 |
Dear Members of the ASN:
As summer is upon us and many of you are planning at least a brief holiday, the activity level at the ASN has not abated. Much of the preparation for Renal Week, outlined in the preliminary program that you recently received, takes place at this time to ensure that the centerpiece of the Society's scientific and educational activity remains vibrant and of the highest quality. To register, reserve housing, and read the Renal Week program, click here.
In addition to an extensive review of the record number of submitted abstracts, 4,405 to be exact, I am also excited about the new evening session currently being crafted from submitted abstracts to provide a special forum for young investigators to orally present their work in the company of more seasoned investigators. A review of all abstracts will be followed by the formulation of oral presentations and poster sessions, a task that the Program Committee will undertake before the end of July.
The first foray of the ASN Renal Week Highlights outside the confines of North America took place at the European Renal Association (ERA) in early June. Drs. Glassock, Himmelfarb, Hricik, and Palmer summarized the highlights of Renal Week 2004 in a 4.5-hour session. This talk was very well received, and further cements our relationships with other renal societies. I thank the participants and Dr. Robert Narins for coordinating this event with his European counterpart, Dr. Rosa Coppo. Highlights from the ERA meeting will be subjects of a clinical nephrology session in Philadelphia this fall, and we look forward to the continuation of these collaborative efforts.
Our relationship with the Latin American Society of Nephrology and Hypertension (SLANH) is also excellent. The fellowship program we initiated last year, whereby fellows from Latin America spend a month at a U.S. or Canadian institution and then come to the ASN meeting, continues to grow as the number of applicants this second year has increased considerably. We look forward to hosting approximately 10 of these young people in Philadelphia this year. I extend thanks to the many training programs that expressed desire to host these fellows and to Dr. William Mitch for his contribution to the success of our program.
The Training Programs' Directors are our critical link to the Residents' Program. This program brings to the ASN more than a hundred medical, pediatric and, more recently, pathology trainees considering a career in nephrology. We feel this program has been well received and has enhanced the number and quality of the applicants in our specialty. I want to urge the Training Program Directors to actively recruit the best and brightest in your housestaff programs and invite them to the ASN. Finally, training programs are gearing up for the first ERAS application process. This is a process that is long overdue, and we trust that all training directors will closely abide by its guidelines. This will ultimately benefit trainees and programs alike. Click here for Residents Program applications and for additional ERAS information.
Have a wonderful summer!
Sincerely yours,
Tomas Berl, MD
2. ASN's Public Access Policy
Note: The following policy was developed by JASN Editor-in-Chief William G. Couser, MD, and approved by the ASN Publications Committee and the ASN Council in June of this year.
On May 2, 2005, the National Institutes of Health began implementing its Public Access Policy*, which is directed toward dissemination of the results of research funded in whole or in part by the NIH. The purpose of this policy is to encourage scientists to release their peer-reviewed, NIH-supported research to the public as soon as possible, so that the benefits of the research can be known to the taxpayers who have funded it, and scientists can see the results of their work disseminated as quickly and broadly as possible.
The ASN fully supports the intent of this policy. Since 2001, JASN has had a free-access policy with 12 months' rolling access, which means that every manuscript published in JASN becomes freely available on the JASN web site at http://www.jasn.org/ 12 months after its publication date in JASN. At the same time, JASN and other scholarly peer-reviewed journals can continue to exist, exercising editorial judgment and managing the laborious process of peer review, only to the extent that revenue from subscriptions and advertising supports those endeavors. It is the determination of the ASN that the balance between economic viability of its journals and free access of information to the public dictates that the meaning of “as soon as possible” for JASN continues to be 12 months from publication.
How does the new NIH policy affect JASN and its authors? The NIH is asking investigators to voluntarily submit to PubMed Central (PMC) at www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov an electronic copy of the full text of any NIH-funded scientific report at the time of its acceptance for publication, together with a proviso of when the article should become public. PMC is the NIH digital repository of full-text, peer-reviewed biomedical, behavioral, and clinical research journals. It is a publicly accessible, permanent, and searchable electronic archive. It is linked to, but not part of, PubMed, the US National Library of Medicine's database of published scientific articles ( www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov ). The policy applies only to original research articles funded from any NIH grant source including career and fellowship awards. It does not apply to review articles, editorials, or other commentaries. The NIH has repeatedly stated that the policy is a request rather than a requirement. It has further said that it will neither monitor the compliance of investigators nor take information about compliance into account in making future funding decisions.
The ASN takes no position as to whether or not its authors should comply with this request. The NIH requests authors to deposit the peer-reviewed, revised, and accepted author version of the manuscript, not the paper that has been copyedited, proofread, and formatted for the journal. The technical requirements for manuscripts deposited with PMC are different from those of JASN, and JASN will not play any role in depositing manuscripts on the PMC web site. However JASN does require that authors who choose to deposit their articles on the PMC web site stipulate to PMC that their JASN -accepted manuscripts be made public no sooner than one year after final publication in JASN, in accord with the Journal's current open access policy. The date of publication in JASN is the date the paper is posted online on JASN Express.
The tradition of the peer-reviewed journal has stood the test of time in its advancement of scientific discovery and the dissemination of information. JASN is committed to ensuring the continuation of that successful tradition while also embracing the exciting possibilities offered by new technology that makes possible even broader dissemination of the knowledge that is the focus of all our endeavors.
*NIH Public Access Policy is available online here.
Click here to read the above document in a pdf format.
3. Register for the Official ASN 10th Annual BRC
Join the ASN from August 27 – September 2, 2005 at The Palace Hotel in San Francisco, California, and help us celebrate our 10th Anniversary! The ASN's Board Review Course & Update has become a "Renal Rite of Passage" AND CAN BE CUSTOMIZED TO MEET YOUR SPECIFIC NEEDS! An intensive review and update for ALL and a MUST for Certification & Re-Certification. The timing of the ASN Board Review Course & Update in late August maximizes attendees' readiness for the October Nephrology Board certification and recertification examinations of the American Board of Internal Medicine. After completion of the course and the self-assessment test on September 2, participants have a full two months to fill in any gaps in their knowledge. It's August, It's San Francisco, So it must be the ASN's Board Review Course! Register Today!
4. Renal Week 2005 Deadlines and Details
 Save the Dates
November 8 - 13, 2005
Pennsylvania Convention Center
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Travel Grants: If you plan to attend either the Advances in Research Conference or the Professional Development Seminar, you may be eligible for an ASN travel grant. All recipients must register and attend the program they have applied for to receive the travel grant. To be eligible, submit a Travel Grant Application Form by Friday, July 15, 2005. Travel grants are limited and are intended to defray some of the costs of attending the program.
Registration: Please review the following deadlines, so that you can be sure to join us in Philadelphia.
- Membership Deadline -
Friday, September 16, 2005.
- Attendee Early Registration Deadline - Monday, September 26, 2005.
- Refund Deadline - Requests must be received in writing by
Monday, September 26, 2005.
- Exhibitor Registration -
Friday, October 7, 2005.
Housing: To ensure a confirmed housing reservation at the discounted rate, the ASN Housing Bureau must receive your reservation by the request date; however, we strongly encourage you to reserve your housing as soon as possible, as sleeping rooms fill up very quickly.
- Reservation Deadline -
Friday, September 30, 2005.
- Individual Exhibitor Deadline -
Friday, September 30, 2005.
- Group Exhibitor Deadline -
Friday, September 23, 2005.
- Tour Group and Suite Reservations - Contact the ASN Housing Office at (202) 367-1146.
Abstract Notification: If you submitted an abstract in late August, the abstract's presenting author will receive a letter regarding the status of the submission. If the presenting author does NOT receive a letter about an abstract by August 19, please send an email inquiry to support@marathonmultimedia.com or fax to (507) 334-0126. Emails and faxes will receive prompt attention. The ASN cannot respond to any abstract status inquiries before August 19. It is the responsibility of the presenting author to contact other authors regarding the status of the abstract. All authors who attend the Annual Meeting are expected to make their own travel arrangements, pay the meeting registration fees, and cover their own travel and lodging expenses. All abstracts (even those not selected for presentation) will be published in the 2005 Abstract Supplement of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, unless the presenting author previously requested removal of their abstract if it is not accepted for presentation during the submission process.
Abstract Book Pre-Order: You may pre-order an advance copy of ASN's Abstract Book for Renal Week 2005 for $50 plus shipping and handling. Click here to pre-order an Abstract Book and fax the completed form to 202-659-0709. Incomplete forms will not be processed. The deadline for pre-ordering the Abstract Book is Friday, October 7, and the book will be shipped on Friday, October 14. As with last year's meeting, you will still receive a free copy of the Abstract Book onsite in Philadelphia, whether or not you pre-order it.
5. Congratulations to our Grant Recipients
The ASN congratulates our 2005 grant recipients and is confident these individuals will be successful contributors to basic and clinical research.
ASN-ASP Junior Development Grant in Geriatric Nephrology
Mark Swidler, MD, Mount Sinai School of Medicine
"Characterization of Frailty in Older Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) on Dialysis: Correlations with Disability and Inflammation”
ASN-AST John Merrill Grant in Transplantation
Soumitro Pal, PhD,
Children's Hospital
"Role of VEGF in the Development of Post-Transplantation Cancer”
KUFA-ASN Research Grant
Timothy Sutton, MD, PhD,
Indiana University School of Medicine
"The Role of Matrix Metalloproteinases in the Microvascular Alterations of Ischemic Acute Renal Failure”
Carl Gottschalk Research Scholar Grant
Stephen I-Hong Hsu, MD, PhD,
Brigham & Women's Hospital
"A Genome-Wide Scan for Linkage to Iga Nephropathy in Southern Chinese”
Thomas J. Carroll, PhD,
The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas
"The Role of Wnt/beta-cantenin Signaling in Polycystic Kidney Disease”
Alan J. Davidson, PhD,
Massachusetts General Hospital
"Zebrafish Kidney Development and Regeneration”
M. James Scherbenske Grant
Mary Choi, MD,
University of Pittsburgh
"TGF-beta signaling in the kidney”
New Directions Grant for Established Investigators
Fadi G. Lakkis, MD,
Yale University School of Medicine
"Model Organisms to Study Innate Allorecognition”
Barbara E. Ehrlich, PhD,
Yale University School of Medicine
"Regulation and Function of Polycystin-2”
|
|
|
