APS News
APS Council Holds Summer Meeting in Bethesda

Why Do Professional Service Anyway? Do it for You!
Diane Munzenmaier

APS Council Holds Summer Meeting in Bethesda
Each summer the APS Council holds a meeting in Bethesda, MD. This year’s meeting was held June 24-26, 2008, at the APS headquarters. During this meeting, Council welcomes the chairs of the APS committees to present their annual reports. In addition to presenting annual reports, the chairs also discussed the highlights of their committees’ activities and programs during the past year, and presented Council with their plans for their committees for the coming year. It is at this meeting that the chairs submit any requests for new committee programs to Council for review and approval.

This year, Council also welcomed the chairs of two new APS Committees—Peter Lauf, Chair of the Chapter Advisory Committee (CAC), and Darwin Bell, Chair of the APS Conference Committee (APSCC). The CAC will, among other things, provide support for existing chapters, and encourage and assist members with the creation of new chapters. The APSCC has taken over the conference program from the Joint Program Committee. The Committee has already revised the process for members wishing to submit conference proposals. Reports from both of these committees are available in this issue of The Physiologist.

Prior to the beginning of the Council meeting, the Executive Committee met to interview several candidates for the position of chair of the Finance Committee. Peter Wagner, who is the current chair, will end his term on December 31, 2008, after serving six years. The Executive Committee made their recommendation to Council, who then approved the selection of Jeff Sands, Emory University School of Medicine. Sands will begin his three-year term on January 1, 2009.

Besides receiving the committee reports, Council also received a report from the recently created Pipeline Task Force. The Task Force was an outgrowth of the Stop-Gap Fellowship Initiative APS implemented last year. The Task Force is charged with evaluating current APS programs, and determining if there are new programs that APS could initiate to address this issue.

Council was presented with a request from APS member Charles Tipton to approve the establishment of a new chapter—Arizona Physiological Society. Included with the proposal was a copy of the proposed bylaws, membership requirements, and a petition signed by members who will comprise the initial membership of the chapter. The Arizona Physiological Society plans to hold their inaugural meeting November 7-8. Council reviewed and approved this motion, and asked the Chapter Advisory Committee to work with the new chapter to finalize the bylaws and membership requirements.

One of the directives in the current Strategic Plan is for the Society to explore new strategies to raise funds for current and new programs and awards. This may include the hiring of a development officer. In order to determine if this was a viable option, APS hired the Garrow Company to conduct a survey to determine if APS should hire a development officer. As part of the survey, the Garrow Company interviewed the APS managers, Council members, and other APS members. They also surveyed several private foundations and were able to identify several that were potential sources of funding for the Society. The final report from the Garrow Company indicated that the opportunity exists for the Society to develop a philanthropic program, and there may be a need to hire a development officer to develop this program. As a result of this report, Council unanimously approved creating a committee that will work with the Garrow Company to write a case statement to determine if the hiring of a development officer would be a good option.

Three years ago, APS started the Living History Program in which distinguished senior members of the Society are interviewed. These interviews are videotaped and posted to the APS web site for viewing. Most of these interviews are taped at the interviewees’ institution, using the institutions’ equipment. By doing this, the Society does not incur the costs of taping and editing the interviews. However, some of these interviews cannot be done at an institution. Because of this, the History of Physiology Group made a request to Council that APS contribute, if needed, up to $1,000 per interview to help defray the costs of taping and editing an approved interview session. Up to 10 interviews ($10,000) would be funded within a given year. Council approved the History Group’s request.

During the meeting, Council approved a recommendation from the Awards Committee to grant five Research Career Enhancement Awards and one Teaching Career Enhancement Award from the applications received for the spring deadline. The recipients for the Research Career Enhancement Awards are Maureen Basha, Drexel Univ. College of Medicine; Jason Carter, Michigan Technological Univ.; Thomas Reynolds IV, Skidmore College; Alexander Mongin, Albany Medical College; and Michael Hedrick, California State Univ., East Bay. The Teaching Career Enhancement Award recipient is Reem Abraham, Melaka Manipal Medical College.

Based on a recommendation from the Membership Committee, Council approved a recommendation that the student membership category be eliminated, and two new membership categories—graduate student and undergraduate student—be created. The Committee made the recommendation because they believed that the five-year limit of the student membership was too restrictive for undergraduate students who may transition to being a graduate student before being eligible for regular membership. With the addition of these two categories, the students can transition from undergraduate, to graduate, to regular membership. Before this change can take effect, the current bylaws regarding membership will need to be amended. The recommended bylaw change will be published in the December issue of The Physiologist, and will be voted on by the APS membership at the APS Business Meeting to be held at EB ‘09 in New Orleans, April 18-22.

The Membership Committee also recommended that a change in the Emeritus Membership requirements be made. They recommended that a member requesting emeritus member status not only have reached the age of 65, but also have been a regular member of the Society for at least ten years before being allowed to become an emeritus member. Council approved this recommendation. An amendment to this bylaw will also be published in the December issue of The Physiologist, and will be voted on at the APS Business Meeting to be held at EB ‘09.

Council approved a recommendation from the Women in Physiology Committee to revise the Caroline tum Suden/Frances A. Hellebrandt Award. Previously, both graduate students and postdoctoral fellows were eligible to apply for this award, and there was no limit on the number of times a member could receive this award. In order to provide more members with an opportunity to receive this award, the Caroline tum Suden/Frances A. Hellebrandt Award will become two separate awards, one for which graduate students only will be eligible and one for which postdoctoral fellows only will be eligible. A member would only be allowed to receive each award once.

The International Committee recommended that APS establish an International Fellows Award to enable more physiologists from outside the US to attend and participate in the EB meetings. Council approved this recommendation and the funding necessary to make 10 awards per year at $500 per award. The awards will be presented to an early career physiologist working outside the United States. The recipients will be required to submit a copy of their abstract and to attend the EB meeting to present their work.

One of the highlights of the summer Council meeting is the employee appreciation reception. This year, APS President Irving Zucker hosted the reception on Tuesday, June 24 on the portico of the Lee Building on the FASEB campus. The reception provides an opportunity for members of Council and the committee chairs to interact with the APS staff. During the reception, Zucker thanked the staff for their hard work, and support that they provide to the Council and the committees.

During the reception, APS recognized those staff members who have served the Society for a significant period of time. This year, Zucker presented certificates to the following employees: a 25-year certificate to Ruth Freehling (Copy Editor); a 20-year certificate to Maria Kuhrmann, (Copy Editor); a 15-year certificate to Marsha Matyas (Director, Educational Programs); 10-year certificates to Michael Gentry (Online Production Editor ), Coleen Kitaguchi (Systems Support Specialist), Geraldine Marklin (Membership Services Assistant), Michael Quinn (Information Services), and Georgia Stine (Membership Services Assistant); and five-year certificates to Gale DeSouza (Accountant), Damon Hurbon (Art Editor), and Charmon Kight (Administrative Assistant, Publications Dept.).
APS Council: (clockwise from upper left) Linda Samuelson, Thomas Pressley, Peter Wagner, James Hicks, Frank Powell, Gordon Mitchell, William Talman, Kenneth Baldwin, David Pollock, J. Michael Wyss, Irving Zucker, Joey Granger, Ron Lynch, Kim Barrett, Michael Portman, Barbara Goodman, and Pamela Carmines; (in the middle) Dee Silverthorn, and Hannah Carey.
APS Section Chairs: (clockwise from bottom left) Ida Llewellyn-Smith, Craig Plato, Frank Belloni, P. Darwin Bell, Timothy Musch, Peter Lauf, Patricia Molina, Kathryn Sandberg, Nansie McHugh, and Angela Grippo.
APS President Irving Zucker, back left, presented certificates to APS Staff members. Back row: Zucker, Marsha Matyas, Michael Gentry, and Mike Quinn. Middle row: Ruth Freehling, Martin Frank, Damon Hurbon, and Maria Kuhrmann. Front row: Geraldine Marklin, Gale DeSouza, Charmon Kight, and Georgia Stine.

 

 

Why Do Professional Service Anyway? Do it for You!
 

Diane Munzenmaier, Medical College of Wisconsin, was selected by the APS Trainee Advisory Committee as the first recipient of the APS Early Career Professional Service Award. Following are her thoughts on the value of professional service.

In this age of limited NIH funding, when we never seem to have enough time to get our grant resubmissions in or our manuscripts published, why would we want to waste precious hours on professional service? Funding pressures are at an all time high and there are never enough hours in the day to stay on top of all that needs to be done. Yet, most of us do some type of professional service, either within our institution, or for a national or international organization such as APS, or both. But what are the driving forces for doing this service and how should we decide which prospects are worthy of devoting our precious time to?

The obvious reason that many of us find ourselves on local, regional or national committees is to fill out our CVs. In order to impress Rank and Tenure, we have to be able to show that we have been involved in professional service of some type. So how do we attempt to fulfill this requirement? Often we find the committees that meet the least often and have the smallest work load, of course! But what does this really gain us, aside from a slightly beefier resume? Even the seemingly least labor-intensive committees can be an enormous time drain. Time is money, a most valuable currency when you have so little to spare, so it is important that it is not wasted on inactive committees where nothing gets accomplished just so you can say that you have put in your time.

In the future, when nominating yourself for committee work or volunteering for different projects and responsibilities, be a little selfish. That is not to say that you shouldn’t serve. Quite the contrary. But if you are going to serve, find a beneficiary for your service that you fervently believe in. Choose service wisely by selecting opportunities that will fulfill your own needs as well as those of others. What these opportunities are will obviously vary from physiologist to physiologist. Luckily, there are myriad possibilities to choose from. For me personally, the choices almost always have something to do with inspiring young minds to discover and appreciate the beautifully logical world that is the study of human physiology.

Physiology is not a natural discipline for students to gravitate to. It is quite difficult to grasp and defies rote memorization which goes against a student’s familiarity and comfort with the way most subjects are taught. For those students who are willful enough to persist, they become amazed and enlightened by the logic and intricacies of the function of the human body. Eventually they begin to appreciate that physiology is everywhere and that it is involved in biomedical science at every level. The trick is to get them to open their eyes to this intriguing field before they have set their sights elsewhere.

I vividly remember the Anatomy and Physiology class I took my senior year in high school and how we would dissect frogs and cats and fetal pigs in order to understand the gross anatomy of the various systems. Our teacher would then draw meticulously elaborate diagrams on the chalkboard depicting the histology of the various organ systems. He would explain the physiology of each system in great detail and describe how it perfectly matched the anatomy and how each tissue and organ system was so perfectly designed for its particular function. This was an enormous revelation to me! I had never before considered science to be anything more than something tedious and to be memorized. This was science that actually made sense to me and that I could relate to! That class and that teacher forever changed the way I looked at science in general, and the life sciences in particular.
Unfortunately, I had no idea back then how lucky I was to have that teacher in high school or how rare that opportunity was. I wonder if he had any idea how many lives and careers he must have influenced with that class. In these days of massive school budget cuts, how many public high schools still have A&P classes where each lab group of 4-5 students is allowed to dissect their own fetal pig? How many high schools even teach physiology at any level? How are students supposed to be inspired to study a discipline that they probably don’t even realize exists? My memories of that experience and the realization of how it helped to shape my future are what motivate me to do my small part to introduce students to the wonders of physiology.

As scholars, we have a responsibility to serve and educate the public. This can be as simple an act as gently correcting family, friends, and even strangers when they begin spouting gross inaccuracies regarding the latest medical science breakthrough they heard about on TV. However, we all have the ability to have a much greater and more wide-reaching impact. Within our institution, we can serve as mentors to graduate students, medical students, and postdoctoral fellows. We can open our labs to undergraduate and high school students and even teachers during the summer so that they can benefit from our knowledge and experiences. And we can also find time, maybe as little as one day a year, to leave our “ivory tower” and take our show on the road.

Physiology Understanding (PhUn) Week was developed in 2005 to encourage physiologists to make connections with the public in order to share their knowledge and excitement about their chosen field. Physiologists-in-training come in all shapes and sizes. The obvious targets for this program are elementary, middle, and high school classes but you can even find aspiring physiologists at such unusual places as day care centers, museums, senior centers and nursing homes. Four-year olds are thrilled to find out about why their heart races when they run around the playground and eighty-year olds are fascinated to learn how their medications work. As for those K-12 students though, the sky is the limit! Be creative and come up with ideas about how you could take what you do and what you are interested in and bring it into the classroom. If you are excited about what you do, your enthusiasm will definitely rub off!

For some additional guidance, the APS PhUn Week website is packed with great ideas for interactive activities targeted to many different age levels. With the generous financial support of APS, the APS Education Committee and the APS K-12 Education Programs Coordina-tor, Mel Limson, have done an excellent job in working to expand this program each year so that more APS members can get involved to positively influence increasing numbers of students of all ages. Rather than being just another time drain, you might actually find it rejuvenating to take a little time out from the “rat” race to step back and remember what inspired and motivated you to get into this amazing field in the first place.

In the end, we are all physiologists because we are each deeply devoted to this discipline in some unique and profound way. We all feel a particular passion about understanding the wondrous science of the human body. Allow your service to be an extension of this passion rather than a mindless waste of time that merely affords you another line on your CV. Find ways to best use your passion to aid and invigorate others. If you do, you will find that, not only are you providing others with extremely valuable service, but you are continually renewing that enthusiasm for physiology within you. In this way, the most profound service that you will end up providing is to yourself.

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