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2008 ASHG Board of Directors
Aravinda Chakravarti, PhD President 2008
Edward R. B.
McCabe, MD, PhD
President-Elect 2008
David L. Nelson,
PhD
Secretary
Daniel L. Van
Dyke, PhD
Treasurer
Stephen T.
Warren, PhD
Past
President 2007
Wylie Burke, MD,
PhD
Past
President 2008
Joann A.
Boughman, PhD
Executive
Vice President
Cynthia C.
Morton, PhD
Editor
Directors
Miriam G.
Blitzer, PhD
Michael Boehnke,
PhD
Cynthia J. R.
Curry, MD
Harry C. Dietz,
MD
Charis Eng, MD,
PhD
Terry J. Hassold,
PhD
Muin J. Khoury,
MD, PhD
Mary-Claire
King, PhD
Tony Wynshaw-Boris,
MD, PhD
Elaine Strass
Executive
Director
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2008 Information and Education Committee
Ricki Lewis, PhD
Yvette P. Conley, PhD
Marlene Shaw, PhD
Adam Hott, EdD
Carl A. Huether, PhD
Howard P. Levy, MD, PhD
Christa Lese Martin, PhD
Leta M. Tribble, PhD
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2008 Ad Hoc Postdoctoral Committee
Lawrence J. Merritt II, MD,
Chair
Clement Y. Chow
Manika Govil, PhD
Cheryl Thompson, PhD
Denise J. Bouvrette (Adhoc)
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Time to Vote for ASHG's New Leadership - Joann Boughman, PhD, ASHG Executive Vice President
 ASHG reminds all members, including international members, that now is the time to vote for a president-elect and three directors whose tenure will begin on January 1, 2009.
Members must vote electronically using a special voter code. If you are an ASHG member in good standing and if you have not already voted, your individual voter code was sent to you in an e-mail message on Thursday, August 14. This e-mail message included
instructions and other important information that you will need to submit your vote online.
For more information about each of the candidates, please see their bios on the ASHG Web site at: http://www.ashg.org/election/bios.shtml.
All ballots must be received by midnight, U.S. East Coast time, on Monday, September 15, 2008. Election results will be announced at the Society’s Membership/Business Meeting on Friday, November 14, 2008, at the ASHG 58th Annual Meeting in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania.
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 ASHG Welcomes Mike Dougherty as the Society's New Director of Education
Dear ASHG Members,
My name is Mike Dougherty, and I am the new Director of Education for ASHG. I believe that the Society is an important player in the world of genetics education, and I am pleased and honored to have the opportunity to build on its reputation.
I bring to this position broad expertise and many years of experience in genetic science and education. Following my postdoctoral research in Alzheimer’s disease, I worked for six years as a curriculum developer and administrator at the Biological Sciences
Curriculum Study (BSCS) in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where I helped to develop a number of genetics-based science courses. From 1999 until the beginning of my tenure here at ASHG in June 2008, I was a faculty member in the Department of Biology at Hampden-Sydney
College, a small liberal arts college for men in Virginia, where I studied beta-sheet proteins and yeast prions. During this time, I developed a keen interest in genetics education and made it my personal mission to find new ways for students to develop critical
thinking skills.
As ASHG’s new Director of Education, I will be working closely with the Executive Vice-President and the Board of Directors to develop and implement educational initiatives that are consistent with the Society’s mission. In particular, I will be responsible for
supporting the Professional Development Committee and the Information and Education Committee in their work on activities at the annual meeting, including trainee events for career
development and genetics education workshops for high school students and undergraduate instructors.
I will also be responsible for planning future educational programs, developing partnerships with appropriate external organizations, maintaining and expanding the Society’s education Web site, as well as our online archive of teaching resources, and representing
ASHG in the science education community. Finally, I will work with ASHG’s Communications Manager to infuse our public outreach and consumer education activities with sound genetics content so that the lay public may become better informed about genetics and
genomics and their impact on personal health.
The ASHG membership is the backbone of the organization, and I look forward to hearing from you about ways to improve the Society’s educational efforts. Please feel free to contact me to share your ideas for ASHG’s genetics education programs, to express your
interest in volunteering (for example by participating in the Society’s Genetics Education and Outreach Network), or to talk about issues related to genetics education. I can be reached
via e-mail at mdougherty@ashg.org, or by phone at 301-634-7304.
I look forward to meeting many of you at the 2008 Annual Meeting in Philadelphia this fall.
Best regards,
Michael J. Dougherty, PhD
Director of Education, ASHG
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So Long and Thanks for the Memories, ASHG! A Reflection on the 20-Year Tenure of Elaine Strass with the Society
 When I came to ASHG in 1988, I was hired to
coordinate committee activities and raise funds for the Society’s major events. Who would have guessed that I would eventually become the executive director? I had many responsibilities over the years, including raising funds to support the International Congress
of Human Genetics in 1991, convert the ASHG membership record files into an electronic database system, and help establish the Society’s genetics education program.
When I became the Executive Director of ASHG in 1992, the Society’s total membership was only at 4,420 people compared to the 7,617 members we have today. Furthermore, during my tenure at ASHG, I witnessed an increase in the number of abstracts submitted for
presentation at the Annual Meeting, as well as an increase in registration and attendance. Notably, meeting registration increased dramatically over the years from a mere 2,582 attendees in 1988, compared to our highest total of 5,368 attendees, which we reached
at the 1999 Annual Meeting in San Francisco.
Finally, during my time as executive director, I took steps to ensure the long-term financial stability of ASHG. The Society’s leadership has been truly effective in this effort in fact, we were able to nearly triple the total amount of savings in ASHG’s fund
balance since 1994.
The most amazing part about the last 20 years is that I’ve been able to witness firsthand the incredible scientific discoveries and advances that have happened in human genetics, including the successful completion of the Human Genome Project, the passage of the
GINA bill after a long 13-year struggle, and watching some of the GSA Award winners go on to win Nobel Prizes for their research.
Reflecting on my experience working for ASHG over the last 20 years, I could’ve chosen to simply focus on discussing major concurrent historical events, or provide statistics describing how the Society has grown during my time here, such as the substantial
increases in Society membership, Annual Meeting attendance and budget funding but this job has meant so much more to me than that. In my role as the Executive Director of ASHG, the one thing that I have cared most about is the people, including the ASHG and GSA
staff, the 21 ASHG presidents and other Society leaders I have worked with over the years, ASHG members (such as Carol Greene, whose cat I inherited), and our trainee members who represent the future of human genetics.
Needless to say, I will miss all of the many Society leaders and members I spent time with. Looking back on my career, I must acknowledge here that working with these people was the highlight of my life. The challenges that we faced together have made the
Society larger, stronger and more focused in our mission. Watching the field grow and develop over the past 20 years has given me one thrill after another. All in all, it’s been a terrific ride for me. Thanks, ASHG.
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Timeline of Events Mouse-over squares to see event |
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Key Events in the 20-Year Tenure of Elaine Strass at ASHG
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Major Historical Events in Science & Genetics
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58th ASHG Annual Meeting Updates Program Committee Update Mike Lovett, PhD, ASHG Program Committee Chair
The ASHG Program Committee has recently finished its complex and challenging tasks for the 58th Annual Meeting which will be held November 11-15, 2008, including: reviewing and selecting 14 invited session proposals out of the many that were received in the fall, reviewing and
scoring the submitted abstracts, as well as selecting this year’s platform presentations, plenary sessions and posters, and organizing the final meeting program.
The Program Committee works throughout the year to provide the Society with a balanced, high quality scientific program for the ASHG Annual Meeting. The chair of the Committee assumes responsibility for the overall coordination of the process throughout the year
and organizes the Distinguished Speaker’s Symposium. However, the development of the program for the Annual Meeting is a lengthy and collaborative process between committee members and authors.
This year, more than 60 ASHG members volunteered to review more than 2,600 submitted abstracts. Each abstract is independently scored by a panel of three expert reviewers. The highest ranking abstracts are discussed at a meeting of the Program Committee in
mid-July at the FASEB campus, where six abstracts are chosen for the plenary session, and 280 abstracts are selected for the 28 contributed platform sessions. It is hard work - particularly when so many abstracts are of such high quality - but eventually the Committee
arrives at a consensus, and the final program takes shape. Reviewers and Program Committee members are rewarded with a confidential “sneak peek” of the most exciting research across the spectrum of human genetics, and with the satisfaction of knowing that they
have provided our scientific community with the best possible content for the upcoming ASHG meeting.
Without the participation of the ASHG membership, however, this program would not be possible. ASHG members play a number of other important roles in this process that are essential to the overall success of the Annual Meeting each year, including:
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submitting invited session proposals,
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submitting high quality abstracts,
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volunteering to serve as a committee member or an abstract reviewer, and
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serving as a moderator at the meeting.
Thank you to the many ASHG volunteers who have worked so diligently in all of these roles to contribute to the success of this year’s scientific program. We look forward to seeing you in Philadelphia!
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Special Events for Trainees at the ASHG 2008 Meeting Mike Dougherty, PhD, ASHG Education Director
If you are a postdoc, medical, graduate student, or even an undergraduate student, please join your fellow ASHG members for a variety of social and professional events of
interest to trainees at the 58th Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, November 11-15, 2008.
 On the first night of the meeting, all are invited to attend the
Opening Mixer, which will be held on Tuesday, November 11, from 8:00 pm until 10:00 pm at the Marriott Hotel (the meeting headquarters hotel). This event is a great opportunity to
meet other attendees, enjoy some light snacks, and perhaps decompress from the hassles of travel.
On Wednesday, November 12, ASHG will host the Trainee-Mentor Luncheon again this year from noon until 1:00 p.m. in the Pennsylvania Convention Center, Room 108. This event
provides a wonderful opportunity for students to sit and chat informally with senior members of the Society about their research interests, goals, training programs, and the many career options within the various disciplines of genetics. This year we‘ve made a
special effort to include mentors who are active in a variety of fields – including executives in private industry, editors of scientific journals and journalists/science writers – in addition to those mentors that represent the more “traditional” career
paths, such as scientific researchers, academicians, professors, clinicians and genetic counselors. Trainees at any level (graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, clinical fellows) are invited to attend. Tickets are required to attend this event and may be
reserved only by registering for the meeting in advance by the early deadline date of September 19. The cost for the luncheon is $20 per trainee. Space is limited, so be
sure to sign up early to secure your seat!
Later on November 12, trainees will have the opportunity to network more formally at the Career Networking Reception and Job Fair. This event, which is free and open to all registrants, will take place on Wednesday evening from 6:30 pm until 8:00 pm in the
Grand Hall of the Pennsylvania Convention Center. Employment and career networking services for trainees will be available at this event, and attendees will also have the opportunity to schedule onsite job interviews with prospective employers.
Directly after this event, the ASHG Professional Development Committee is sponsoring a Career Development and Networking Session from 8:00 pm until 10:00 pm in Ballroom B of
the Pennsylvania Convention Center. This year there will be two concurrent plenary sessions: one focused on informing students about the various career opportunities in the human genetics field, and the other focused on informing post-docs about online
networking opportunities and resources. A networking session open to all participants will include discussions of a diverse array of career possibilities. This event is complimentary, but attendance is limited and requires pre-registration.
Professional development opportunities for undergraduate instructors will also be offered at this year’s meeting. The annual Undergraduate Genetics Education
Workshop* will be held on Tuesday, November 11, from 8:30 am until 3:30 pm in Room 108 of the Convention Center. The purpose of this workshop is to present and discuss various topics and pedagogies relevant to faculty teaching college-level biology courses
that contain genetics content. The overarching goal is to encourage effective teaching of human genetics and improve students’ understanding of the course material. (*NOTE: Registration for this event is now closed, but we encourage you to apply next year if
you are unable to join us at this year’s meeting.)
It’s not too late to sign up for the “UCSC Interactive Workshop: Useful Databases for Geneticists,” which will be offered in Ballroom A of the Convention Center in two
separate sessions. The first session will be held on Thursday, November 13, from 5:00 pm until 6:30 pm, and the second session is scheduled for Friday, November 14, from 12:00 noon until 1:30 pm. In this workshop, attendees will learn how to use the UCSC Genome
Browser to analyze human and animal genomes. Please note that all workshop participants will be required to bring their own wireless-equipped, laptop computer to this session. There is no cost to attend the workshop, but you must check the appropriate box in
the online registration form when you register for the ASHG 2008 meeting. Seating is limited so please register early. The registration deadline for the UCSC Interactive
Workshop is September 19.
ASHG will host the first Publications Workshop: "Demystifying the Road to Publication", which will be held on Thursday, November 13, from 6:30 pm until 8:00 pm in the Convention
Center, Room 109A/B. At this session, a panel of scientific journal editors will advise trainees on the “ins” and “outs” of publishing in prominent journals. Tickets for this event will cost $25 (including a boxed supper), and must be purchased by October 1
through the online 2008 meeting registration site. Upon completion of your meeting registration, you will be provided with a link to register for the workshop. Please visit
the following Web page to register for the workshop or to request a receipt: http://www.ashg.org/2008meeting/pages/receipt.shtml. Please bring your registration receipt with you
to the workshop session.
The Middle and High School Workshop, organized by the ASHG Information and Education Committee, will be held on Friday, November 14, from 8:30 am until 3:30 pm at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, Room 108. The purpose of the workshop is to provide local
middle and high school students and their teachers with an opportunity to participate in interactive learning experiences and to gain exposure to researchers in the field of human genetics. Attendance will be limited to 250 participants and registration is
required. Breakfast and lunch will be served. Contact the ASHG Education Office at genednet@ashg.org for further information.
We hope you have the chance to enjoy one of more of these engaging trainee events. See you in Philadelphia!
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Guarantee Your Hotel Room by Booking through ASHG (deadline, October 3)
Philadelphia is a popular convention and tourist city and the hotel rooms go quickly. November is a very busy time so attendees coming to the 58th ASHG Annual Meeting are advised to make hotel reservations as soon as possible. You can make your reservations by
visiting http://www.ashg.org/2008meeting/pages/hotel.shtml.
Room rates offered for the ASHG meeting are competitive. We understand you have many options and understand you have budgetary constraints. However, the Society encourages you to utilize its block as it could result in increased meeting registration costs
and can put the society in financial difficulty.
How so? ASHG sets aside room blocks in hotels to guarantee attendees will have a room available during the meeting.
Room blocks also guarantee to the host city that several thousand of their hotel rooms will be booked. If ASHG doesn’t fill its room block, there are severe financial penalties to the Society. In addition, room reductions give the Society less bargaining power for
future years and also increase the cost for the rental of the convention center and meeting space at the headquarter hotel. These penalties ultimately could be passed on to attendees through increased registration fees as well as through abstract submission fees.)
Online discount sites may charge your credit card for your entire stay as soon as you make your reservation. By making your reservation through ASHG you are only charged one nights deposit and can make changes and cancellations up to 72 hours prior to your
arrival date without any financial penalty. Some of the online discount sites are not so accommodating, charging additional fees or charging for days you will no longer be staying at the hotel. If you are uncertain about your arrival/departure date and do
not think you will know prior to the October 3 housing deadline, we suggest you make reservations for the dates you anticipate attending, knowing the reservation can be changed up to 72 hours prior to arrival without any financial penalty. In addition, if
there is a problem with your room when you arrive in Philadelphia, we are better equipped to help you. We are less able to help attendees with housing issues if they did not book through the official housing block.
Lastly, we have implemented a room sharing and carpooling forum this year to help attendees find less costly ways to travel. Visit http://www.genetic-society.org/ashg08/forum/. You
will need to create a login I.D. to begin and should review the “disclaimer and instructions” before you begin.
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SNP-IT is published online four times a year,
in February, May, August and November. Copyright by
The American Society of Human Genetics.
Please direct all SNP-IT inquiries to
Kristen Long, Communications Manager, at
klong@ashg.org
For Society information, please
contact the ASHG Administrative Office, 9650
Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20814-3998. Telephone:
301-634-7300; fax: 301-634-7090,
society@ashg.org
or visit ASHG on the Web:
www.ashg.org |
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