Minutes of the 2004 AMSPC Meeting

The Cloister, Sea Island, GA

January 30 - February 1, 2004

 

Friday, January 30, 2004

 

President Israel Hanin called the meeting to order at 1:05 pm by welcoming all of the attendees. He then announced the passing in 2003 of long time AMSPC member Dr. Joanne Moore, former Chair the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine. A copy of her obituary was provided and the membership observed a moment of silence.

Dr. Hanin then welcomed the new Chairs attending the meeting and asked them to stand and be identified. New Chairs in attendance were: David Dawson (Oregon Health Sciences University), Jonathan Geiger (Univ. of North Dakota Sch. Med), Gary Johnson (Univ. of North Carolina Sch. Med.), Tarun Patel (Loyola Univ. Chicago Stritch Sch. Med.), Jeffery Pessin (SUNY Stony Brook Health Science Center), Kenneth Tew ( Medical Univ. of South Carolina) and Kent Vrana (Penn. State Univ. College of Med.). New Emeritus Chairs were: Israel Hanin (Loyola Univ. Chicago Stritch Sch. Med.) and Donald Allen (Univ. South Carolina Sch. Med.).

Dr. Robert Taylor presented his report "AMSPC Task Force on Membership - Update).  Other members of this Task Force included Ken Dretchen and Vince Chiappinelli. The charge to the Committee was reviewed and included an effort to determine ways to retain and bring back the membership of AMSPC. He discussed the results of a questionnaire distributed to the membership. From a total membership of 207 dues paying members only 38 (31 regular members and 7 emeritus members) questionnaires were returned. Networking with other Chairs was the primary benefit of the meeting identified by the responders. Other benefits included teaching workshops, research conferences, discussions of departmental issues and updates on NIH. What the responders liked least were location and times of meetings, emphasis on course structure and lack of time for interactions. Some topics that responders felt needed to be addressed included: surveys of graduate education, department management issues, and faculty issues. A discussion of future topics for the Friday session (more practical issues, less science) and ways to enhance membership (need more visibility, incentives for new chairs) concluded the report.

Dr. Bonnie Sloan presented her report "AMSPC Task Force on Function and Goals - Update". She reported that their challenge was to find a way to meet the needs of all chairs. She indicated that there were both professional and social needs of the membership that needed to be met. Under professional considerations, she distributed an AMSPC member survey form and asked for feedback on the form. The idea of establishing a base of mentors for new Chairs was presented. It was proposed that each Chair would eventually prepare a biosketch for inclusion on an AMSPC website to be used by new Chairs to select their mentors. A sample biosketch was presented by Dr. Sloane. Enthusiasm was generated for this proposal. She also indicated that her Task Force recommended the inclusion of more small group discussion sessions, continue teaching workshops, include workshops on directing research programs and adding programs on leadership management. Recommendations covering social aspects of the meeting included making new Chairs feel more welcome, increasing social opportunities for unaccompanied attendees, providing sign-up sheets for organized activities.

Following a break, Dr. Tarun Patel (Loyola University Chicago) presented a research seminar entitled "To Sprout or Not to Sprout".

Attendees then broke out into small groups to discuss one of four topics: A. Graduate Education: Does it need revamping (Leader; Paul Hollenberg); B. Faculty: Recruitment, Development, Retention, Roles of Emeritus Faculty (Leader: John Maggio); C. Teaching of Pharmacology Across All 4 Years of Medical School (Leader: Robert Theobald); and D. Interface Between Interdisciplinary Programs and the Traditional Department (Leader: David Dawson). At the end of the discussion period, the attendees reassembled and group leaders presented the results of their discussions.  Group A felt that most issues were local, and must be solved at the local level. Some common issues were: competing for students who have alternative opportunities, departments that have fewer faculty with pharmacology credentials, and the development of interdisciplinary graduate programs which reduce the pharmacology emphasis. Group B felt that many smaller schools are facing a difficult time recruiting and retaining quality faculty because of limited resources. Recruitment packages continue to increase yearly making competition for recruiting an evolving process. Development was a key issue for new faculty success with mechanisms for promoting development being very different at different institutions. Group C felt that recapturing hours for pharmacology lost during the first two years of medical school was important. Ways to incorporate pharmacology into years 3 and 4 using applied approaches were discussed and were considered desirable. Efforts to help Ph.D. faculty relate to clinical issues was also discussed. Group D felt that it is often difficult for the traditional department to maintain a significant pharmacology identity in an interdisciplinary program. Pharmacologist are often not the leaders of such groups and extra efforts are often needed to insure that pharmacology doesn't lose its identity under these conditions.

Secretary Dr. Gary Rankin called for six nominees for the Nominating Committee. Following the selection of six candidates, the membership voted by secret ballot and Drs. Bonnie Sloane (Chair), Paul Hollenberg and Billy Martin were elected to the 2004 Nominating Committee.

The meeting was adjourned by President Hanin at 5:30 pm.

 

Saturday, January 31, 2004

 

            President Hanin called the meeting to order at 9:05 am and introduced the first speaker, Dr. David Korn, Senior Vice President for Biomedical and Health Sciences Research at the AAMC. Dr. Korn presented a program entitled "The Financial Anatomy and Pathophysiology of Medical Schools: Who Bears the Cost of Research?". His talk focused on changes between 1961 and 2002 and topics reviewed during Dr. Korn's presentation included sources of medical school revenue, medical faculty numbers and composition, foreign graduates that become US medical school faculty, foreign trained scientists, and the NIH budget. He noted the cost shifting based on indirect cost calculations to schools that receive NIH grants and further concerns about State budget woes, Federal budget deficits, loss of Congressional champions for research and increasing government oversight. He concluded that the many costs of conducting research are shifting to the institutions where the research is conducted, since cost sharing is increasing at institutions based on government policies. At the end of his presentation, Dr. Korn indicated that his PowerPoint presentation would be made available to anyone interested via the AMSCP web page (accessible from the ASPET homepage).

            Dr. Korn's second presentation, "Hot Topics of Current Relevance to Basic Science Departments" was a question and answer session with the majority of discussion related to his previous presentation.

            Following a short break, Dr. Gary Johnson (Univ. North Carolina, Chapel Hill) gave a research presentation entitled, "Targeted Gene Disruption of MAPK Pathways Defines Their Role in Tissue Homeostasis and Cytokine Expression". He began his talk by discussing "My Rookie Year: Issues That Confront the Department of Pharmacology at UNC".

            Dr. Christie Carrico, Executive Director of ASPET, gave an ASPET update. She indicated that the ASPET budgetary issues were improving. In the Fall of 2003 a Strategic Planning Retreat was held to determine where ASPET should be in 10 years. Based on these discussions, ASPET Council is developing an Implementation Plan. She reported that Molecular Interventions is now indexed by the National Library of Medicine and indicated that faculty positions could be advertised in this journal and on-line via the ASPET web site. She noted that the Pharmacologist is now only available on-line. She indicated that voting for the ASPET election is ongoing with a record number of members voting. Other information items included: a new recruiting brochure is being produced; Dr. Rick Schnellmann is the new editor of the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics; updates on the EB meeting (2 satellite meetings and Ray Fuller Symposium moved into the body of the meeting) were provided; ASPET will be moving into new space soon; and that ASPET will continue to host the AMSPC web page and Knowledge Objectives on the ASPET web site.

            Dr. Sue Duckles, President of IUPHAR, then gave an IUPHAR update. She indicated that a name change to International Union of Basic and Clinical Pharmacology is being implemented. Attendees were encouraged to check out the IUPHAR web site (www.iuphar.org) for the newsletter (in pdf format) and for links to related sites. Meetings announced were the 8th World Congress on Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics to be held August 1-6, 2004 in Brisbane, Australia  and the 15th World Congress of Pharmacology meeting to be held July 2-7, 2006 in Beijing, China (www.cnphars.org).  She also indicated that information from the IUPHAR Committee on Receptor Nomenclature and Classification on the receptor database and the ion channel compendium were also available through the IUPHAR web site.

            Dr. Alexander "Sandy" Clanachan presented the Canadian Pharmacologists' Report. Dr. Clanachan presented the results of a survey conducted in December, 2003 - January, 2004. Of 17 pharmacology departments, 10 responded to the survey. Faculty averaged 15 members per department, but most are Full Professors and about 1/3 are > 55 years old. Teaching hours averaged about 123 hr per course. The survey noted that research funding, the number of graduate students and employment opportunities were increasing in Canada. However, inadequate institutional support and a loss of pharmacology identity were presenting difficulties for many departments.

            Dr. Sam Strada gave a report on the Council of Academic Societies (CAS). He reviewed the composition of CAS and what CAS does. Currently, AMSPC representatives to CAS are Tom Westfall and Sam Strada. Dr. Strada indicated that the Spring CAS meeting will be in Santa Monica, CA during March. He mentioned the GREAT meeting will be held April 24-26, 2004 in Austin, TX and the National Meeting of Basic Science Chairs will be held October 7-9 in Salt Lake City, UT. 

            Dr. Patricia Hentosh circulated an informal survey and asked that attendees return the completed survey during the meeting or mail it to her later.

            President Hanin reminded everyone about the President's reception and banquet that evening and then adjourned the meeting at 12:30 pm.

 

Sunday, February 1, 2004

 

            President Hanin opened the meeting at 9:05 am. Dr. Bonnie Sloane mentioned a few comments about the form she distributed on Friday and discussed the agreement to develop a database on the membership. President Hanin then introduced Dr. George Mandel who reported on the activities of the National Caucus of Basic Biomedical Science Chairs. He reviewed the activities of the meeting held in June, 2003. He indicated that the group included Drs. George Mandel, Arthur Grollman, and Gary Rankin from ASMPC as well as local Pharmacology Chairs Drs. Ken Dretchen and Vince Chiappinelli. Meetings with Dr. Elias Zerhouni, Director of NIH, staffers of several Senators and Congressmen/women, and others were held to discuss the budget for NIH and to encourage maintaining the momentum in funding established during the recent doubling of the NIH budget. Potential concerns in the Washington, D.C. area were also presented including conflict of interest issues, Congressional involvement in funding, peer review issues, and the role of the administration on environmental issues. The next meeting of the Caucus is planned for April, 2004 at the end of the EB meeting.

            Drs. Rich Eisenberg and Gary Rosenfeld presented an update on the Knowledge Objectives and Drug List. Dr. Eisenberg presented a history of the Knowledge Objectives and reviewed their purpose. The Knowledge Objectives and Drug List can be accessed through the ASPET web page (www.aspet.org/AMSPC). Discussion followed on how to keep the data base updated and it was suggested that a database of pharmacology questions could be developed through the Chairs of the various section subcommittees.  These questions could be made available as a set or incorporated at the end of each section. Comments were made about standardizing the format. Dr. Rosenfeld then discussed potential collaborative efforts between AMSPC and ASPET's Division for Pharmacology Education. He reviewed the history of the Division and indicated that the Division will host several symposia/workshops at EB 2004. He discussed several joint ventures that could be possible between AMSPC and the Division including joint sponsorship of meetings, programs, databases, teaching awards, Distinguished Lectureships, resource development, etc. The membership was generally positive toward such efforts and that activities should occur at EB meetings. A Subcommittee composed of Rich Eisenberg, John Szarek and Jack Strandhoy was formed to explore potential future collaborative efforts between AMSPC and ASPET’s Division of Pharmacology Education.

            Dr. John Szarek then presented a program entitled, "Using Human Patient Simulators in the 4th Semester Curriculum. His presentation started with a clip from the television program "ER". He then showed how students at Ross University use the patient simulator. Costs range from $40,000 to $200,000 per simulator. He indicated that the simulator is good for problem based learning curricula and progression from basic to clinical science years. He also noted that Anesthesiology Departments often have these units that may be shared.

            Dr. Bill Cooke distributed the results of the latest annual AMSPC survey. The information was current up to February, 2004. For the current survey, he received 62 responses. Bill noted that salary trends appear to be steadily increasing in most categories, but at a rate similar to past increases. For those members not in attendance and wanting the survey, they should contact Bill at cookewj@evms.edu.

            Treasurer Dr. Adrian Dunn then presented the Treasurer's Report Summary for 2003. He noted that the beginning balance was $72,530.12 and the ending balance was $68,212.76. Income from dues, registration fees and label sales was $17,860 and expenditures for office, meeting and travel expenses plus dues and fees totaled $21,212.76. He pointed out that we had to pay a deposit of $2,000 in 2003 for the 2005 meeting in Panama. The Treasurer's Report was accepted. He then noted vacant Chair positions at Case Western, UC-Irvine, UC- San Diego, and the University of Hawaii. In Canada, the Chair at Saskatoon is open. He then discussed upcoming meetings. The 2005 AMSPC meeting will be February 4-6, 2005 at the Gamboa Rainforest Resort at the Panama Canal. Cost will be $165 per night single/double. The 2006 meeting will be held at the Hilton Tucson El Conquistador in Tucson, AZ. Dates are yet to be determined for this meeting. Details for the AMSPC meeting at EB2004 are still being finalized. The meeting should be held at ~5:30 pm on Monday of the EB meeting.

            Secretary Dr. Gary Rankin gave the report from the Nominating Committee. The candidates are: President - John Maggio and Gary Rankin; Secretary - Howard Rosenberg and Robert Theobald; Councilor - William Crowley and Patricia Hentosh.

            President Hanin thanked everyone for all of their help and reminded attendees about the location of the Teaching Workshop.

The meeting was adjourned at noon.

 

Minutes were prepared by Secretary Gary O. Rankin.

 

 

 

 

Minutes of the Winter Meeting

of the Association for Medical School Pharmacology

January 31-February 2, 2003

Westward Look Resort, Tucson, AZ

 

Friday, January 31

 

          AMSP President Israel Hanin called the meeting to order at 1:40 pm and called for a moment of silence to honor emeritus member Dr. Jay Roberts who had recently passed away. Dr. Hanin then asked new Chairs to stand and be recognized. New Chairs in attendance were J.R. Haywood (Michigan State), Reid Norman (Texas Tech), John Szarek (Ross University) and Bill Tank (University of Rochester). Two Chairs indicated that they had recently taken Emeritus status: Claudio Cuello (McGill University) and Richard Neuman (Memorial University of Newfoundland).

 

President Hanin then called for the reports of the recently appointed Task Forces:

 

The AMSP Task Force on Membership report was presented by Ken Dretchen for Chair Robert Taylor who was unable to attend the meeting. The Task Force created a survey but response from the membership was low. Some questions examined included finding out what motivates regular as well as emeritus members to continue to attend the meetings, exploring ways to make the meeting more interesting, and determining how many members regularly attend. A modified survey will be prepared and the membership surveyed again later this year.

 

The Task Force on AMSP By-Laws and Regulations report was presented by Richard Eisenberg. He provided a history of our current by-law and non-profit status. The possibility was raised about creating an Associate Member category and who might be included in such a category. Issues related to voting rights, officer eligibility, what constitutes a quorum, and officer continuity were discussed. The Task Force will continue to review opinions from the membership, propose alterations to the by-laws and submit the suggested changes to the membership for a vote.

 

The AMSP Task Force on Function and Goals report was presented by Bonnie Sloane. This Task Force considered the professional and social aspects of how AMSP could help meet the needs of all Chairs. Professional aspects included interactions relative to research, teaching and networking. Social functions included Chair interactions and social events. Suggestions were offered for new types of presentations at the AMSP meeting, small group activities, and the development of workshops. The possibility of a Program Committee was discussed.

 

            Richard Eisenberg presented an update of the Knowledge Objectives and indicated that they could be accessed through the ASPET website. He indicated that pdf versions of the Knowledge Objectives are available as well.

 

            AMSP Secretary Gary Rankin conducted the election of the Nominating Committee to select candidates for two Councilor positions. The Nominating Committee elected was composed of: Bonnie Sloane (Chair), David Westfall and Paul Hollenberg. The meeting was then adjourned until the Welcome Reception at 6:15 pm.

 

Saturday, February 1

 

            President Hanin called the meeting to order at 9:10 am. Gary Rankin presented the results of the Nominating Committee election. AMSP Treasurer Adrian Dunn provided a few reminders about scheduling and the facilities.

 

            President Hanin introduced Rachel Levinson, Assistant Director for Life Sciences, Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) who spoke on “Current Issues in Federally Funded Research”. Her talk focused on the current research needs and policies related to bio-terrorism. Of particular interest are access issues related to biological materials, information and weapons. Questions were raised by attendees about access for foreign students and postdoctoral fellows, registration information for agents, and security issues.

 

Glen Hanson, Acting Director, NIDA, NIH presented “Understanding and Treating Drug Abuse and Addiction: What Can Pharmacologists Do?” Issues were related to who conducts the research (30-40% of pharmacologists do drug abuse research), the NIDA budget ($967 million for 2003, estimated) and how new monies have been spent (prevention, efforts to increase potency and effectiveness of behavioral treatments, and expanded efforts to determine mechanisms that underlie drug abuse and addiction).

 

Christine Carrico, Executive Officer of ASPET, presented an update on the steps ASPET has taken to contend with decreased revenues. Some steps included cutting the Summer Undergraduate Research fund, not providing printed FASEB directories to members, decreasing travel awards and contributions to ASPET Divisions, providing the Pharmacologist only in an electronic format, and eliminating support for non-ASPET meetings or unfunded ASPET awards. ASPET is considering ways to increase revenue including dues increases and partnering with industrial sponsors for some projects.

 

Bill Fleming provided an update on IUPHAR and comments about the actions of IUPHAR during his Presidency. AMSP member Sue Duckles was recently elected Secretary General. In 2004 a clinical pharmacology meeting is scheduled in Brisbane, Australia, while in 2006 IUPHAR will meet in Beijing, China. A combined meeting of basic and clinical pharmacologists is planned for 2010 in Copenhagen, Denmark.

 

The Canadian Pharmacologists’ Report was presented by Alexander Clanachan. He presented the results of a mini-survey conducted on salaries, research support and institutional support at Canadian medical schools. Information on faculty and graduate student numbers and teaching hours were presented. Difficulties identified were: decreased institutional support, loss of pharmacology identity, low overall research funding, and problems with some graduate programs. Positives included increased individual research funding, graduate enrollment, and employment.

 

The meeting was then adjourned until the President’s Reception and dinner starting at 5:30 pm.

 

Sunday, Febraury 2

 

President Hanin called the meeting to order at 8:30 am.

 

Robert Theobald presented an overview of the AAMC-Sponsored 2002 Meeting for Academic Chairs held in Philadelphia, PA in October 2002. Attendance at the meeting included 142 Chairs, 12 faculty members and 17 administrators. The Keynote Speaker was Dr. Gerald Fischbach, Columbia University, who discussed problem areas, Chairs as role models, service, and biotechnology research development. Information was presented on growth and change in departments, research institutions and centers, and the role of Chairs. Over 20 AMSP members attended this meeting. More information can be obtained by going to www.aamc.org/private/cas and using the password “faculty-cas” all in lower case letters.

 

Arthur Grollman presented the CAS (Council of Academic Societies) and GREAT (Graduate Education and Training) report. He gave a history of the AAMC composition and indicated that much information related to medical schools could be obtained from the AAMC, including salary survey information. A history of conflict-of-interest issues related to biotechnology was discussed. An article [Beckelman et al. JAMA 289, 243 (2003)] was cited as a reference to this issue. Interested individuals can access the recent AAMC Task Force Report on Conflict of Interest, on the CAS website, through the AAMC (User name CAS, password: faculty-cas).

 

George Mandel gave the report from the National Caucus of Basic Biomedical Sciences on which he serves as Chair. He gave a short history of how the Caucus was formed, followed by a description of the activities at the May 15-17, 2002 meeting of the Caucus in Washington, D.C. Members of the Causcus met with several government leaders including Dr. Ruth Kirschstein, Acting Director, NIH, and Dr. John H. Marburger, Science Advisor to the President (US) and Director, Office of Science and Technology. Members also met with staff of several of the key U.S Congressmen and Senators who serve on the Health, Budget or NIH Appropriations Committees. NIH budget and cloning issues were the main areas of discussion. The Caucus will meet again in May, 2003.

 

Ken Dretchen provided the results of a survey examining departmental incentive plans and provided a report on The Workshop on Status and Future of Integrative and Organ System Sciences held October 20-21, 2002 in Bethesda, MD. He provided a handout for, and discussed the results of, the incentive plan survey to which 53 responses were returned. There appeared to be a large number of different plans and several examples were discussed. The full survey results will be placed on the AMSP website. Conclusions from the Workshop  were: integrated and organ system sciences has decreased dramatically over the past decade, fewer scientists with these skills are being trained, a negative impact on academia and industry is expected, the data are still too soft to convince some leaders in the field that the problem is severe.

 

Paul Carvey conducted a survey on comprehensive and qualifying exams in medical school pharmacology departments. He received 29 responses to his survey. Conclusions included: most exams are given by Year 2, most exams include pharmacology along with other coursework the student takes, exams are closed book, the student’s committee is the most common reviewer of the examination, and additional portions (e.g. NIH grant, dissertation proposal) may be required.

 

Bill Cooke presented the results of the Annual AMSP survey, including a seven year summary. Eighty-two US and seven Canadian schools responded to the survey. Overall, there continues to be a slight increase in salaries (~4-6%) for all ranks, and institutional and extramural support also continue to increase each year.

 

Treasurer Adrian Dunn provided the Treasurer’s report and indicated that we are in good financial status. For 2002, the beginning balance was $59,223.63. In 2002, income was $21,572.25 and expenditures were $9,320.69 for an ending balance of $71,402.94. Adrian indicated that some of the income reflected registration for the 2003 meeting and that most of the meeting expenses would be paid after the meeting. A call was made to identify vacant Chair positions, so that that information could be distributed to the membership. Any information about vacant Chair positions should be sent to Adrian Dunn. Future meeting sites were briefly discussed and it was indicated that our next winter meeting would be at The Cloister in Sea Island, GA in 2004. The regular AMSP meeting will be held from Friday, January 30 – Sunday, February 1, with a teaching workshop being planned at The Cloister for the Sunday afternoon, Monday and Tuesday morning (February 1-3, 2004) following the regular meeting. Further details about the meeting and the teaching workshop will be distributed later.

President Hanin announced that the AMSP meeting at the EB ’03 meeting in San Diego, CA will be held Monday, April 14th, 2003 from 5:45 – 6:45 pm in the Solana Room of the Sand Diego Marriott Hotel and Marina.

 

Secretary Gary Rankin presented the list of candidates for the two Councilor positions prepared by the Nominating Committee. The candidates will be: Vincent Chiappinelli, Robert Kass, Bonnie Sloane and Robert Theobald. A voting ballot will be sent to the membership in the near future.

 

The meeting was adjourned at 12:15 pm.