Fellows and Young Investigators Association - Newsletter
Volume 1, Issue #2
From the Editor's Desk:
The Center for Cancer Research Fellows and Young Investigators Association
(CCR-FYI) serves a very important purpose: to enhance the training of
all investigators within the National Cancer Institute (NCI). The Steering
Committee focuses on improving the training experience of fellows in
basic and clinical research, but we hope that our activities, by empowering
the fellows, will also improve mentoring, increase collaborations, and
make research scientists here at NCI much more productive.
The purpose of this newsletter is to keep all CCR-FYI members up-to-date on issues that are important to you. For more information, see the last announcement at the end of the newsletter. This newsletter will cover a number of important topics.
The first article is about the Outstanding Mentor Awards sponsored by the NCI Fellowship Office (TFO). These awards are a great way to recognize outstanding mentors in NCI, and to highlight the importance of mentoring in the scientific mission of the NCI. Also, if any of you are curious about what makes a great mentor, check out the criteria TFO list! The more you take responsibility for your own training, the better your training experience will be.
The second article is about the CCR Fellows Editorial Board. This board is the brainchild of Dr. Jonathan Wiest, the Associate Director for Training and Education, CCR. The article explains the purpose of the Fellows Editorial Board, and how to join, if you are interested. I have personally submitted writing to the board, and found their suggestions very helpful. The next article explains, very briefly, how to travel to a meeting. This information is very general and is meant only as a starting point.
The final article relates to the activities of the Steering Committee of the CCR-FYI. As Chair of the Steering Committee for the past year, I am very proud to see how much we have grown! It has been eight months since the publication of our last newsletter. During that time, two very good things happened for the CCR-FYI. First, there was the roaring success of our second annual retreat in February in Baltimore. Second, in April, we were featured at the Postdoc Network Second National meeting, sponsored by Science's NextWave. On February 25, 2002, I had the great pleasure of opening the Second Annual CCR Fellows and Young Investigators Retreat at the Baltimore Marriott Inner Harbor.
The retreat featured four speakers: Dr. Curtis C. Harris, Chief, Laboratory of Human Carcinogenesis, discussing his work on p53; Dr. Judah Folkman, Andrus Professor of Pediatric Surgery and Director of the Surgical Research Laboratory, Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, presenting his work on angiogenesis; Dr. Andrew C. von Eschenbach, Director, NCI, discussing cancer research; and Dr. Gregory A. Curt, Clinical Director, CCR, NCI, discussing current clinical cancer research.
The speakers were chosen to represent the broad spectrum of interests that fellows in the CCR have. We highlighted this diversity further with six oral presentation sessions. These sessions provided an opportunity for fellows at CCR to present their work publicly, and for attendees to learn about the research being done by other fellows. More informal poster sessions were held both days, providing further opportunity to see the research of our Fellows, and a chance to socialize. The sessions on Tuesday were much more active, with more people asking questions and actively participating in the speakers' presentations.
In addition to providing scientific enrichment, the retreat is an opportunity to develop our careers. To that end, we had five career development workshops, covering topics from setting up a lab to how to get a visa. We also had a Career Panel featuring speakers from NIH, industry, academia, science writing, grants administration and technology transfer. The purpose was to give fellows an opportunity to compare the benefits of, and problems associated with, alternative careers. One of the primary reasons for this event is to encourage interaction among the fellows at CCR. There are approximately 800 of us in the CCR alone, with a total of 1000 in the NCI. We are spread over the main campus, the Frederick Cancer Research facility, and other locations in Bethesda and Rockville. As many of you know, it is hard to find time to talk to the people in the lab next door, much less find out that someone in Frederick is doing the precise technique you want to learn. We are very fortunate to work at the CCR, with a director like Dr. Barrett, who is willing to put time (and money) into events like this for the Fellows.
In addition to our activities on campus, we are trying to develop relationships with other postdoctoral organizations. At the Postdoctoral Network Second National meeting, Dr. Claudina Alemán spoke at a breakout session entitled, "Focus on Postdocs." While at this meeting, Dr. Alemán had the opportunity to meet with members of other postdoctoral associations and find out what they were doing. She also gave a brief presentation on our organization mentioning the Retreat and other programs developed by the Steering Committee. In our next issue, we will present an article by Dr. Alemán about her participation in the national meeting.
Catherine L. Neary, Ph.D. Past-Chair, CCR-FYI Steering Committee
TFO Announces the 2002 Outstanding Mentor Awards
The Fellowship Office has received 29 complete nominations for the second annual NCI Outstanding Mentor competition. Nominations were due August 1. As in 2001, we plan to recognize three investigators with a cash prize and an elegant award. Last year, the enthusiastic response to the first competition led to commendation of eight additional "Mentors of Merit." This category may be retained if warranted. Application forms and instructions were distributed to the fellows' and Principal Investigators' email lists. If you deleted the message, shame on you, but you could find the form and instructions on our "What's Happening" page under "Outstanding Mentors Awards 2002." You can see last year's awardees under "2001."
The process will be very similar to last year's: Each nomination included
one and only one each of a primary and supporting
nomination form, addressing the criteria in the instructions. The primary
nomination must have been written by a current or recent postdoctoral
fellow, i.e., within one year of completion. The supporting nomination
may have been written by another postdoc, a student, former fellow,
colleague, or other staff member sufficiently familiar with the nominee.
We have convened a review panel of postdocs from across NCI to rate the applications, and recommend the top scorers. Based on these recommendations, Dr. Rabson and I will select the winners. It has been a real pleasure to hear the OMA cited when our winners are introduced as speakers, and I hope that this award will continue to gain recognition by the outside community for the quality mentoring provided by our investigators and the NCI as an organization. Our thanks to those who did their part by [STET]volunteering as reviewer. For more information, contact the Fellowship Office at 6-4796 or email me (vogeld@mail.nih.gov).
Donna Vogel, M.D., Ph.D. Director, The NCI Fellowship Office
The CCR Fellows Editorial Board:
A New Scientific Editing Service for Postdoctoral Fellows
Now you can improve the editorial content of your scientific documents (manuscripts, grant applications, etc) through a service provided by the new CCR Fellows Editorial Board. An initiative of Dr. Jonathan Wiest, Associate Director for Training and Education, CCR Office of the Director, the Board was created to fulfill the editorial demands of CCR postdoctoral and clinical fellows. It has had the support of Dr. Carl Barrett, CCR Director, since its inception at the last CCR Fellows and Young Investigators Retreat.
The primary objective of the Board is to help you improve the clarity
and editorial content of your documents; it will not evaluate any document's
scientific content. All interactions between writers and the Board will
remain strictly confidential. How the editorial process works: Submit
an electronic (PDF) file to chavezi@mail.nih.gov
or 5 hard copies of your complete draft to the CCR Office of the Director,
Building 31A, Room 3A11,
Attn: Jonathan Wiest, Ph.D. Within 10 business days, the Board will
edit your document and return it to you with comments and suggested
changes. You will also have the opportunity to meet one-on-one with
a Board member to discuss the Board's suggestions. The Board encourages
multiple submissions until manuscripts are optimally developed. The
Board is intended to give its members the opportunity to improve their
writing skills by editing the work of others while providing exposure
to alternative career paths.
A number of NIH-experienced professional scientific writers are also members of the Board. For example, Dr. Kay Fleming received her Ph.D. in English and Comparative Literature from Columbia University, where she taught writing for several years. She is now a scientific writer in the Office of the Director, CCR, working with Dr. Carl Barrett. Gain valuable training and scientific editorial experience by becoming a member of the CCR Fellows Editorial Board. Contact Dr. Isaac Rodriguez-Chavez at chavezi@mail.nih.gov, Jonathan Wiest, Ph.D. Associate Director for Training and Education, CCR Office of the Director Advisory Director, CCR Fellows Editorial Board.
Kay Fleming, Ph.D.
CCR Professional Scientific Writer, CCR Office of the Director Scientific
Writer, CCR Fellows Editorial Board
Travel issues for Post-docs
For many of us, coming to NIH from a university means we are completely bewildered by the government procedures for travelling to a meeting. The purpose of this article is to provide some general guidelines, information on who to contact, and websites with relevant information. The first step, when you want to attend a meeting, is to talk to your sponsor about the meeting. Then, go to your administrative officer (AO) or lab secretary and ask about a travel request form. There is one important thing to know at this stage. You cannot apply for housing if the meeting is less than 35 miles from either your duty station (lab) or home. The second step is to fill out your travel request form. The lab secretary or your AO should be able to help you with this. What you will do next varies with the personnel you are working with. Most of you should be familiar with the paperwork that needs to be filled out for a meeting, such as abstract submission forms, housing requests, meeting registration, etc. You will also need to schedule your flight, which will be done through Omega travel. Their phone number is (301) 984-1850, or 1-866-264-8280. You can also look at Ellen Grant's website for more travel information.
If you have any problems with Omega, contact Ellen - she is ready and willing to help you! There have been some questions about awards different Societies offer to defray travel costs. Because we are supported by the government, we are not always eligible for these awards. Check with your AO. Or you can look at the NIH manual chapters regarding Fellows (IRTAs): http://www1.od.nih.gov/oma/manualchapters/person/2300-320-7/
Travel: http://www1.od.nih.gov/oma/manualchapters/management/1500/01.html, or Special Volunteers/Guest Researchers: http://www1.od.nih.gov/oma/manualchapters/person/2300-308-1/. If you cannot accept the award due to government regulations, contact the Office of the Director of the CCR. Catherine L. Neary, Ph.D. Past-Chair, CCR-FYI Steering Committee
Isaac Rodriguez-Chavez, Ph.D.
CRTA Fellow, CCR, HIV & AIDS Malignancy Branch
Senior Editor, Fellows Editorial Board
CCR-FYI gets By-laws!
We are very pleased to announce that the CCR-FYI has developed By-laws.
The process of drafting the CCR-FYI By-laws began at our April 25, 2002
meeting upon hearing a report from Steering Committee member Claudina
Alemán. She attended the National PostDoc Network meeting sponsored
by Science's NextWave, in Washington, D.C., where she reported that
all the other Postdoctoral Associations have By-laws that serve as a
guide for their organization. The Steering Committee passed a motion
to write CCR-FYI By-laws, a By-laws Sub-Committee formed and the process
began. We hope our By-laws outline the functions and activities of the
CCR-FYI at the present time and will serve as a document that can be
amended to suit future generations of the CCR-FYI.
The By-laws represent the combined efforts of the By-laws Subcommittee.
We began by reviewing the Bylaws from other Postdoctoral and Graduate
Student Associations. Each member of the Sub-Committee then selected
points they felt were important to include in our By-laws. Claudina
Alemán and I drew up a master document that the By-laws Committee
discussed and modified. This document was presented to the entire Steering
Committee for a review period, and the final document, incorporating
those comments, was approved by email vote shortly after the June 27,
2002 meeting of the Steering Committee. Eventually, this document will
be posted on the website of the CCR-FYI.
Sohrab Bodaghi, Ph.D. Co-chair, CCR-FYI Bylaws Sub-Committee
Announcements
Our new Felcom reps are: Betsy Read-Connole, Ph.D., and Valance Washington, Ph.D. If you have questions or concerns for FELCOM, please contact either one of them. For more information on Felcom, check out their website: <http://felcom.nih.gov>.
We are trying to initiate a new program for FYI members: a Big Sibs program, to match incoming Fellows with current fellows who will help them adjust to life at NIH. If you are interested, contact Catherine Neary, for more information.
If anyone is interested in joining the Steering Committee for the CCR Fellows and Young Investigators Association, please email Claudina Alemán for more information.
If you would like to contribute an article to this newsletter, or would like to write an article but don't know what to write about, contact the editor, Catherine Neary, by email (kn2c@nih.gov). Submissions are very welcome!! The next issue will be published in September. All submissions for issue #3 are due by 23 August 2002.
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