Message from The President

As Spring approaches, ASPET has much going on, and I am excited to share some key highlights with our membership.

The ASPET 2023 Annual Meeting will be held May 18-21 at the St. Louis Union Station Hotel. In addition to many innovative scientific, professional development and educational sessions in the program (https://www.aspet.org/ meeting/program), all meeting attendees will receive a ticket to the ASPET 2023 Opening Event at the St. Louis Aquarium, the business meeting breakfast, the awards lunch and three poster receptions during the meeting. Registration is open, and I encourage all to register as soon as possible. This year’s meeting contains many new features as well as ground-breaking science and is not to be missed.

The ASPET elections results are in. Please join me in congratulating this year’s class of leaders on Council and across the ASPET Divisions (see page 5). I welcome Carol Beck, PharmD, PhD, as President-Elect, Pamela Janet Hornby, PhD as Secretary/Treasurer-Elect, and Amy Arnold, PhD as Councilor. I extend a warm welcome to the new Division leaders (page 51). The ASPET Divisions are integral to our Society’s diverse membership and are an excellent resource for expertise across in their respective pharmacology research areas. Members are encouraged to engage with their respective Divisions as it’s a great way to become more involved in ASPET activities and initiatives. Let’s also celebrate this year’s Scientific Achievement and Divisional Award winners (see page 16) for their groundbreaking research and their work to advance the discipline of pharmacology.

I also want to thank the membership for their approval of the Revised ASPET Bylaws. This represents an important milestone for ASPET, which will modernize and streamline operation of the Society. Importantly, the new Bylaws will also ensure a greater level of transparency and opportunities for member engagement in the operation of the Society.

ASPET has many ongoing activities that positively impact pharmacology as a discipline and the professional development of our members. I am delighted to welcome the 2023 class of Washington Fellows. These early career scientists bring a diversity of experiences to their new journey in science advocacy. Please read their inspiring biographies here https://www.aspet.org/aspet/advocacy/aspet-washington-fellows-program/meet-the2023-aspet-washington-fellows. Each year, the Washington Fellows work tirelessly to advance ASPET’s values and mission with lawmakers and other policy stakeholders. Kudos to Carter Alleman, Director of Government Affairs and Science Policy and the Science Policy Committee for all their efforts to advocate for ASPET and policies central to our mission. As an example, ASPET recently joined 283 other science organizations to support extension of the base funding for NIH research.

Other outreach activities include opportunities for interactions with allied associations. Dr. Catherine Fry, Director of Education, recently attended the Association of Medical School Pharmacology Chairs (AMSPC) Annual Meeting to explore potential collaborations on new biomedical education models. Additionally, ASPET is evaluating the current and future state of its interactions with its Regional Chapters. ASPET’s Regional Chapters offer many valuable and innovative educational and networking experiences for their members that would be mutually beneficial for the wider ASPET Community.

ASPET’s journals have had several new additions in recent months. I would like to extend a warm welcome to Dr. John Tesmer as the new Editor for Molecular Pharmacology and Dr. Ai-Ming Yu as an At-Large member of the Publications Committee. Both are highly regarded scientific leaders and I look forward to contributions to ASPET’s journals in the years ahead. I also want to recognize the new Associate Editors and Editorial Advisory Board members who have recently joined the editorial boards of ASPET’s journals. The contributions of these excellent scientists are critical to building the scientific impact of ASPET’s journals.

In the coming months, ASPET’s membership can expect to learn more about other important initiatives including our new Strategic Plan. The 2023 Strategic Plan will support and align many existing and new ASPET activities that are designed to foster inclusive participation in all ASPET activities and enhance the range of ASPET’s impact in the biomedical research community. We have also begun work with the Nova Collective, a woman-owned, BIPOC-led company devoted to guiding organizations through their inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility (IDEA) journeys to create lasting change. Another new initiative that ASPET members will see shortly is a Call for Volunteers. ASPET has always benefited from the dedication and commitment of our highly capable volunteers. The Call for Volunteers will build upon this success by better matching volunteer interests with the needs of ASPET’s Committees. This new process will also provide members with increased opportunities to participate at all levels of ASPET’s operations.

I also want to remind everyone about the upcoming IUPHAR World Congress of Pharmacology, July 2-6, 2023, in Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom. Our colleagues at the British Pharmacology Society and IUPHAR have organized a truly exciting meeting. A link to the meeting program is provided here: https://wcp2023.org/ programme/. At this year’s meeting over a dozen keynote, plenary and symposia will be presented by eminent ASPET members and cover many cutting-edge topics including advances in structural biology, pharmacology education, inflammation, immunology, virology and the experimental pharmacology of precision medicine.

As all can see, there is a lot under way at ASPET. All these efforts are critical to building the future of the Society. I look forward seeing everyone at ASPET 2023 in St. Louis.

Sincerely,

Michael F. Jarvis, PhD ASPET President