ISICR Officers President Eleanor Fish President-elect INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR Leonidas Platanias INTERFERON AND CYTOKINE RESEARCH Secretary April 2008 Tom Hamilton Volume 15, No. 1 Treasurer Bob Friedman Executive Director A Message from the new ISICR Cliff Brownstein President, Eleanor Fish It is with gratitude and humility that I assume the Future ISICR Meetings responsibilities of incoming President of the ISICR. I am honored to have been elected by my peers and am fortunate to have in place a Board of 2008 Meeting Directors and Committee members that are as Joint ISICR/ICS committed to strengthening our Society as I am. In Montreal, Canada recent months, to ensure that our Society reflects Oct. 12-16 the scientific activities of junior investigators, as positions have www.cytokines2008.org become vacant on the various ISICR Committees, in consultation 2009 Meeting with the Committee Chairs I have made best efforts to invite the par- Joint ISICR/ICS/SLB ticipation of younger investigators who share our vision of a strong, Lisbon, Portugal international, collegial Society. I invite members to participate in your Society - just contact me to let me know of your interest. 2010 Meeting Joint ISICR/ICS Within recent years we have seen a revival of interest in the Chicago, Illinois pleiotropic activities of interferons, touching on many different bio- logical disciplines. Moreover, the role of cytokines and how they ISICR WWW Site inform us of biological processes in normal and diseased states is an www.ISICR.org ever expanding field. I would like to focus my tenure as President on a number of key areas: ISICR Business Office O Communication. Disseminate information relating to notable [email protected] research activities to the general public, to governmental organiza- TEL: 301-634-7250 tions and policy makers. To ensure that support for research in our FAX: 301-634-7420 field is strengthened. ISICR Newsletter Editors O Collaboration. Provide the appropriate information to Society members and new opportunities for networking, to enable transla- Howard Young [email protected] tional research: from basic science discoveries to clinical/veterinar- Fax: 301-846-1673 ian application. O Membership. Enhance the membership to have a broader reach, Hannah Nguyen both in terms of attracting scientists from around the world and [email protected] from various disciplines. Invite broader membership from academ- Seng-Lai (Thomas) Tan ic institutions and industry. [email protected] I look forward to doing this in partnership with all of you. Eleanor March, 2008 New ISICR Executive Director New ISICR Business Officer Manager Clifford M. Brownstein Lisa Hetherington Cliff Brownstein has spent 33 years in the association manage- Lisa Hetherington joined FASEB ment profession. He has served last summer as Senior Project as Executive Director of numer- Coordinator in the Managed ous associations, including the Society Services department. With Association of Accounting over 10 years of administrative and Administrators, the National Business Owners management experience, Lisa is Association, the Society for Surgery of the responsible for coordinating and implementing Alimentary Tract, and the Association of Practicing activities for several client societies. CPAs, among others. At present, he is also Executive Director of the Society for Leukocyte Biology. Before coming to FASEB, Lisa served as Director and Manager for various operational, research and Prior to joining FASEB's Managed Society Services, publication services. From 2005 to 2007, as the he was Owner of Practical Strategies, consultants to manager of a business analyst group, she planned, associations, from 2000-2007. He provided strategic directed and coordinated system development life planning, membership growth, leadership training cycles for support and implementation of software consulting to a variety of associations including the changes. American College of Radiation Oncologists, the Society for Mucosal Immunology, the Automatic From 1998 to 2005, Lisa worked for a privately Meter Reading Association, and the American owned direct mail firm, serving in different capaci- College of Foot & Ankle Orthopedics and Medicine. ties as a Client Service Manager for fulfillment and publishing clients and as the Warehouse Operations From 1996 to 1999, Cliff served as Chief Operating Director, managing over $7 million of client Officer for TEAM Management, Washington, DC, inventory. overseeing a staff of 38 in two offices, and managing more than one dozen medical and scientific associa- Lisa earned her Bachelor's degree in Business tions. For 11 years prior, Cliff owned C.M. Administration from the University of Florida and is Brownstein & Associates, Inc., an association the proud mother of an 8 year old son. Prior to management company specializing in professional devoting her time to soccer games and Cub Scout societies. activities, Lisa was an avid billiards player, winning two division championship league titles. (Eight Ball Cliff served as 1997-98 President of the International - American Poolplayer's Association, sponsored by Association of Association Management Companies, Bud Light). has been a frequent contributing author to Association Trends, and has been an invited speaker on various association management topics at meet- ings of the American Society of Association Appreciation: Executives and its affiliated state societies. The ISICR wishes to express its' sincere appreciation to Ms. Delores Francis for her He is a graduate of Rutgers University with a BS in many years of effective service to the Journalism. He is married with three grown children ISICR and to John Lord for his service and one brand new granddaughter. He's also an avid this past year as Executive Director. motorcyclist, whitewater rafter, and keyboard and harmonica player. 2 International Society for Interferon and Cytokine Research ISICR Awards The Seymour and Vivian Milstein The nominations will be collated, and passed on to Award the Chair of the Awards Committee in May. This committee will then vote for the winners. As speci- Seymour Milstein fied in the ISICR Constitution, the final vote of the (1920-2001) Awards Committee is subject to the approval of the ISICR Board of Directors. Individuals who have made excep- tional contributions to research relat- ed to interferons and cytokines either The Seymour and Vivian Milstein in a basic or clinical field. The Seymour and Vivian Milstein awards are made possi- Young Investigator Awards ble by the generous gift of the Milstein family. This ISICR members who attend the 2008 ISICR meeting award represents a pinnacle of scientific achievement in Montreal, Canada and who have received a Ph.D in our field and is an important landmark of the soci- or M.D. within the previous 8 years are eligible. ety. Nominations should be communicated to the Every year up to five awards are granted to individu- President of the ISICR by May 1, 2008 (see below). als who have made notable contributions to either basic or clinical research. This award is provided by Honorary Membership a generous gift of the Milstein Family. We urge every eligible individual to apply for the awards. A Nominees should be individuals who have made sub- CV and letter of recommendation should accompany stantive contributions to the interferon/cytokine field the application. We also ask more senior laboratory over much of their careers, either in basic, clinical or advisers to encourage their associates to apply. applied research. Honorary members are the treas- Deadline to Submit your 2008 ISICR Award ures of the society and provide us with an historical Application is July 18, 2008. perspective and valued research tradition. We invite your nominations for eligible candidates Seymour and Vivian Milstein Travel for The Seymour and Vivian Milstein Award and Honorary Membership, both prestigious symbols of Awards recognition by our society for outstanding achieve- ISICR members who attend the 2008 ISICR meeting ments. A brief (one to two page) description of the in Montreal, Canada are eligible for Travel Awards. reasons for your nomination and the CV of the They are provided through a grant from the Milstein nominee should be sent to the ISICR President by Family based on the scientific merit of the abstract May 1, 2008: and financial necessity. However, this award does Eleanor N. Fish, Ph.D. not exempt payment of the registration fee. A CV Canada Research Chair in Women's Health & should accompany the application for this award. Immunobiology Please note that there are no age restrictions to this Professor, Dept. of Immunology, University of Toronto award. However if both senior and junior members 67, College Street, Rm. 424 from the same laboratory apply for an award, prefer- Toronto, Ontario M5G 2M1 Tel: 416 340-5380 ence is given to the junior member. Deadline to FAX: 416 340-3453 Submit your 2008 ISICR Award Application is e-mail: [email protected] July 18, 2008. April, 2008 3 (Awards, cont. from page 3) Vilcek Foundation 2008 Award Winners The ISICR wishes to express its' deepest appreciation to the Milstein Family for their continuous support of the Society. The Vilcek Foundation has announced the names of The ISICR is honored by the generosity of the recipients of its annual prizes in biomedical the Milstein Family in being able to research and in the arts. Dr. Inder Verma is the prize recognize the scientists whose work has recipient for biomedical science; the prize recipient been instrumental in understanding the for the arts is composer Osvaldo Golijov. The Vilcek role of Interferon in the host response to Foundation Prizes are awarded annually to foreign- infectious disease and cancer, through the born individuals for extraordinary contributions to Milstein Award and Milstein Young society in the United States. In explaining the moti- Investigator Awards. Furthermore, the vation for the awards, Dr. Jan T. Vilcek, President of Milstein Travel Awards provide an The Vilcek Foundation said, "We should not have to important mechanism for enabling the be reminded of how much America owes to people future generation of scientists to attend who were born abroad, but we do.