ISNIM Regional Branches—
Formation of Regional Branches of ISNIM were encouraged by our President, Dr. Hugo Besedovsky (see letter below). As they form, contact information will be provided on the Home Page of this site.
The German-Endocrine-Brain-Immune Network (GEBIN) has formally affiliated with the ISNIM as of 4 November 2006. We welcome GEBIN to the ISNIM and encourage ISNIM Members to browse their Web site at http://www.gebin.org. A link to their conference calendar is provided on the ISNIM Events list on our Home Page, and on the Related Conferences page. We also welcome the GEBIN’s spokesman, Prof. Dr. med. Rainer H. Straub, Regensburg, Germany, as a member of the Executive Committee of ISNIM.
The Argentina NIM Branch has been organized. More information (in Spanish) is available at http://www.nimargentina.com.ar/.
Other Regional Branches are currently being organized. If you wish to organize a Regional Branch, please contact the Executive Director.
ISNIM Congresses—
The 6th International Congress of the ISNIM took place in
Athens, Greece, on 26-28 September 2005. The H. Novera Spector
Award was presented to Dr. Samuel M. (Don) McCann for his
life-time contributions to NIM. At present we have no technical
report on the Congress to present here, but the meeting program
is available at the Congress Web site found at http://www.erasmus.gr/congresses/isnim2005/.
Alternatively, a PDF file of the Program is available from
the Executive Director.
The 7th International Congress will take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 24-27 April 2008. The Registration Form for users of credit cards or checks in U.S. currency is located on this site.
2nd World Congress on Stress—
The 2nd World Congress on Stress (not ISNIM sponsored) took place on 23-26 August 2007 in Budapest, Hungary. A PDF file of the Abstracts (555 pages, including cellular and organismal stress studies) is available at http://www.stress07.com. The Congress celebrated the 100th Birthday of Hans Selye. Over 1000 participants were in attendance.
New Editor of NIM Journal—
On 15 August 2007 the publishers of NeuroImmunoModulation (Karger) announced the resignation of Dr. George Chrousos as Editor after five years of outstanding service, and the appointment of Dr. Wilson Savino from the Oswaldo Cruz Institute in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to the post.
Discussions with Officers of the Psychoneuroimmunology Research Society—
Representatives of ISNIM met with board members of the Psychoneuroimmunology Research Society at their 14th Annual Meeting in Arcachon, France, 30 May – 2 June, 2007. These discussions addressed possible ways in which the two Societies can productively interact with each other. The formation of a federation of societies with common interests, such as the International Society of
Neuroimmunology, was also discussed. These discussions will continue at the 7th International Congress of ISNIM (www.ISNIM2008.com) in Brazil.
In Memoriam: Samuel McDonald McCann, M.D., and John Strimas, M.D.—
ISNIM members will be particularly saddened to learn of the death of ‘Don’ McCann, a founder of ISNIM, on 16 March 2007 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. An obituary by another founder of ISNIM, Dr. James Lipton, is located on the NIM journal site in Vol 14, No. 1.
***
Friends of ISNIM Member Dr. John Strimas, Director, North Idaho Allergy, Asthma and Immunology Center in Coeur D’Alene, Idaho, will be saddened to learn of his death on July 24, 2005.
Greetings from the Executive Director—
l replaced Craig Smith as Executive Director and Treasurer of ISNIM in May, 2006. As of May, 2006, I replaced Craig Smith as Executive Director
and Treasurer of ISNIM. Craig was required to resign the position
in June, 2005, when the National Institutes of Health (for
which he works) changed their rules about outside employment.
Craig's leadership and eager assistance will be missed by
us all.
The Executive Director has many functions—among them
are communicating with the Members, managing the finances,
collecting the membership fees, keeping the accounts, keeping
the publisher up-to-date on member status, and updating the
Web site. The Web site you are reading from is newly designed
and our membership billing process is also new. The new Web
site will allow registration online for ISNIM-sponsored conferences
as well as abstract submission. I hope you like the innovations—let
me know if you feel that more changes are needed. Also let
me know if you have any other concerns about ISNIM processes.
I am at your service--
Letter from the President—
On January 1, 2006, the new slate of Officers and Executive
Committee Members began their 3-year term of office. They
are listed on The Society, Officers and
Committee Members page. Our President, Hugo Besedovsky,
visited several ISNIM members and supporters to discuss
a restructuring of ISNIM. He has e-mailed all active members
with his ideas. His remarks are provided below:
Letter to ISNIM Members (August, 2006) from Hugo
Besedovsky, President:
Dear Members of ISNIM,
I would like to share with you some ideas regarding
the future of our Society, and report on my activities during
the first half of 2006.
-- a. The future of ISNIM
Let me first remind you of the purposes of the
ISNIM as written in its Bylaws.
“The purposes of the Society shall be (a)
to advance the knowledge of the interactions among the nervous,
endocrine and immune systems (neuroimmunomodulation or NIM);
(b) to bring together scientists of varied background and
to facilitate the integration of research in NIM directed
at all levels of biological organization; (c) to promote
education in these sciences; (d) to inform the general public
and the practicing medical and other professions of the
results and implications of current research in this area;
(e) to cooperate with and to enhance mutual activities with
other societies with related interests; (f) to promote the
well-being of scientists in all countries, without regard
to national boundaries.”
These goals are very ambitious considering the
multidisciplinary nature of NIM and the fact that biological/medical
sciences are today rather compartmentalized. At present
the fulfillment of the goals of our Society will demand
much more than organizing a meeting every 3 years and publication
of an official journal and an annual report. In my view,
and that of many members of the Board of ISNIM, the present
way in which the Society conducts ISNIM activities is too
centralized and does not allow for development and expansion
of the Society. We firmly believe that in order to advance
the Society it is necessary to involve more members in active
work and let them assume more responsibilities.
In our view, the best way to expand the activities
of ISNIM would be to create new regional/national branches
of ISNIM as well as to incorporate pre-existing regional
clubs/networks with similar goals to those of ISNIM. Such
regional organizations would maintain full autonomy and
be self-organized. Their main functions would be to serve
as a vehicle for collaborations between scientists and organize
local meetings on neuro-immune-endocrine interactions. These
regional branches would be supported by the current ISNIM
organization, which as an officially registered non-profit
organization is capable of processing and distributing funds,
maintaining a Web site, and interfacing with the journal
publisher as well as members of other regional branches
and affiliated societies. We believe that the development
of regional branches of the ISNIM would result in an infusion
of energy and funds that will favor growth of our field.
For this reason I have undertaken intense discussions
with several members of the Executive Board of our Society
in order to try to incorporate already existing and newly
formed local clubs and networks dealing with NIM research
as regional branches of ISNIM. The incorporation of these
branches is contemplated in the Bylaws of our Society (article
XII) that is transcribed in the following.
ARTICLE XII
AFFILIATE SOCIETIES: NATIONAL, REGIONAL, LOCAL
Section 1. The ISNIM may apply for membership in
appropriate international umbrella scientific societies.
Section 2. National and regional societies and local
clubs dealing with NIM research may apply for affiliate
membership in the ISNIM. Regional societies or other organizations
in the field of NIM research, including psychoneuroimmunology,
neuro-endocrine immunology, and so on, may become affiliates
of the ISNIM by joint decision of the respective executive
committees (or other governing bodies). The president
or chief officer of the national or regional organization
will become a non-voting member of the ISNIM Executive
Committee, and the ISNIM Executive Committee shall appoint
a representative to become a non-voting member of the
governing body of the regional organization.
Section 3. Individual members
of affiliate regional or national groups are encouraged
to apply for membership in the ISNIM.
-- b. Report
Unfortunately, Mr. Craig Smith can no longer serve
as Executive Director and Treasurer of ISNIM because this
position is not compatible with the new rules of NIH, where
he is employed. In order to solve urgent administrative
problems and to discuss how to re-structure the Society
in accordance with the above proposal, I felt that it was
necessary to travel to the USA were the Society officially
resides. I first met in New York with our Secretary General
(“second-in-command” of the Society), Dr. Karen
Bulloch, and she recommended Dr. Jeannine Majde-Cottrell
to replace Mr. Smith as Executive Director and Treasurer
of the ISNIM. I also met with the past-president, Dr. Esther
Sternberg in Washington, and with Dr. Adrian Dunn in Shreveport
and Dr. Jane Welsh in College Station, Texas.
I am now in the position to report the following
positive news:
- Dr. Majde-Cottrell has accepted the position
that we offered. Aside from her personal scientific contributions
to the field of NIM, she has a great deal of experience
in administration acquired during her former position
with the Office of Naval Research. Therefore, the main
issue regarding administration of the society is now solved.
Dr. Majde-Cottrell has been in contact with all of you
regarding membership fees as well as her new role in the
Society.
- Currently she is redesigning the ISNIM Web site
to make it more functional and attractive. This new Web
site can be used by affiliate societies for management
of small meetings. In addition to providing dissemination
of meeting information, the site will allow the following
administrative functions: 1) meeting registration; 2)
collection of registration fees, including processing
of credit cards and e-mailing of receipts; 3) disbursement
of funds to cover meeting expenses; and 4) submission
and compilation of abstracts. These services are available
to the affiliate society in exchange for a negotiated
percentage of registration fees, and obviate the need
of the affiliate society to set up a bank account, a credit
card processing capability, a web site, etc.
- The steering committee of the German Endocrine
Brain Immune Network (GEBIN) has agreed that its network
should be affiliated with ISNIM as the German branch of
the Society. GEBIN has already organized six meeting with
local funds with an attendance of between 80 to 150 persons.
I helped to organize the several meetings of local German
Societies such as: Immunology, Endocrinology, Neurology,
Psychiatry, Psychology, Ethology and Dermatology, and
have been instrumental in creating internal sections within
NIM. The people who represent NIM sections in these societies
are now members of the Steering Committee of GEBIN. I
would propose that the organization of GEBIN be taken
as a model for the organization of other local branches
of ISNIM.
- Drs. Jane Welsh and Adrian Dunn have accepted
the role of organizing regional branches of the Society
in the USA, and will work with the assistance of Dr. Esther
Sternberg, Dr. Karen Bulloch, and Dr. Majde-Cottrell.
The following people have agreed, together with other
colleagues, to organize regional branches of the ISNIM
outside of the US: Dr. Maurizio Cuotolo (one of the Vice
Presidents of our Society) in Italy; Dr. Vincent Geenen
in French-speaking countries; Dr. Monica de la Fuente
in Spain; Dr. Wilson Savino in Brazil, and Dr. Eduardo
Artz in Argentina. We are seeking other people willing
to organize other local branches of the ISNIM in their
respective countries or region, especially in Asia.
- Drs. Wilson Savino and J. Palermo-Neto have
agreed to organize and to try to obtain financial support
for the next plenary ISNIM meeting to be held in Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil, during 2008.
- Dr. Monica de la Fuente is organizing an Ibero-American
meeting on Neuroimmunomodulation under the auspices of
ISNIM in Madrid during May 2007.
- Dr. Karger (the publisher of NIM) and associates
will continue to collaborate with ISNIM and have offered
the option of editing special issues of NeuroImmunoModulation
upon approval by ISNIM.
We would greatly appreciate suggestions and offers of collaboration
to help ISNIM better fulfill its basic goals.
Sincerely yours,
H.O. Besedovsky
Employment Opportunities—
As a service we will list in this Section at no charge to
ISNIM Members brief descriptions of Positions Available.
We will also list contact information for Members (or personnel
in a Member’s laboratory) Seeking a Position,
together with a one line description of your expertise and
one line describing the type of position you seek. Please
send your material to the Executive
Director, who reserves the right to edit the material.
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