05 November 2021
Dear NASCE members,
I hope that all of you have been doing well despite the Covid-19 pandemic. The past year and half or so have been a very difficult period for all of us. NASCE has, however, continued to thrive, thanks to the excellent leadership of our outgoing President Dr. Aurea Orozco Rivas and hard work of members of the council and other committees. In particular, our 6thbiennial meeting was held virtually with a huge success. We owe our gratitude to the virtual meeting organizing committee, including three co-chairs Drs. Maricela Luna (Mexico), Christopher J. Martyniuk (USA), Jean-Paul V. Paluzzi (Canada), and the three other members: Drs. Daniel Buchholz (USA), Valerie Langlois (Canada), Marta Romano (Mexico), and to the trainee committee, Dr. Eugene Cheung (USA), Dr. Santiago M. Pech Pool (Mexico), and Ms. Farwa Sajadi (Canada). At the meeting, we honored two of our fellow members, Dr. Angela Lange with the Gorbman-Bern Lecture award and Dr. Jan Mennigen with the Gorbman-Bern New Investigator award. Congratulations to both of them again for their outstanding accomplishments and excellent lectures!
I would like to congratulate Dr. Valerie Langlois (Canada), who was elected as our Vice-President/President-Elect (2021-2023), and Drs. Cunming Duan (USA) and Maricela Luna (Mexico), who were elected to the council (2021-2025). I also want to take this opportunity to welcome and thank the chairs and members of different committees. I look forward to working with them and our council members during the next two years.
The council has decided to hold our 7th biennial meeting in person in 2023 in Querétaro, Mexico. Our outgoing President Dr. Aurea Orozco Rivas has kindly agreed to lead the effort on organizing the meeting.
A major aim of NASCE is to promote international collaborations among our member laboratories. Toward this, NASCE offers the Research Fellowship Award to subsidize travel cost for trainees working in one of the three North American countries to travel outside of their home country for research training and collaboration in another country. Due to the current Covid-19 pandemic that makes it difficult for international travel, we have expanded the qualified candidates for applications in 2022 to include those who need travel to another laboratory in a different city within a single North American Country as long as the PIs for the trainee’s laboratory and hosting laboratory are active members of NASCE.
Membership and member participation are essential for the success and growth of any society. Thus, we need your continual support. We welcome any comments and suggestions on the biennial meeting as well as any issues that will help make NASCE a better society to benefit us all.
I look forward to seeing you in Mexico in 2023. Thanks and with best wishes to you and your family for the coming holiday season.
Sincerely,
Yun-Bo Shi, PhD
President, NASCE