APS News
The Joint Program Committee presented a proposal for an APS Intersociety Meeting entitled Comparative Physiology 2006: Integrating Diversity. Comparative physiology is a broad field, ranging from molecular mechanisms of osmoregulation or nutrient transport to study of the evolution of physiological traits relevant to conservation biology, ecotoxicology, and biomedicine. The objective of the conference will be to exemplify this breadth of approaches and applications. Council approved the proposal for the conference.
The Publications Committee announced that Jerome Dempsey, University of Wisconsin, has been selected as the next editor of Journal of Applied Physiology. He will replace Gary Sieck whose term will finish in June. The Committee also announced that nine articles have been published to date in the Annals of Internal Medicine. It was reported that 292 subscriptions to the Legacy Project have been sold and that the entire project is near completion. The Committee also reported that the Classic Articles web page was released in August (2004). The page includes links to the essays written about the articles, as well as a list of the classic articles. Both the essays and classic articles are completely free access. The Publications Committee also reported that they have revised The Ethical Procedures Policy so that it is easier to find specific guidelines about various ethical issues.
The Finance Committee presented Council with the final 2004 budget and the proposed 2005 budget, both of which were accepted and approved by Council.
The Education Committee reported that they are in the process of planning strategies to increase exposure of undergraduate students to physiology. These may include, but not be limited to increasing the number of undergraduate institutions that offer physiology as a major, focus, or minor/concentration; and developing methods and materials to facilitate partnerships between medical physiology departments and undergraduate life sciences/biology departments to add new physiology courses or enrich existing courses.
They have also started work on a website upgrade to allow online input of information from both graduate and undergraduate departments. The list of institutions granting degrees in physiology will be populated by updated entries and will be a searchable database. The Committee reported that they have also been working on a Medical Physiology Course Directors Resource Website. This website would bring together key resources to assist course directors in the development and conduct of medical physiology courses.
The Education Committee recommended that Council endorse the use of animal labs in physiology education. The Committee considered the usefulness of animal labs as well as other teaching options, such as simulations. Input into this discussion was provided by the Teaching Section, the editorial board of Advances in Physiology Education, and the Animal Care and Experimentation Committee. The consensus was that well-designed animal laboratories contribute a specific kind of active learning experience to physiology instruction. After some discussion, the Council adopted a position statement on the use of animals in education. This statement and supporting materials will be presented in a subsequent issue of The Physiologist.
The Council has begun planning for a Strategic Plan Meeting in fall 2005. A Member Needs Survey has been revised and updated and will be posted online in mid-January 2005. The survey will be web-based and the entire membership will be asked to complete the survey. The results of the survey will be used in the development of the new Strategic Plan.
Additional details of the Council’s 2004 fall meeting will be presented to the membership at the 2005 APS Business Meeting. The Business Meeting will be held at the 2005 IUPS Congress on Monday, April 4 at 5:45 pm in the San Diego Convention Center, room 33. All APS members are invited to attend.
Council Action Items
- Council approved the new Ethical Procedures Policies.
- Council approved continuing with the current hybrid model for
Physiological Genomics.
Council approved the document “Guidelines to Sections: Raising Funds for Distinguished Lectureships.” - Council approved the proposal from the Trainee Advisory Committee and Finance Committee for student dues with implementation to begin in 2006. Students will pay a discounted rate of $10 for the first year of membership, and $20 per year for the remaining four years of eligibility. Then their first year of regular membership will be free and a 50% discount will be applied to their membership dues for years two to four.
- Council approved the recommendations of the Finance Committee accepting the 2004 estimated budget and approved the 2005 proposed budget.
- Council approved a proposal for an APS Intersociety Meeting entitled Comparative Physiology 2006: Integrating Diversity.
- Council unanimously approved a motion to transfer the following 10 regular members to emeritus membership status: Jose Antunes-Rodrigues, Paul T. Cardeilhac, Oscar A. Carretero, Claude Desjardins, Adrian I. Katz, Frederick H. Leibach, Claude J. Migeon, Papineni S. Rao, Arthur M. Spanier, and Melvin Weisbart.
- Council unanimously approved the requests of 11 regular members for reinstatement: Peter Baluk, V. Courtney Broaddus, Ling Chen, Heng-Jie Cheng, James C. Delehunt, Christopher S. Garrard, Julia Marie Giger, and Stephen F. Vatner.
- Council approved the proposed outline of the Medical Physiology Course Directors Resource Website.
- Council approved the position statement on use of animals in teaching.
- Council unanimously approved the selection of David Bohr as the 2005 Daggs Awardee.
- Council approved selection of Christin Carter-Su as the Bodil Schmidt-Nielsen Awardee.
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| Back row: Carole Leidtke, Kim Barrett, Thomas Lohmeier, Irving Zucker, Peter Wagner, Helen Raybould, Sue Barman, Curt Sigmund, Jeff Sands, Rob Carroll. Front row: Virginia Miller, John Williams, D. Neil Granger, Douglas Eaton, Dale Benos, Charles Tipton. |