Status and Initiatives
of the APS
Martin Frank, Ph.D.
APS Executive Director
ACDP Retreat, Gamboa, Panama
December 6, 2014
APS/ACDP Cooperative Efforts
• ACDP Salary Survey – 1980s
• APS/ACDP Survey of Recent Doctoral Recipients 1998
• Medical Physiology Core Curriculum Objective Project
– 2002
• Professional Skills for Physiologists and Trainees –
2003
• Animal Usage in Physiology Education
• Medical Physiology Course Directors web site
• Helping APS expand its Chapter Program
• Graduate Program Directors Meeting
Education, Diversity, and Career
Development Programs
• Multi-level Programs (Provide resources & training on
demand)
• Life Science Teaching Resource Community (LifeSciTRC) - APS'
Digital library that includes content from physiology,
developmental biology, anatomy, and other similar fields
• APS Career Web, with Mentoring and Career Development
Forum
• Professional Skills Training courses (in person and online)
K-16 Education Highlights
(improve science education & physiology awareness)
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Summer research programs & online professional
development for K-12 teachers
Physiology Understanding Week (PhUn Week)
Summer research fellowships for 80+ students annually,
including targeted programs for underrepresented students
Video contest: sharing physiology with public (open to
undergrad and grad students)
David Bruce poster competition for undergraduate poster
presenters
Graduate/Professional Education Highlights
(promote professional development & APS involvement)
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EB career development symposia and refresher course
Awards for mentoring and early career professional service
List of Professional Skills and Med. Phys. Learning Objectives
Graduate & Travel fellowships for URM students
Support for directors of graduate programs and medical
physiology courses
• Institute for Teaching and Learning – held in June 2014 in
Maine. Coming again in 2016
• APPEL - Association of Physiology Professional Education
Leadership
Publications
• Original research Journals
American Journal of Physiology (composed of seven specialty
journals) ; Journal of Applied Physiology; Physiological Genomics;
Journal of Neurophysiology; Advances in Physiology Education;
Physiological Reports (launched 2013 jointly with The Physiological
Society, UK)
• Review Journals
Physiological Reviews; Physiology;
Comprehensive Physiology (e-update of the Handbook of Physiology)
• Newsletter
The Physiologist
• Book Monograph Series
published on behalf of the APS by Springer
Publications
Cooperative venture with The Physiological Society (UK)
• An Open Access Journal Launched March 2013
• Through Aug 31 2014, 372 articles have been published
• 1st Decision - 10 days, Accept to Publication - 35 days
Publications
APSselect (http://apsselect.physiology.org/)
A virtual journal that highlights and promotes the best of the
best research papers; the top papers accepted each month in the
10 APS research journals.
• Each highlighted paper will retain the original citation from the
journal in which it was published
• These papers will be accompanied by an Editorial and attractive
artwork
• The APS main page will be the central destination so all will be
able to see the latest/greatest APS has to offer
Publications – New Initiatives
• SocialCite - SocialCite is a new workflow tool that
improves the citation network by allowing you to
quickly provide feedback about the validity and
quality of citations.
• eLife Lens - provides a novel way of looking at
content on the web. It is designed to make life easier
for researchers, reviewers, authors and readers. J
Neurophysiology & AJP – Heart
• Altmetrics - incorporating alternative metrics to
define the utility of an article.
Science Policy
• Federal funding for biological research
• Humane use of animals in research
• Strengthen relationship with funding agencies such as
NIH and NSF
• Sex as a biological variable
• Publications access
• Peer review
• In collaboration with FASEB, AAMC, R!A
AMP, NABR
Science Policy
• Early Career Advocacy Fellowship: Engage early
career investigators in advocacy activities, provide
skills to become long-term advocates for scientific
research
• SP-News, a monthly email bulletin of advocacyoriented information
• Peer Review 101
• Advocacy Toolkit
• Chapter Advocacy Program
• Nobel Laureate Robert J. Lefkowitz
• “Seven Transmembrane Receptor”
• WEDNESDAY, April 1, 4:45 PM
• Followed by a trainee reception and the APS Closing Party starring “GI
Distress” and the “Fabulous FASEBettes.”
• Also the Cannon Lecture being presented by Masashi Yanigisawa and
the Bowditch Lecture presented by Babette LaMarca
• Also 12 sectional distinguished lectures and nearly 12 oral sessions
focusing on all aspects of the physiological sciences
Future Challenge for EB
• EB is an outgrowth of the FASEB Meeting
• Initially the participants were APS, ASPET, ASIP, ASN,
AAI, AAA
• ASBMB joined and AAI has departed
• ASN is departing 2018-2020, unlikely to return
• Challenge is to redefine the meeting and address the
broad needs of our constituency
APS Conferences - 2015
• September 2-5 - 14th International Conference on
Endothelin: Pathophysiology and Therapeutics,
Savannah, GA
• September 9-12 - Physiological Bioenergetics: From
Bench to Bedside, Tampa, FL
• November 17-20 - Cardiovascular, Renal and
Metabolic Diseases: Physiology and Gender,
Annapolis, MD
International Meetings/Opportunities
• 1st Pan-American Congress of Physiological Sciences – August
2014 in Iguassu Falls, Brazil
• 2015 APS trip to Havana, Cuba (?) – being coordinated with
Dr. Alberto Dorta, President CPS
• Joint meeting with The Physiological Society in Dublin in 2016
• IUPS Congress – August 2017 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• 2nd Pan-American Congress of Physiological Sciences – 2019
in Havana, Cuba
• International Opportunity Program – 6 awards @ $7,500 each
– 2014 awards in Vietnam, Brazil, Morocco, Nigeria
APS Chapter Program
Oklahoma (1982); Ohio (1986)
Iowa (1995); Nebraska (1997); Gulf Coast (1999)
Arizona (2008);
Puerto Rico (2009); Indiana (2009); Tennessee (2009);
Michigan (2012); Pennsylvania (2012); District of Columbia (2012)
Missouri (2013)
Local Physiology Networks
(Virtual Physiology Departments)
An opportunity to recapture physiology in institutions lacking
physiology departments
A pilot program (a compliment to the chapter program):
• University of Alabama at Birmingham – no physiology
department since Benos died, but over 75 APS members
• University of Wisconsin, Madison – recent loss of department
with 70+ APS members on campus
• Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee – 80+ members in
Milwaukee, also physiology department
Future Initiatives
• APS Fellows Program
• Higher Logic – creating communities and
enhancing listserv function
• Member needs survey – by the end of 2015
• Strategic Planning exercise – 2016
• Re-Branding Initiative – for the Society and for
the discipline – 2016 (in parallel with strategic
planning effort?)
• Thank you!
• Martin Frank
– (mfrank@the-aps.org)
– Twitter: ExecDirectorAPS