The ASHG annual meeting in 2006 held in New Orleans, October 9-13, was a resounding success by all measures. Starting with the Education Sessions on Tuesday and ending on Friday with three talks by distinguished speakers, it was packed with great science and new ideas. Features included: a special plenary session with guests Dr. Elias Zerhouni, NIH Director, Spencer Wells of the National Geographic Society and Rick Guidotti, Positive Exposure, showing the beauty of individuals from the human genetics patient community. Also at that session, ASHG presented a check for $30,000 to Dana Gonzales, the Science and Mathematics Coordinator from New Orleans Public Schools, who was thrilled that New Orleans schools were the recipients of ASHG’s Katrina Equipment and Book Fund Drive. Half of the money was collected from the generous and concerned ASHG members and meeting attendees who contributed to the fund over the past six months or bought T-shirts. ASHG matched the funds collected. Besides the financial support, 250 local students and their teachers enthusiastically participated in the ASHG high school workshop held one day prior to the annual meeting. Educational support was further supplemented by the Venter Institute’s Discover Genomics! Mobile Laboratory, a traveling demonstration wet lab that many students visited. We also hosted the first annual Undergraduate Genetics Education Workshop for undergraduate genetics professors.

At the ASHG membership meeting, which was unusually well attended, Kenna Shaw, Director of Education, announced that ASHG has been awarded a $1.5M NSF 3-year grant. ASHG’s goal is to build on the existing Mentor Network, an outreach program designed to build a dialogue between ASHG members and K-12 science teachers in their communities. A part of the grant will be to hold workshops in five areas of the US, each one a forum for scientists and teachers. The scientists will coach the teachers on the science content, and the teachers will coach the scientists on pedagogy. We are excited about this opportunity to spread the word about human genetics research and to teach genetics lessons at all age levels.

An interesting aspect of the meeting, something unique this year, was the wonderful feeling of having contributed to the recovery of New Orleans as a convention venue. Many attendees commented on how rewarding it was to see the city coming back and partake of the Cajun restaurant cooking and enjoyable nights in the French Quarter. But even more exciting was to talk with citizens of the city. They were delighted that we opted to keep our meeting there and support the city. One of our staff members on her way to the airport after the meeting was told by her taxi driver that the wonderful people who organized the genetics meeting had donated $30,000 to the public schools science program. He was thrilled to hear that it was her meeting! She will never forget how grateful and appreciative he was of the important role ASHG played along with many others to bring science education to the citizens of New Orleans.

If for some reason your plans this fall did not include attending the ASHG meeting, you should consider a special visit to the renovated city, to see how far they have come and to help them in any small way you can so that this remarkable renaissance can continue.