force on Communications/Public Information was established by the Strategic Plan to “determine how to educate the public about the ways physiology leads to a fundamental understanding of function, improving health and curing disease” and to “determine how to enhance the image of physiology in the educational environment.” It was composed of individuals who had participated in the Strategic Planning Meeting and recommended developing a more formal public information program for the Society, the person who spearheaded the public information efforts for the recent APS Conference on “The Integrative Biology of Exercise” and individuals who participated in those efforts, as well as a journal editor. Participants were Hannah Carey (Chair), Greg Fink, Lincoln Ford, David Harder, J. R. Haywood, Donna Krupa, Alice Ra’anan, and Martin Frank.
    The Task Force recommended that the APS proceed in phases toward the development of a communication strategy and the possible establishment of an in-house communications office. It was estimated that at least 3-5 years would be needed to develop messages and materials and see what kind of response is generated from initial promotional efforts.
Phase 1
1. Determine the best way to define physiology in ways that will elicit positive responses from three crucial audiences: the general public (including Congress); scientists in general (including funding agencies); and scientists who could identify themselves as physiologists. This will entail market research through focus groups and message testing using an outside consultant.
2. Develop materials for distribution to media in conjunction with meetings, journals, awards, education, and other outreach efforts.
3. Develop message materials to become part of an APS press kit and to be used by APS members in their own outreach to graduate students and the public.
4. Develop the APS communications infrastructure, including a database of APS experts and an expanded APS pressroom on the web. Distribute to APS members a reference card with guidelines for working with the press.
5. A one-day conference or workshop should be organized that focuses on the need to establish training programs in translational physiology to meet needs for the genome era. The goals of the workshop would be 1) to assess the need in academia and industry for individuals who understand traditional physiology in the context of molecular biology and genetics, and 2) to develop a plan of action to meet that need.
Phase 2
APS should work to promote physiology to the general public, the scientific community, and physiologists using the messages and materials developed. Initiatives may include: 1) The “Genes to Health” revisited, 2) media training for a cadre of APS leaders and senior staff, 3) outreach on use of animals in research, and 4) continuation of media outreach in conjunction with meetings, journals, awards, and other outreach efforts

The APS Council approved proceeding with Phase 1 of the Task Force’s recommendations.

Physiological Genomics Task Force
    The Physiological Genomics Task Force was established by the Strategic Plan as a result of an objective to “create a Task Force on Sections and Groups to consider formation of groups on physiological genomics and translational research.” Council later decided to split this Task Force into three task forces: a Physiological Genomics Task Force and a Translational Research Task Force, which would convene first and begin developing their recommendations, to be followed by the Task Force on Sections and Groups to consider the issues facing existing sections and groups. The Task Force on Sections and Groups will convene later this year.
Participants in the Physiological Genomics Task Force were William W. Chin (Chair), Allen W. Cowley, Jr., Craig H. Gelband, Steven R. Gullans, and Curt D. Sigmund, all of whom are members actively working in the field of physiological genomics.
    Their major recommendations are as follows based on the objectives set forth in the Strategic Plan.
Objective 1. Education of APS members in basic and applied physiological genomics
    a. Designate an additional workshop or other session for a “hands-on” or “how to do” physiological genomics mini-course at EB.
    b. Continue to pursue an “ad hoc” oral session at EB based on abstracts indexed with key words relevant to physiological genomics.
    c. Designate additional symposia and Featured Topics slots for physiological genomics for future EB meetings and assure that these events, abstracts, and proceedings are published in Physiological Genomics.
    d. Continue support of regular APS-sponsored conferences on Physiological Genomics.
Objective 2. Establish an Interest Group in Physiological Genomics
Develop and foster an interdisciplinary, intersectional group within the APS focused on physiological genomics. This group should seek to initiate a website, provide information about the field, encourage and foster development of symposia and featured topics and abstract submissions to the EB meeting, and stimulate collegiality at EB in an informal setting.
Objective 3. Augment Impact of Postdoctoral Fellowship in Physiological Genomics
Continue the Society’s efforts to enrich fellowship support for students and fellows interested in physiological genomics, with provision of higher visibility for its recipients at EB.
Objective 4. Highlight physiological genomics in APS journals Reviews, “news and views,” and perspectives articles should be invited for publication in the journal Physiological Genomics and/or in each of the other APS publications; these could be “repeats” of the same article in multiple journals or several articles in a series.
Objective 5. Liaison with NIH, etc. in Programs in Genomic Applications (PGAs)
Interact and partner with governmental and other funding agencies to co-develop opportunities to foster research interest and activity in physiological genomics among physiologists. These programs, such as the one funded by the NHLBI, are funded at a level of $35 million annually, starting in October 2000, and have educational components as their mandate. These components will be looking to make presentations at national scientific meetings and carry out how-to workshops.

Council accepted the report and will begin implementing the recommendations. A meeting will be set-up for a new Physiological Genomics Group at the EB 2001
meeting.

Translational Research Task Force
    The Translational Research Task Force was composed of members who are actively involved in translational research. Participants were Steven Hebert and John Hall (Co-Chairs), John Geibel, and Jeff Sands.
    Their goals based on the Strategic Plan were as follows: 1) to ensure that physiology reasserts itself as the discipline that links basic sciences and clinical medicine, and 2) to promote interdisciplinary research that rapidly translates advances in basic science to clinical research. Their objectives were: 1) to dramatically increase the prestige of physiology departments in medical schools, 2) to highlight translational research in APS meetings and publications, 3) to encourage physiologists to develop interdisciplinary research teams that bridge molecular and cellular physiology, organ system physiology, and clinical research, and 4) to promote translational research as a viable career for physiologists.
    The following is a list of the major action items developed by the Task Force.
1. Promote instruction of physiology at all levels of medical education. This would include:
    a. promoting the teaching of basic medical physiology by physiology departments and in the clinical years of medical school and in the postgraduate medical education.
    b. Promoting the inclusion of pathophysiology in medical curricula as well as clinical research in physiology PhD training programs.
    c. Promoting the mentoring of young clinical faculty and residents in physiology departments.
    d. Promoting MD-PhD training programs in physiology departments.
2. Highlight translational research by:
    a. Developing stronger programming ties with American Federation for Medical Research (AFMR) at EB.
    b. Developing translational re-search conferences that bridge physiology with clinical medicine, i.e., obesity, imaging.
    c. Sponsoring and/or endorsing satellite meetings at clinical meetings or any meeting that highlights physiology in medicine.
    d. Highlighting translational re-search in APS journals.
    e. Targeting clinical scientists in a membership campaign.
    f. Developing programs to encourage medical residents to spend elective time in physiology laboratories.
3. Encourage interdisciplinary research by:
    a. Sponsoring workshops at EB that are aimed at overcoming barriers to interdisciplinary research and that provide guidance on building interdisciplinary research teams that are capable of attacking major medical research problems.
    b. Encouraging NIH funding of grants that require a multidisciplinary approach, including participation by basic and clinical scientists.
    c. Developing alliances with private industry to sponsor pre- or postdoctoral training in translational research.
4. Promote translational research as a career for physiologists by highlighting opportunities in translational research at career opportunities workshops/programs at the EB meeting.

Council accepted the report of the Translational Research Task Force, encouraging the Task Force to expand in size and to continue to meet to refine its action items.