Fellows and Young Investigators Association - Newsletter
Volume 1, Issue #1
From the Editor's Desk:
Welcome to the first edition of the CCR Fellows and Young Investigators (CCR-FYI) Association Newsletter! The CCR-FYI Newsletter is still at a nascent stage and will be modified as we go along. Hopefully, with wide and vigorous participation, the newsletter will evolve to a format that will benefit all FYIs in their various endeavors-intellectual or otherwise.
The idea of starting a newsletter was a spin-off from the First NCI/CCR Trainees and Fellows Assembly. We were looking for a medium to voice the opinion of the Fellows, acknowledge the effort of people involved with the Assembly and, in general, bring the Fellows together and keep them informed on a regular basis. This forms the basis of the CCR-FYI newsletter. We intend to cover a broad range of topics under three categories:
1) Opinions and Comments
2) Events and Resources
3) Interactive
Opinions and Comments are welcome from one and all and will be published unedited, subject to approval. Events and Resources will be briefly marked, probably with links to the CCR-FYI website (and other websites as appropriate) for more details. Events and Resources will also contain a section to highlight the awards and achievements of Fellows. The Interactive Section will have a Q&A format (both scientific and non-scientific), as well as address issues that don't fit in the other two categories. Initially, the CCR-FYI Newsletter will go out as an email. As this is still very preliminary, there are no hard and fast rules and we are very open to suggestions and active participation.
Our first issue has two articles addressing the Association and its function, written by people who are actively involved with it. Dr. Catherine Neary is the present Chair of the CCR-FYI Steering Committee and one of the initiators of the newsletter idea. Dr. Elizabeth Read-Connole is the Vice-Chair of the CCR-FYI Steering Committee and has been a long-time spokesperson for the clinical wing.
On behalf of the CCR-FYI Steering Committee, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who made the First CCR Trainees and Fellows Assembly a success. The Assembly would not have been possible without promotion and encouragement from Dr. Carl Barrett, Director of the CCR. We would also like to thank the NCI Fellowship Office, especially Donna Vogel and Viola Black. In addition, we received significant administrative support from Eric Hale, Gretchen White, Ave Cline, and Marquita Broadus. Arti Patel, Russell Hovey, Claudina Aleman, Catherine Neary, and Elizabeth Read-Connole played stellar roles from the CCR-FYI Steering Committee. And, thanks to all the others who lent a helping hand and participated in the Assembly.
I will end with an appeal to all the Fellows to volunteer in running the CCR-FYI Newsletter. Everyone can help by forwarding information/news that could go in the Newsletter. For the present, please email to adhar@ncifcrf.gov <mailto:adhar@ncifcrf.gov>. More importantly, we urgently need 3-4 people who can actively help in brainstorming and editing the newsletter as it develops. Welcome aboard!
Arindam Dhar
A Message from the Chair, CCR-FYI Association:
When the CCR was formed, Dr. Barrett wanted the post-docs to have an Assembly that would promote their career development and interests here on campus. Dr. Arti Patel was the head of the CCR Trainees Assembly, and helped to plan the First NCI/CCR Trainees and Fellows Retreat. Since the retreat, the Steering Committee of the newly renamed CCR Fellows and Young Investigators Association (CCR-FYI) has been hard at work, planning activities for the fellows here at the CCR. Some of the projects we are working on include: a seminar series featuring post-docs and possibly PIs, as an opportunity to hear about some of the research being done here at CCR; this newsletter, which we hope to expand; the redesign of the CCR Trainees website, including a list of links that could be useful to our members; and, our Annual Retreat. As Chair, I would like to encourage any of you who are interested in being involved in these and other projects to join our Steering Committee. We have meetings regularly on the last Thursday of the month, and informal meetings at other times. To join, email me at kn2c@nih.gov . If you do not want to join, but have an issue you would like addressed, let me know!
Questions for Our Fellows and Trainees:
1) Are there any questions you would like to ask Dr. Barrett?
2) What other activities would you most likely to participate in?
3) If there were a mentoring program for post-docs by post-docs, would
you be willing to assist a post-doc who is new to the CCR?
4) What links would you like to see on the CCR Trainees website?
5) Have you ever visited The Fellowship Office website?
6) What type of job are you looking for after you complete your fellowship
at NCI?
I encourage you to send your answers, comments, and suggestions to me-We want your ideas.
Catherine Neary, Chair, CCR-FYI Association
A Message from the Vice-Chair of the CCR-FYI:
Have you ever wondered what it's like to plan a scientific meeting, chair a meeting session, review abstracts? Come join us and gain this invaluable experience, as well as getting to know other CCR Fellows and members of the CCR staff.
Before the formation of the CCR, I was the Representative from my Branch (HAMB) to the Division of Clinical Sciences (DCS) Fellows Committee. The members of this committee were selected by each Branch Chief to serve as a liaison between the DCS administration and the DCS fellows. In addition to attending periodic committee meetings, we were a resource for new fellows in our Branch, and also informed the Branch fellows of NCI and NIH events. We held a one-day Fellows Symposium in April of 2001. Just before the symposium was held, we learned of the formation of the CCR. Our DCS Fellows Committee disbanded at the end of the Symposium. When I received an email about the planning of the CCR Trainees and Fellows Retreat, I was interested in remaining involved. Unfortunately I am the only member of the CCR-FYI steering Committee that was also a member of the DCS-Fellows Committee. So all of you Clinical and Research Fellows from the former Division of Clinical Sciences come join us; we need your input. Remember, these activities are planned for you to enhance your training at the NCI.
Elizabeth Read-Connole, Vice-Chair, CCR-FYI Association
An Update:
Those of you who are AAAS members may have received this message already. For those of you who aren't members, here is the announcement:
AAAS is proud to announce the release of the findings from the first-ever
AAAS/Science Salary and Career Survey of the life sciences for 2001.
An overview of the survey results was published in Science (12 October
2001). Our researchers contacted a statistically representative sample
of U.S. life scientists from the AAAS membership to collect data on
salaries for more than 30 sub-disciplines across all job sectors and
all age groups. You can access this article at:
http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2001/1012/3
Comments from Our Fellows:
This is a sketch of the format for the CCR-FYI Newsletter. At this
stage, I request every Fellow to send me? her/his comments on both the
format and the contents. This will go a long way in developing this
newsletter to benefit all Fellows. My suggestion-write your comments
into this section, cut and paste into a Word/WordPerfect document file
and mail it to adhar@ncifcrf.gov
. In addition to commenting on the contents, please let me know:
| a) | If you prefer a short newsletter (1-2 pages) or a long format. |
| b) | If you prefer a short email version of this newsletter with links to the CCR-FYI Association web page (being developed by Claudina Aleman and Catherine Neary), or if you would prefer to read a web page version of this newsletter. |
The Format and Contents:
| I. | Opinions and Comments:
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| II. | Events and Resources:
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| III. | Interactive:
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