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The 2007 APS Conference: Sex
Steroids and Gender in Cardiovascular-Renal Physiology and Pathophysiology,
was held in the vibrant Texas capital of Austin. The conference took place
over four days at the Hyatt Regency Austin on Town Lake hotel, which was
ideally situated close to the heart of downtown Austin and the idyllic views
of the Town Lake, which offered a spectacular vantage point for viewing the
famous Congress Avenue bats. The Organizing Committee was chaired by Jane
Reckelhoff, Univ. of Mississippi Medical Center, and included Vice-Chair,
Joey Granger, also of the Univ. of Mississippi Medical Center, Kathryn
Sandberg, Georgetown Univ., Carmen Hinojosa-Laborde, Univ. of Texas Health
Science Center at San Antonio, J. Michael Wyss, Univ. of Alabama at
Birmingham, John Stallone, Texas A&M Univ., College of Veterinary Medicine,
and Ann Dominiczak, Univ. of Glasgow, UK. The Organizing Committee organized
a program that included symposia, oral presentations for students and
postdoctoral fellows, interactive poster sessions, and social networking
opportunities to make this meeting a valuable experience for those who
attended.
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| Meeting Organizer, Jane
Reckelhoff at the Banquets and Awards Dinner. |
The conference was attended by
103 total registrants, of whom 29% of registrants were represented by young
scientists, including nine postdoctoral and 21 students. Twenty-nine (28%)
attendees identified themselves as APS members, and 15 (15%) registered as
nonmembers, invited chairs and speakers made up the remaining 29 (28%)
attendees. Table 1 (below) shows the breakdown of the different registration
types. This conference also attracted a large group of registrants from
outside the United States. Out of the 103 registrants, 20 (20%) represented
registrants from Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Iran, Italy, Japan,
Nigeria, Switzerland, and Taiwan.
The meeting program consisted of seven symposia on a wide variety of topics.
The audience was encouraged to share their ideas and thoughts with the
speakers at the end of their talks. There were two oral presentation
sessions that were dedicated to the postdoctoral fellows and students
attending the meeting, giving them a valuable opportunity to present their
work their peers. During the conference, special career workshops were
hosted by the APS Career Opportunities in Physiology Committee to give the
young scientists the opportunity to gain information and valuable career
skills on presenting themselves at a meeting, presenting an abstract, and
authorship of an abstract. The meeting also had several social activities
including a Welcome and Opening Reception, which was designed to give
attendees a chance to meet with long time colleagues, create new
friendships, and enjoy some hot and cold hor d'oeuvres and beverages before
the evening presentations. There was also two afternoon poster sessions
where scientists presented their work, and discussed their finding with
other attendees.
A total of 85 abstracts were submitted for the meeting. Fifty-eight of these
abstracts were programmed as poster presentations. The remaining 27
abstracts were submitted by invited speakers. Of the volunteered abstracts
submitted for the meeting, 38 (66%) were submitted by a female first author;
16 (28%) were submitted from institutions outside of the United States,
including eight from Europe, four from Canada, two from Japan, one from
Taiwan, and one from Iran.
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| Recipients of the Research
Recognition Award for Outstanding Abstract by a Graduate or
Postdoctoral Fellow at the Banquet and Awards Ceremony. L-R (Top):
Abdolvahab Vahabzadeh, Maria Davila, Majid Nikpay, Jeffrey Gilbert,
Maggie Keck, Rie Sasaki, Julio Sartori-Valinotti, Karl Pendergrass.
L-R (Bottom): Birgitte Mahler, Connie Mark, Norma Ojeda, Babette
LaMarca, and Sebastian Brokat. |
On Saturday evening, Reckelhoff hosted the Banquet and Awards Presentation
dinner. Attendees gathered at the hotel's ballroom for evening dinner, wine
and conversation. During the dinner, eight postdoctoral fellows and 10
students were recognized as the recipients of the Research Recognition Award
for Outstanding Abstract by a Graduate Student or Postdoctoral Fellow. The
following individuals were presented with a certificate and cash prize:
Sebastian Brokat, Charité Univ., Berlin, Germany, Norma Ojeda, Univ. of
Mississippi Medical Center, Jennifer Rogers, Georgetown Univ., Babbette
LaMarca, Univ. of Mississippi Medical Center, Maggie Keck, Univ. of Arizona,
Connie Mark, Univ. of South Dakota, Birgitte Mahler, Aarhus Univ. Hospital,
Denmark, Karl Pendergrass, Wake Forest Univ., Majid Nikpay, Univ. of
Montreal, Canada, Rie Sasaki, Univ. of Mississippi Medical Center, Julio
Sartori-Valinotti, Univ. of Mississippi Medical Center, Carie Reynolds,
Univ. of Florida, Adam Mitchell, Georgetown Univ., Jeffrey Gilbert, Univ. of
Mississippi Medical Center, Radu Illiescu, Univ. of Mississippi Medical
Center, Maria Davila, Univ. of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio,
Abdolvahab Vahabzadeh, Iran Univ. of Medical Sciences, Iran, and Danny
Quaglietta, Univ. of Toronto, Canada.
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Attendees enjoy hor d' oerves
while
catching up with colleagues at the Opening Reception. |
In addition Mariana Baserga, Univ. of Utah, Rayna Gonzales, Univ. of
California, Irvine, TanYa Gwathmey, Wake Forest Univ., Brandiese Jacobs,
Univ. of Maryland, Baltimore, and Karl Pendergrass, Wake Forest Univ., were
the recipients of the Porter Physiology Development Committee's Minority
Travel Fellowship Award, which is provided to encourage participation of
under-represented minority students in the physiological sciences. With
support from the National Institutes of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney
Diseases (NIDDK), the fellowship provides reimbursement of all expenses
associated with travel and participation in the conference. The recipients
of the award were matched with APS members: Virginia Miller, Mayo Clinic
College of Medicine, David Pollock, Medical College of Georgia, Barbara
Alexander, Univ. of Mississippi Medical Center, Martin Frank, APS Executive
Director, and J. Michael Wyss, Univ. of Alabama at Birmingham respectively,
who were attending the conference, offered guidance and made introductions
to the other scientists.
The American Physiological Society and the Organizing Committee gratefully
acknowledges the financial support provided though generous educational
grants from NIH-NIDDK, NIH-NHLBI, Bristol-Meyers Squibb Company, and
Transoma.
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| Attendees discuss
their research during the poster sessions. |
Recipients of the
Porter Physiology Development Committee's Minority Travel Fellowship
Award. L-R: Tan Ya Gwathmey, Brandiese Jacobs, Karl Pendergrass, and
Mariana Baserga. |
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