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Trainee Page

Greetings From the Trainee Affairs Committee

One of the most significant initiatives about which we are particularly enthused has been the establishment of trainee representatives on the ASA Executive Council. At the October 2006 interim council meeting, the ASA Council approved our request to add 2 nonvoting trainee representatives to the council. We strongly believe that this will provide important opportunities to develop future leadership in ASA by providing trainees with direct connections to the council, experience in learning how the society functions, increased visibility and networking opportunities, and helping to establish the importance of service roles to the society. One trainee will serve as the primary representative to the council for 1 year with an expectation to attend the regular and interim council meetings. The second representative will serve a representative-elect role. Nominations for these positions were solicited at the annual meeting in Tampa, Fla, and by the time you read this article we expect to have determined who will serve in these positions.

Our committee coordinates publication of the "Trainee Page." Over the years this column has provided trainee-related articles on grant writing, job hunting, setting up a laboratory, and other career-related topics. Last year we published the first installments of a new format called "Interview with an Andrologist" in which andrology trainees briefly interview ASA members to provide short articles describing career paths and career advice for trainees. We hope you will enjoy this new feature of the "Trainee Page." We are always looking for new contributions, and we encourage you to consider writing an article for the page.

We are currently working with the Publications Committee to develop a trainee web site which will be available this year. The site will provide links to past "Trainee Page" articles, resources for finding a postdoc, grant writing, finding a faculty position, starting your own laboratory, and other content. Let us know if you have any suggestions for information that you would like to see available at this site.

A primary role of the committee is to evaluate applications and administer the ASA Trainee Travel Awards. Last year we awarded more than $14,000 to support 31 trainees who presented their work at the annual meeting, and we will administer a similar level of award support in 2007. If you have not applied for a travel award in the past, keep this in mind for future meetings and be sure to submit an application. Travel funds are provided by a U13 grant from the National Institutes of Health and the generous support of Cook Urological Inc and SCSA Diagnostics Inc. These awards also include named awards in memory of respected past ASA scientists and mentors, the Thomas S. K. Chang award, and the Lonnie D. Russell travel award (first awarded in 2006).

At the annual meeting we sponsor several events specifically for trainees. The Trainee Soiree, an ASA tradition, is a great opportunity to meet other trainees and members of ASA. Travel award recipients and their mentors are also recognized at this event. Last year. together with the Diversity Affairs Committee. we cosponsored the inaugural Trainee Affairs/Diversity Affairs luncheon. The sessions by Patricia Martin-DeLeon and Barry Hinton were very well received; based on the success of last year's luncheon, we continued this format for 2007 with a presentation by Stanley Korenman who spoke about ethics in andrology.

Finally, we are actively involved in fund raising to support trainee travel, and over the years we have organized t-shirt and coffee mug sales and more recently have sold sperm lapel pins, and "The Symphony of Stages" CD dedicated to the memory of Lonnie Russell. We always welcome suggestions for fund raising.

I hope that you will take advantage of the opportunities provided by the Trainee Affairs Committee. It is a committee for you, and we need your ideas, suggestions, and volunteerism to continue to enhance trainee members' interest in andrology! Current members of the committee include Alan Diekman, George Gerton, Rex Hess, Budhan Pukazhenthi, Wael Salameh, Donna Vogel and trainee members Ebtesam Attaya, Kim Chau, Sarika Saraswati, Chantal Sottas, and Katja Wolski. Feel free to contact me or any members of the committee if you would like to serve with us or if you have any comments or suggestions for us. Best wishes for 2007.

This Article Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 28/3/376    most recent Author Manuscript (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Palladino, M. A. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Palladino, M. A.