Let me begin by thanking our members who provided
ASHG feedback regarding your membership through the
ASHG survey that was available online through late
February. Just over 20% of our trainee and regular
members provided us with invaluable insight into the
areas where we excel (like the
annual meeting and
the American Journal of Human Genetics), but also
areas where we can better serve you.
The results from the survey will be discussed in
future newsletters, in Society News columns in the
journal, through e-mails to the society and on the
ASHG website. However, there were some comments from
the survey that I wanted to address with all of you
now.
Under “What they like least about ASHG,” half of you
stated that ASHG was either “too clinical” or “too
focused on basic science.” I would like to think
that this split answer means we are getting the
right kind of diversity in our society. The mission
of the ASHG includes both the language of the genome
and the translation of genomic knowledge into
improved medical care and population health.
This broad scope is our strength. ASHG members, more
than 7,000 strong, represent each of the disciplines
that make human genetics a vibrant and progressive
field. The annual meeting reflects this breadth and
we hope it allows members to broaden their horizons
by attending symposia both inside and outside their
comfort zone. Hopefully we can also continue to work
to assure that the interests of all members are well
represented in ASHG activities.
Our members drive our agenda, and we appreciate your
contributions. The members who make our annual
meeting a premier international forum for human
genetics by sharing their work, submit proposals for
invited sessions, volunteer for a committee, write a
“Letter to the Editor” for the newsletter, or
respond to a survey are driving ASHG and will
continue to move us forward. I look forward to
working with you over the next year, and hope to
hear from you about opportunities for ASHG to
continue to excel and to serve you.
April 25th marked the fifth celebration of National
DNA Day. Together with the National Human
Genome Research Institute, the Genetics Society of
America and the National Society of
Genetic Counselors, ASHG sponsors multiple
activities around DNA Day.
Traditionally, we support members of the Mentor
Network in their visits to local K-12 classrooms
to discuss genetics with teachers and students. This
year, we have dozens of mentors providing
talks all over the country. North Carolina and
Georgia have both requested many speakers so
we hope to find an opportunity for all our mentors
in those states.
Last year ASHG partnered with Applied Biosystems to
support an essay contest for middle and
high school students. This year, they have supported
the contest again, providing funding for
awards for teachers and students, buttons and
T-shirts with the new DNA Day logos, and 5
internships for winning students. This internship
program is a new addition to the essay contest
this year. Applied Biosystems will support up to
five students with exemplary essays to do a
paid ($2,000.00) summer internship in a local
laboratory. We will announce those internships on
the GenEdNet website soon.
This year we had essays from 41 different states and
6 different countries (only 3 countries and 27
states were represented last year). More than 320
classrooms participated in the essay contest.
Winning essays on two different questions are
currently online.
Your search has ended. Send your questions to Dear
Genie at
genie@ashg.org and look for answers,
advice, insights, and guidance in future issues of
SNP-IT.
Featured Question:
Dear Genie,
Recently I participated in a panel
discussion aired on public television about
the novel "My Sister's Keeper" by Jodi Picoult. The story is based on the Adam and
Molly Nash case, in which preimplantation
genetic diagnosis (PGD) was performed to
select a sibling for a young girl who had
leukemia so that umbilical cord stem cells
could be used for a transplant.
Our local library assembled a dozen of us to
discuss the book from various viewpoints. At
a preliminary meeting, an elderly
pediatrician participant started talking
about "genetic engineering" of the younger
sibling. I pointed out that PGD was a
selection process, not a manipulation, and
that the technique had allowed hundreds of
families, since 1989, to avoid conception of
a child with a devastating disease known to
be in the family. The moderator said that
when we did the show, I was to explain PGD
and I was ready to do so in a way that the
public attending would understand.
Come show time, the physician answered the
very first question (which had nothing to do
with PGD) with the explanation of the
procedure, only he persisted in painting it
as a manipulation with the goal of improving
society. He used the words "eugenics" and
"Nazis" and brought up the inevitable
slippery slope of choosing children for
increasingly trivial reasons. The moderator
verbally agreed with him, as the other
participants nodded their agreement. When I
raised my hand to correct the physician, I
was not recognized, and the program
continued.
What should I have done to correct the
physician's error in describing a genetic
technology and dispel the subtly projected
image of physician as expert and geneticist
as Nazi?
Ricki Lewis
Genie's Response:
Dear Ricki,
Your situation is a complicated one. It is
unfortunate that being assertive is often
thought of as a negative attribute. While
there is a fine line between being assertive
and overtly aggressive and appearing
defensive, there are times when it's worth
the risk of appearing aggressive when one
wants to correct misinformation promoted by
others. Simply, in media situations, one
must be sensitive, but not just let those
with a separate agenda or louder voice
prevail.
Unfortunately, your clinician colleague at
the table was likely not the only one in the
room with that opinion of PGD or genetics in
general. Likely, most of the audience also
concurred. Looking at the general opinion of
students, for example, as seen in the DNA
Day Essay Contest, a majority of the
students see the role of genetics and
genomics in the future is to make “perfect”
children through the identification of
desired traits and genetic engineering.
Clearly, we need to curtail the hype.
Whenever we are presented with the
opportunity to educate the public regarding
the reality about who we are, what we do and
why we do it, we need to chance appearing
pushy and educate, educate, EDUCATE.
Lastly, Genie would
never encourage anyone to shy away from an
opportunity to educate the public about the
real nature of genetics, but it is also
important to research beforehand the views
of the other individuals involved in a
public panel or debate forum, including
fellow scientists and clinicians. We cannot
be confident in their understanding of the
nature of genetics, especially when it comes
to human health. When ethical issues are
involved, often they cloud the judgment of
even our smartest colleagues. Therefore, in
situations such as this, it is vital to
remain as unbiased as possible and strive to
educate not only the public audience but
also your fellow panelists, even if it takes
being more assertive than usual.
We know you and other ASHG members will
continue to be confronted by similar issues
and look forward to hearing from you about
them.
Genie
Dear Genie welcomes your questions and will read
them all, but even a genie can’t promise to respond
to every one. Questions selected for SNP-IT
may be edited for length and style.
SNP-ITcontinues to help you get to know
members of your Board of Directors by sharing their
answers to questions both traditional and
unexpected.
Charis Eng, MD, PhD
Director
Current Institutions:
Cleveland Clinic Genomic Medicine Institute,
and
Case Western Reserve University School of
Medicine,
Department of Genetics
Primary research interests: The
optimal manner of achieving seamless
translational research is on a single
platform of research, clinical care and
education. On such a platform, my laboratory
utilizes nucleic acidbased, biochemical and
computational technologies to identify,
characterize and understand genes which
cause susceptibility to traditional and
complex heritable cancer syndromes, to
determine their role in sporadic
carcinogenesis and to perform molecular
epidemiologic analyses as they might relate
to future clinical applications.
If your office were on fire, what one
object would you take with you?
As a good scientist, I would like to say the
data, but since I have our data backed up in
3 or 4 different locations, I must say the
bottle of fine wine I always keep in a
drawer waiting for that moment.
Favorite Mentors:
Ed Garber, taught me the philosophy
of experimental genetics as an undergraduate
doing an honors project in fungal genetics;
famous for his quips “An experiment without
a control is an act of faith” and
“Seredipity strikes those who work hard”. He
was my lifelong mentor for over 20 years
until his death in Oct, 2004. Bob Gorlin,
mentor, collaborator and friend. David
Ginsburg, mentor for my latter years,
demonstrating that no matter how senior one
is, one always benefits from a great mentor.
Advice for young scientists:
Know genetics and know the secret of life.
In the next 5–10 years, acknowledge of human
genetics will be essential in any medical
practice and all biomedical research.
Daniel Van Dyke, PhD
Treasurer
Current Institution:
Mayo Clinic
Primary research interests: 1)
Cytogenetic changes in chronic lymphocytic
leukemia; 2) X chromosome abnormalities
associated with gonadal dysgenesis;
3)
development of new diagnostic tests in
clinical cytogenetics
If your office was on fire, what one
object would you take with you?
I would grab my family photographs, and most
likely leave behind my James Watson
bobblehead.
Any major “aha” moments that have marked
your career?
I think of two things. First, it was
gratifying to discover that mental
retardation in girls with Turner syndrome is
probably associated with a small ring X
chromosome, and then to work with
collaborators around the country to prove
that the small ring X does not include XIST
and is genetically active. The other
surprise keeps recurring, which is that
clonal aneuploidy isn't always clinically
significant: for example, trisomy 7 and
trisomy 20 are entirely benign in certain
tissues, low level monosomy X mosaicism is
irrelevant when observed in chromosome
studies of women with multiple pregnancy
losses, and Y chromosome loss (and probably
trisomy 15) is not associated with
hematologic neoplasia.
Any nuggets of advice for trainees/young
scientists?
Work with people you like. It
makes the science a lot more fun.
Keep a sense of humor.
Hang this quotation from Calvin Coolidge
prominently on the wall of your office:
"Nothing in the world can take the place
of persistence.
Talent will not; nothing is more common than
unsuccessful men with talent.
Genius will not; unrewarded genius is
almost a proverb.
Education will not; the world is full of
educated derelicts.
Persistence and determination alone are
omnipotent."
Muin J. Khoury, MD, PhD
Director
Current Institution:
Centers for Disease Control & Prevention
Primary Research Interests: Dr.
Khoury is the first Director of the CDC's
National Office of Public Health Genomics.
The work of this office aims to assess the
impact of advances in human genetics and the
Human Genome Project on public health and
disease prevention. CDC's National Office of
Public Health Genomics serves as the
national focus for integrating genomics into
public health research and programs for
disease prevention and health promotion.
If your office was on fire, what one
object would you take with you?
My children's pictures
Moment you knew you’d be a scientist?
Never really knew it, always assumed it...
Any major “aha” moments that have marked
your career?
When I read the 1978 book by Newton Morton
on genetic epidemiology, I knew I wanted to
be one.
Favorite mentors/people that have shaped
your career?
Bernice Cohen, David Erickson, Victor
McKusick.
Any nuggets of advice for trainees/young
scientists?
Follow your passion.
Reed E. Pyeritz, MD, PhD
Director
Current Institution:
University of Pennsylvania School of
Medicine
Primary Research Interests: I
have studied mendelian disorders of the
heart and vasculature, focusing on defining
the natural and clinical histories of
various disorders. Additionally, in
collaboration with Barbara Bernhardt, we
have tried to identify the economic vagaries
of providing medical genetic services.
If your office were on fire, what one
object would you take with you?
My lunch would be high on the list, as would
my ID badge so eventually I could get back
in the hospital, but I would not fail to
grab two plaques from my wall: one is an
award for teaching the internal medicine
housestaff and the other is an award for
surviving the pediatrics genetics faculty’s
questions during my first medical genetics
grand rounds.
What would ASHG members be surprised to
know about you?
For 15 years I was a co-holder of a Guinness
world record: 99 of my closest friends and I
ran the hundred-man, hundred-mile relay at
an average pace of 4:44 minutes/mile.
Moment you knew you’d be a scientist?
There were three events that occurred within
a year of each other. First, John Kennedy
said we were going to the moon. Second, I
got an ‘A’ in the first class in junior high
school that was identified as ‘science’.
Third, a friend and I launched a toad into
low earth orbit (OK, a few hundred feet)
with a homemade rocket, and brought it back
safely.
Any major “aha” moments that have marked
your career?
After studying Marfan syndrome and caring
for patients of all ages for 25 years, we
realized that the average life-expectancy
had increased over that period by 25 years.
Favorite mentors/people that have shaped
your career?
Based solely on an interest in genetics that
developed during my graduate studies of the
organization of repeated sequences in DNA, I
decided to attend medical school
specifically to become a medical geneticist.
I chose Lewis Holmes as my faculty advisor
because he was one of three medical
geneticists among a faculty of thousands.
Lew proved to be stimulating, reassuring and
honest, and I became increasingly convinced
I had made the right choice. If it were not
for him, I would be a cardiologist placing
stents.
Any nuggets of advice for trainees/young
scientists?
Make sure your weekly activities correspond
to the goals you set for that year. Make
doubly sure that the goals you set for that
year will advance your career in the
directions you wish.
The ASHG
Annual Meeting Planning Cycle:
A Year-round Challenge and Opportunity
-Dayna Silberman, ASHG Program Coordinator
The ASHG Annual Meeting is a principle activity of
the Society, and drives the calendar for the
organization and the staff. The Program Committee consists of ASHG members working diligently
throughout the calendar year via phone, email and
meetings to develop the most balanced, current and
exciting program possible for the Annual Meeting.
This committee manages the process in which every
submitted proposal or abstract is carefully reviewed
by scientific peers.
The Program Committee has overall responsibility for
the selection and arrangement of the Annual Meeting
content. However, the scientific quality of every
meeting depends on the submission of proposals for
invited sessions and the abstracts process. While
the committee strives for inclusiveness and balance
in subject matter, if an area of interest is not
included in the program in a particular year, it may
simply be the result of lack of submissions in that
area. The calls for proposals and abstracts are
requests by ASHG for your input to both the invited
and contributed papers sessions.
We encourage all members to become involved in
enhancing the quality of the ASHG Annual Meeting by
submitting abstracts and/or proposing invited
sessions. Additionally, if you are interested in
being considered for appointment to the Program or
other committees please let us know.
We hope that you will “save that date” for the 2007
Annual Meeting:
October 23-27 in San Diego.
A brief overview follows of the Program Committee
annual meeting planning process:
October
While the Annual Meeting is still in full swing,
the Program Committee meets twice at the
convention center to start planning next year’s
meeting.
November and December
The Program Committee meets (via conference
calls) evaluating each proposal for an Invited
Scientific Session, discussing content and
suggested speakers and following up with
proposers for further session development.
The number of scientific invited session
proposals has been between 35 and 80 out of
which 14 sessions are selected.
The Information and Education Committee and the
Social Issues Committee also issue calls for
proposals for the Education and Social Issues
sessions.
January
The committees make their final decisions
regarding invited sessions.
Notifications and invitations are sent and work
begins to obtain final confirmation of speakers
and verification of information for publication.
February
The Program Chair suggests the topic and
speakers for the Distinguished Speakers' Symposium
with the concurrence of fellow committee
members. The President also extends invitations
for the Special Symposium scheduled for the last evening of
the conference.
March/April
Special workshops, such as those for trainees,
are organized and finalized.
Program Committee members identify the reviewers
for abstracts (2 per topic in addition to the
committee member), so that every abstract can be
reviewed individually by 3 peers with expertise
in the appropriate area of human genetics.
Between 100 and 200 abstracts are read by each
reviewer.
May
The Awards Committee selects the winners of the
Allan, Curt Stern, Excellence in Education, and
the Leadership Awards.
For the remainder of the Annual Meeting cycle,
the focus is on the contributed papers
(presentations and posters) selected in a
comprehensive process from among the 2400-3000+ abstracts submitted to meet the June
deadline.
June
All abstracts are entered directly into a
database upon submission, and at the end of
June the review process begins.
Each abstract is reviewed and scored from 1
(definitely plenary) to 9 (unsuitable).
Abstracts in each topic category are ranked by
score, and the scores are provided to the
Committee member responsible for each topic.
The highest scoring abstracts across all topics
are suggested by the Program Committee for consideration
for Plenary Session presentation.
July
The Program Committee meets in July and selects
the abstracts to be presented in the Plenary
Session.
The platform sessions are determined and
moderators are confirmed.
After this meeting, the final program is set,
the data arranged and confirmed, and the authors
are informed of their assignments.
Special thanks to the members of the Program
Committee, the Information and Education
Committee and the Social Issues Committees
for 2007 for their continuing commitment and
investment of time and energy.
San Diego is a popular convention and tourist city
and hotel rooms go fast, so attendees at the 57th
ASHG Annual Meeting are advised by Pauline Minhinnet,
ASHG Meetings Manager, to make their room
reservations early – before the September 14th ASHG
housing deadline. To guarantee a room during the
meeting dates, October 23-27, reservations should be
made prior to the deadline using the
ASHG online reservations system,
SAN DIEGO . . .
accommodating YOU!
In recent years some meeting attendees have gone
through online discount websites for hotel
reservations in order to get rooms at cheaper rates
than ASHG offers through its online reservation
system. The Society cautions that doing this could
result in increased meeting registration costs for
all ASHG meeting attendees.
How so? ASHG sets aside room blocks in nice 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
headquarters hotel. These penalties ultimately could
be passed on to attendees through increased
registration fees.
In short, the following are just some of the
benefits for you (and ASHG) for staying in our
housing block using our reservation system:
rates are competitive with the online discount
travel services,
reservations do not require a deposit unless you
book a one- or two-room suite,
changes and cancellations are allowed up to 72
hours prior to your arrival date without any
financial penalty,
Society personnel will assist you if there is a
problem with your room or reservation if booked
through our this system, and
filling the ASHG housing block enables us to
maintain lower registration fees for future ASHG
meetings.
What if you’re uncertain about your travel
arrangements and want to delay making hotel
reservations until after the September 14th housing
deadline? The Society suggests attendees make
reservations for the dates they anticipate
attending, knowing the reservation can be changed up
to 72 hours prior to arrival without any financial
penalty.
So, to ensure you get the type of hotel room you
want at a competitive rate, make your hotel
reservations early—before ASHG’s September 14th
deadline—and use SAN DIEGO . . . accommodating YOU!,
ASHG’s online reservations system.
ASHG
Board of Directors Expands
Trainee Awards
Program
In just six months we will all converge on the San
Diego Convention Center for another exciting and
scientifically stimulating annual meeting. One of
the major reasons that the ASHG meeting is a success
is the high quality research presented by both our
regular and trainee members.
ASHG has a long tradition of recognizing the
high-quality research of our amazing trainees. We
are extremely proud of this history and hope that
your research and that of many other trainees will
be apart of it in the future. Each year ASHG honors
at least six of our talented trainees with a Trainee
Award for the work they present at the annual
meeting. This year, the Board of Directors has voted
to expand the program to provide travel awards to up
to 30 trainee members (either graduate students or
postdoctoral fellows).
30 Trainee Awards will be presented this year
instead of the six winners from previous years. These
30 individuals will receive a $300 award for travel
to the annual meeting. An additional 18 finalists
will receive a complimentary registration to the
meeting. At the annual meeting, the Awards Committee
will select six individuals who will receive an
extra $200 cash award for their work.
The Process
ASHG members that have trainees (postdoctoral
fellows, graduate students) should review their
abstracts and recommend abstracts for
nomination;
ASHG trainee members submit an abstract for the
annual meeting;
Upon submission, there is a box to check on the
form that asks whether you have been nominated
for a trainee award;
If the trainee has been nominated, they must
print out the form, available online each year
through links on the ASHG Meeting Web site, fill
the form out and have their advisor sign it; and
All nominated abstracts are then reviewed and
scored by at least three reviewers assigned by
the Program Committee;
The process is a rigorous one to ensure that ASHG is
able to award the highest quality research. But
every year wonderful posters and talks “fall through
the cracks” because they have not been nominated. If
your work is in this category, take the nomination
form and your case to your advisor and see what
happens.
-Jane Doran Nelson, ASHG Special Projects/Media
Manager
The FASEB Minority
Access to Research Careers (MARC) Program
(funded by the National Institute of General Medical
Sciences, National Institutes of Health) in
partnership with the American Society of Human
Genetics is offering travel awards to promote the
entry of underrepresented minority scientists into
the mainstream of the basic science community and to
encourage the participation of young scientists at
the
ASHG 2007 Annual Meeting. Successful applicants
will be reimbursed up to $1,450 in meeting-related
travel expenses including the meeting registration
fee. The travel award recipients will be selected
based on need and the quality of scientific
abstracts. Awardees will be recognized during the
ASHG Awards Presentation in San Diego.
Applicants must
submit an abstract to the ASHG 2007 Annual
Meeting in accordance with the rules and regulations
for submitting abstracts. Deadline to submit
abstracts: June 7, 2007, 11:59 PM (Eastern Daylight
Time). Applicants must be members of ASHG and
can apply for membership on line before
submitting a travel award application. All ASHG
members who meet the citizenship/residency
requirements and are full-time underrepresented
minority graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, or
young faculty at the assistant professor level at
accredited institutions are eligible to apply for
the awards.
Applicants must submit a brief paragraph explaining
their research area, professional goals, and need
for this award. Please contact Jane Salomon in the
ASHG Administrative Office
(jnelson@ashg.org)
for more information and to receive an application
form.
Congratulations to the ASHG members recently elected
to the
National Academy of Sciences
David Ginsburg, MD
University of Michigan Medical School, Ann
Arbor
James V. Neel Distinguished University
Professor
Departments of Internal Medicine and Human
Genetics
Warner-Lambert/Parke-Davis Professor of
Medicine
Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical
Institute
Photo by Paul
Jaronski, University of Michigan Photo
Services
Jon (PhD, inducted 2007) and
Christine
(MD, inducted 2006) Seidman
Department of Genetics
Harvard Medical School
Brigham and Women's Hospital
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Boston
Helen Hobbs, MD
University of Texas Southwestern Medical
Center
Professor of Internal Medicine and Molecular
Genetics
Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical
Institute
ASHG also congratulates Haig Kazazian, Jr., for
being named as a 2007 Fellow of the American
Academy of Arts and Sciences
Whether you are in the first year of your
postdoctoral fellowship or your fifth, it is never
too late to start thinking about your career goals.
While the traditional academic path (from graduate
student to postdoc to principal investigator) may
have been your original plan, the number of
postdoctoral fellows who are leaving the bench for
other endeavors is increasing. This is not just
because the job market and funding has become
increasingly competitive but also because people are
realizing that a PhD in the life sciences prepares
you for more than life in the lab.
What it takes is a serious assessment of your
abilities and some frank discussions with a variety of mentors. The Royal Society of Chemistry has a
valuable tool for such self-evaluation called the Postgraduate Skills Record. This tool, along
with an in-depth review by your research mentor
should prove valuable in identifying your strengths
and weaknesses in the laboratory. The National
Academies of Science Committee on Science,
Engineering, and Public Policy (COSEPUP) has
prioritized this type of annual review in its
recommendations to mentors and universities with
postdoctoral fellows. The Training and Careers
subcommittee of FASEB (the umbrella
organization to which ASHG belongs) has developed
two additional valuable resources to assist in this
process.
"People
are realizing that a PhD in the life
sciences prepares you for more than life
in the lab."
The
Individual Development Plan (IDP) and the
annual review tool are both available through
the FASEB Web site. Both documents provide a
flexible format that is easily adaptable for
different individuals and unique situations. They
provide significant guidance to assist your
personalized professional development needs.
Remember also that if your career plans begin to
include options that fall outside your mentor’s area
of expertise, perhaps it is time to add to your list
of possible mentors. ASHG membership is comprised of
individuals from numerous careers ranging from
journalists to lawyers and almost everything in
between. If you would like assistance finding a
mentor for a particular career path, please contact
the ASHG Education Office by sending an e-mail to
kshaw@ashg.org.
This
survey was designed for scientists involved in the
field of biomedicine in a research, clinical, or
educational capacity. The questionnaire asks for
your views on various and complex issues associated
with human embryonic stem (hES) cell research and
technology and the science of regenerative medicine,
including therapeutic cloning, as well as for your
assessment of the possibilities and dangers of the
new technology.
It is important that scientists’ voices be heard on
these issues, not just as individuals but as an
aggregate of professionals whose views are critical
to
the public policy debate. Goals include
generating further dialogue within the scientific
community, encouraging its increased participation
in the debate,
and educating individuals whose
decisions affect the field.
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 Kenna
Mills Shaw, ASHG Director of Education, at
kshaw@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
Deadlines for submitting articles and advertising to
Kenna Shaw
Issue
Deadline
August
July 13
November
October 12
For advertising cost and specifications, contact
Krista Koziol
