Teratology Society
Members' Section
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Teratology Society Newsletter Volume
8, Number 2 Table of Contents
How You Can Help! The Teratology Society strives to provide cutting-edge teratology information at an economical cost. We have been successful in reducing the registration fee for the meeting without sacrificing the quality of the presentations. The cost reduction has been achieved through the elimination of a meal function, a reduction in the number of paid, outside speakers, and judicious use of costly audiovisual services. The student fee has been reduced the most, because getting students to the Meeting is a priority for the Society. We will be able to achieve further cost reductions for future meetings by selecting non-resort meeting sites and perhaps by further reduction of meal functions at the Meeting. Why Stay Until Friday Morning? We all know the problem: you want to go to the Teratology Society Meetings, but you are overloaded. If the mail carrier died today, you would still have enough work to keep you busy into the next century, and the mail carrier seems to be in excellent health. So you decide to compromise. You'll go to the Meeting, but come home early, so the grindstone won't miss your nose too badly. Sound familiar? Well, this year, we'd like to suggest a different approach. Here are the facts:
We have a full day planned on Thursday, June 25. Many of the platform sessions will be on Thursday, in addition to the Wiley-Liss symposium on Normal and Abnormal Genital Development, a very popular symposium that received rave reviews when given last year at MTA. Go home Wednesday night or Thursday morning, and you will also miss Dungeons and Dragons: A Game for Teratologists of All Ages, served up with wine and cheese. So here's the plan: Take a week off. You deserve it. Enjoy the San Diego weather, the company of old friends, and an excellent scientific program. Sleep well Thursday night and leave for home Friday morning. When you get in on Friday afternoon, you can stop at the office, pick up your mail and messages, and be caught up for Monday. After all, a scientific meeting depends on the interaction of scientists - - the participants who make the meeting a success. If you are not there on Thursday, we will miss you. How Long Should the Meeting Be? The Education Course starts Saturday morning, the Meeting starts Monday, and a full day is planned through Thursday evening. Is this amount of time too long for an Annual Meeting? Teratology Society members differ on this question. Here are some typical responses: "I can't be away from home for that long. It would be better if the meeting were three days instead of four." "Actually, the meeting is too short. Teratology is the only professional meeting I regularly attend and I wouldn't mind being there longer. It is important to my career that I see what's going on in the field and get to talk to all the people I want to." "A four-day meeting is a good length. It lets me catch up with people I haven't seen all year and allows me to see some very interesting presentations." The Teratology Society has always been concerned about figuring out the right length for the Meeting. Given the popularity of the Education Course, there is little likelihood that the Meeting will be made shorter at the front end. So how about the back end? Should the Meeting be from Monday through Wednesday instead of Monday through Thursday? The answer depends on what members want from the Meetings. Here are some of the features of this year's Meeting:
By popular request, presentations are no longer concurrent (with the exception of the Poster Discussion Workshops) so members do not have to choose to miss sessions. Nonconcurrent sessions mean, however, fewer total platform presentations. Cutting a day off the Meeting would mean further restricting the number of members who would be able to present their work from the platform. Symposia are also popular features. We have four, regular symposia:
Which one would you eliminate? The social program could be replaced with scientific sessions in the evening hours, but the loss of interaction among members would certainly be missed and would take away an important part of what makes our meetings so special. Eliminate the student session? We are very proud of the achievements of our students, and we would be poorer as a Society without them. Take a look at this year's program and think about what sessions could be eliminated to make it fit into three days. Then, phone, fax or e-mail one of the officers (see back cover) with your suggestions. The Society's Meeting is for the Society's members, so let us have your ideas.
By the time you receive this newsletter, I hope that most of you will have already made your reservations for this year's Teratology Society Meeting in San Diego, June 20-25. Many individuals have worked very hard on this year's Meeting and the preview we were given in the last newsletter mailing surely reflects their dedicated efforts. Key scientific sessions are scheduled through Thursday so I urge you to plan your schedule to remain at the Meeting at least until Friday morning. The San Diego Princess is a beautiful meeting site and I look forward to seeing you at the many scientific and social events that await you in sunny, Southern California. In addition to the science and social events at this year's Meeting, we also have several other items of business that will require your input. As outlined in the last newsletter, several changes to our Constitution and Bylaws have been proposed. These proposed changes will be discussed at our Annual Business Meeting; however, I urge you to make your thoughts known prior to the Meeting by posting your comments on our web site. This is particularly important with regard to the proposed name change for our Society. You have read Dr. Kalter's views on why he believes a name change is not warranted. In this newsletter, Dr. Fantel presents the opposing view that a name change is long overdue. Dr. Scialli presents his view as well. So that we have access to all the pros and cons of this proposal, I urge you to post your personal comments on our web site. We will not have much time at our Business Meeting to discuss these and other issues, so it is particularly important that we come to this discussion fully informed. On Sunday evening, the Strategic Planning Committee will meet to continue discussions related to the Strategic Plan developed last year. This will be an open meeting and I invite you to attend and provide input into enacting various aspects of our Strategic Plan. Topics to be discussed will include ongoing efforts to increase the financial stability of our society, recruitment of new members, partnerships with other organizations that share our mission, and development of plans for how the Annual Meetings in 2001 and beyond should be organized. Bring your ideas and proposals and help define what the Teratology Society will be in the 21st century. And here is some good financial news for the Society. Thanks to our new management company, and, in particular, the vigilance of our new Executive Secretary, Nancy Dieter, the Society saved a little over in journal subscription fees in 1997. An oversight by our journal publisher, John Wiley & Sons, is the reason. Wiley had mistakenly raised the subscription fees, not realizing that our contract with them specified the same rates until April 1998. Thank you ADG and Nancy! See you in San Diego! Phil Mirkes
The Proposed Name Change Issue A Pro
View "Teratology, what the hell is teratology?" This question, posed by a women to her tipsy friends as they exited an elevator at Newport Beach in June 1995, provoked a round of jovial laughter. Has this scene ever been played at an annual meeting of the American Cancer Society, the Juvenile Diabetes Association or the American Heart Association? I sincerely doubt it. Certainly the membership of the Teratology Society is committed to lofty goals and high standards of research. Certainly we have contributed to the understanding and prevention of birth defects, yet we have increasing difficulty obtaining the funds necessary to perform our research and attract young investigators to the field. Although adequate research funding is critical to teratology, inadequate resources for training and postdoctoral programs (inextricably linked to research funding) present a greater threat to the future of our Society and the research of its members. The societal, social, and political factors that generated this apparent crisis make interesting subjects for discussion but history is not amenable to change. Instead, many of us believe that problems in the field must be promptly addressed in an efficient and unsentimental fashion. It is critical to remember that governmental funding decisions ultimately reflect the hopes and concerns of citizens. Parents of children with birth defects may be reluctant to identify themselves and influence political decision making, and unlike adults with cancer or cardiovascular disease, children with birth defects do not vote, pay taxes or endow research institutions. To many in teratology, this means that the Society must reconsider its relationships with society and government and undertake a role that strongly advocates research funding. The success of this advocacy is highly dependent on education, and public commitment to the prevention and treatment of birth defects and to our Society. Because support requires public understanding of our mission, I do not believe it would be condescending to rename our Society. Rather, I believe it would be arrogant to demand support for a society with an arcane name and an obscure mission. A Compromise
View Having followed the debate over the name of our Society, I am reminded of a parallel argument that occurred in obstetrics some years ago concerning preeclampsia. This enigmatic pregnancy disorder has frustrated obstetricians for decades in part because of the protean manifestations and the confusing number of ways in which patients with this disorder can present symptoms. Although when I was a lad, the classic triad of hypertension, proteinuria, and edema were the criteria for making the diagnosis, later it became clear that patients with this disorder might have only one or two of these cardinal features. In 1984, a trouble-maker named Louis Weinstein described several patients with a form of preeclampsia without any of the three classic signs on presentation. To make matters worse, there are pregnant women with some combination of hypertension, proteinuria, and edema who do not have the typical pathophysiologic features of preeclampsia. In an effort to solve the conundrum, various authorities proposed renaming the disease. For example, the term gestosis was coined to include combinations of edema, proteinuria, and hypertension that could be designated by a variable prefix. EPH-gestosis would be the full-blown syndrome while EH-gestosis would be the syndrome minus the proteinuria, and so on. Other practitioners preferred a simpler terminology, using pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH) to include anything preeclamptoid with elevated blood pressure. The term HELLP syndrome (standing for hemolysis, elevated liver enzymes, and low platelets) came to stand for the laboratory manifestations of the disease divorced from the clinical presentation, allowing for normotensive women to be recognized as having the disease. As more people joined the effort to clarify the problem, the number of proposed names increased. What does this story have to do with teratology? The answer lies in the resolution of the preeclampsia problem when, one day, an obstetrician observed that the debate over names was silly; after all, finding the perfect name for the disease would not bring anyone any closer to understanding the problem. So, let's try to understand our problem with the term teratology. Some of us find the word unacceptable because the lay public does not understand from our Society's name what kind of work we do. For some reason, however, the public has a good understanding of the kind of work done by the March of Dimes, the American Red Cross, the Easter Seals Society, and the Salvation Army, in spite of names that are not very explanatory. Some of us do not like the term teratology because it is a Greek word; we would rather speak English. But what about the words biology, astronomy, and telephone? These words are Greek, but we have managed to incorporate them into English without difficulty. Why do we have so much trouble getting teratology incorporated into English? I can tell you from having addressed auditoriums full of obstetricians and classrooms full of medical students that although they know the meaning of the word teratology, they have no idea what teratologists do. Perhaps it is time we accept that we have trouble with the word teratology not because the word has failed but because we have failed. If we want the public to understand what we do, we have to tell the public what we do. Now, is there anything good about the word teratology? I would suggest there are two irreplaceable virtues to the word. The first virtue is tradition. There are a lot of very fine people who have called themselves teratologists and some of these people got together nearly four decades ago to form a professional group called the Teratology Society. I grew up as a medical student and resident in awe of these teratologists, hoping that one day I, too, could be a member of the Teratology Society. Our Society's name is a distinguished one, and to lose it would be to lose something of our heritage. The second virtue is born of one of the criticisms often leveled at the word teratology: its imprecision. There are a large number of activities that get called teratology, ranging from molecular genetics to embryo culture to toxicokinetics to epidemiology to taking care of handicapped children. We can try calling all of this activity by another name, but I do not think we will find a name that says it any better than teratology, the study of marvels. A new name has been proposed as a way to make it easier for the public to understand what we do. This goal is important, but the goal can be accomplished more easily than we imagine and by a means less divisive than changing our Society's name. Here is the compromise I would suggest: let us consider how we interface with the public and use those opportunities to teach people what we do and why we do it. At our Annual Meeting, let us have the banner over our registration table read, "The Teratology Society: we study birth defects, the number one cause of infant death." Let us use our letterhead to educate our correspondents by putting, if we wish, "The Birth Defects Research Society" as a subtitle to our Society's name, rather than as a substitute for our Society's name. I am glad that we will be voting on the question of a name change. We need to revisit from time to time the fundamental issues of who we are and what we do. After we finish with our vote on the Society's name, we can get back to our real work, which is to understand, treat, and prevent birth defects 97teratology, in other words.
(as of May 15, 1998) The Teratology Society thanks the following organizations and individuals for their generous sponsorship of activities at the Annual Meeting in San Diego, California: Covance
Laboratories, Inc.
(as of May 15, 1998) The Teratology Society thanks the following organizations for their participation as exhibitors at the 1998 Annual Meeting in San Diego, California: Advanced
Database Systems Exhibit Hours Take advantage of this great opportunity to see the latest technology and learn more about the services available to the Teratology field. Exhibit hours are as follows: Sunday,
June 21st Monday,
June 22nd Tuesday,
June 23rd Wednesday,
June 24th If your company is interested in exhibiting at the 1999 Annual Meeting to be held at Keystone Resort, please contact Clarissa Russell Wilson at Society Headquarters. Awards
The Clarke
Fraser New Investigator Award What is the
Clarke Fraser award? These are just a few of the questions I have received regarding this new award since the Newsletter announced the creation of an Awards Committee and noted that I was the Chairperson. I will take this opportunity to try to explain the reasoning behind Council 92s decision to create an award honoring not only one of the Society's founding members, but also one of our younger members at the same time. The award was named after Dr. Fraser as a way of recognizing his many contributions to the field of developmental toxicology. We already have awards honoring two of the Society's founding members, and our Council felt naming this new award after Dr. Fraser would be a fitting tribute to another of the founders who has contributed greatly to the understanding in the field of birth defects research. The award was termed the New Investigator Award rather than the Young Investigator Award because the requirements for consideration could only rarely be fulfilled by an individual that the majority of us would still consider as young. In point of fact, Council put an approximate ten-year time frame on the award eligibility. The ten-year interval clock commences when the member completes his or her last period of mentored training. This ten-year interval and the definition of mentored training was included to permit the inclusion of individuals who may have changed careers by taking training in a new area, and to include those members who have obtained more than one professional degree and/or postdoctoral position or clinical internship/residency. To be considered eligible, the candidate must have established a successful independent research career (evidenced by quality publications in peer-reviewed journals, an established teaching program, an active graduate student program, ongoing extramural funding, or be generally recognized as an expert in the field, etc.) and be an active member of the Society. The nominees we evaluated this year were all of these and more. Many of the candidates are responsible for parts of our Continuing Education Course and/or for making presentations at the Meeting; some are involved with Society matters or are running for office. To nominate someone for the honor is relatively painless. You can either contact one of the Committee members, or you can send a letter to the Committee Chair stating which member you would like to nominate, why you think that person is qualified, and who you would suggest the Committee contact in order to solicit letters of support for your candidate. We will take care of the rest of the arm-twisting (i.e., all the candidates will have to have a file containing nominating letters, copies of their curriculum vitae, letters of support/ recommendation, copies of a few representative publications, and a brief summary of their future research direction). What does the winner have to do? All he or she will have to do is give a brief, 30-minute talk related to his/her research program at the Wilson Luncheon. This year's candidates have already been nominated and the Committee is reviewing the materials for the two finalists. If you want to nominate an individual for next year, please contact one of the Committee members at the Annual Meeting and he/she will provide you with the information necessary. The Fraser Award Committee members for this year (presented in alphabetical order) are: George Dearlove, Chair; Karen Augustine; Michael Cunningham; David Dix; John Graham and Kathy Sulik. Thank you in advance for your continued participation in this honorary award. Research
Awards Travel
Awards Lilly
Minority Student Awards The Society gratefully acknowledges the generous support of Eli Lilly Pharmaceutical Company for its support of this award. The Student Affairs Committee members for this year (presented in alphabetical order) are: Alan G. Fantel, Chair; Barbara D. Abbott; Kit A. Keller; Robert M. Parker; Thomas H. Shepard; and Jarnail Singh.
PRESIDENT'S
CIRCLE MEMBERS The Teratology Society thanks the following organizations for their generous support of the Teratology Society: Argus
Research Laboratories, Inc. SUSTAINING
MEMBERS American
Petroleum Institute Honorary
Members The Teratology Society is pleased to recognize the following Honorary Members: F.
Clarke Fraser, M.D., Ph.D. Thomas
Shepard, M.D. If you would like to nominate an individual for Honorary Membership in the Society, submit your recommendation to Council prior to the Annual Business Meeting on Tuesday, June 23, 1998. The Annual Business Meeting is being held in conjunction with the Annual Meeting. Honorary Members may be elected by the membership at the Annual Business Meeting upon unanimous recommendation by Council. The Society would like to include your news in the Newsletter. We welcome and encourage your contributions. Mail, fax, or e-mail your newsworthy items to Robert Seegmiller at Teratology Society Headquarters. Deadlines for Upcoming Issues:
Submitted by L. David Wise The Teratology Society's web site has been open for approximately eight months now. Most of the necessary background material is now easily accessible. This includes past and present newsletters, business and Council meeting minutes, the Constitution, and names of committee members. The Links page is a useful reference and starting point for your browsing interests. Requests to post other information you think we need would certainly be welcomed. The page called "Information About Birth Defects" section is intended for non-members who are seeking information. Already, we have received questions about where to find information on specific topics, and we are pleased that our referrals were helpful. This highlights the potential of our site to act as a resource for parents seeking information about their specific situation. For now, we have a fairly extensive list of links from which to choose. Very soon, we will be adding links to the societies and associations that deal with certain defects, such as cerebral palsy, spina bifida, Down's and others. Hopefully, with mutual links, these other organizations will learn more about the Teratology Society. We are now entering into a more interactive phase with the intent of providing the membership with all they need to find and conduct business. In the Bulletin Board Discussion area, letters regarding the name change debate have been posted within a few hours of receipt. Letters or comments on any subject worthwhile to the membership are most welcomed. These will not be edited and we will respect your wishes for length of time you would like it posted. We have recently posted a list of Contract Laboratories (with links) that perform preclinical safety studies. Also, the Placement Service will post open positions at all levels, and we welcome additional employers to send us their notices. Contact Society Headquarters for additional information. Our plans for the next year are ambitious -- we would like to offer on-line abstract submittal and registration for the next meeting. For students and potential students, we are collecting a list of colleges and universities that offer training in the various fields related to teratology. Professors of graduating students should send the Web Site Committee an announcement of graduating students so that their achievements can be recognized. A library of standard techniques and protocols is an idea that will need input from many members. What do you think about this? Posting the Membership Directory has moved down in priority. Lastly, we would like to enhance the graphical design of the site to make it tastefully unique and comfortable to the eye. To do this, we are considering hiring a professional web designer. We need your input and feedback on how useful the site is to you! Please call, fax, or e-mail a Web Committee member: David
Wise
S419/H.R. 1114 - BIRTH DEFECTS PREVENTION ACT OF 1997. (Revised as of 06/12/97- Passed Senate, Amended.) Amends the Public Health Service Act to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), acting through the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to carry out Programs to: (1) collect and analyze, and make available data on birth defects in a manner that facilitates compliance with this Act, including data on the causes of such defects and on the incidence and prevalence of such defects; (2) operate regional centers for the conduct of applied epidemiological research on the prevention of such defects; and (3) provide information and education to the public on the prevention of such defects. Requires the Secretary, in collection analyzing, and making available data on birth defects, to: (1) collect and analyze data by gender and by racial and ethnic group; (2) collect such data from birth and death certificates, hospital records, and such other sources as the Secretary determines to be appropriate; and (3) encourage States to establish or improve programs for the collection and analysis of epidemiological data on birth defects and to make data available. Directs the Secretary to establish a National Information Clearinghouse on Birth Defects to collect and disseminate to health professionals and the public, information on birth defects, including the prevention of such defects. Authorizes the Secretary, in carrying out programs regarding birth defects, to make grants to, and enter into contracts with, public and nonprofit private entities. Authorizes the Secretary, upon the request of a recipient of an award of a grant or contract, to provide supplies, equipment, and services for the purpose of aiding the recipient in carrying out the purposes for which the award is made. Authorizes the Secretary to make an award of a grant or contract only if an application for the award is submitted to the Secretary, and contains such agreements, assurances, and information as the Secretary determines to be necessary to carry out the purposes for which the award is to be made. Requires the Secretary to report biannually to the House Committee on Commerce and the Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources regarding birth defects. Subjects the provisions of the Act to requirements of the Privacy Act. Applies all Federal laws relating to the privacy of information to data and information collected under this Act. Authorizes appropriations. S.1018. - VETERAN 92S BENEFITS PROVISIONS. (Introduced 07/15/97: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans Affairs.) Amends provisions of law governing benefits for certain children of Vietnam veterans who are born with spina bifida, and for other purposes. Amends Federal veterans' benefits provisions, as such provisions may apply to the children of Vietnam veterans who were born with the birth defect spina bifida, to: (1) define the Vietnam era, during which period the child must have been conceived, as the period beginning on January 9, 1962, and ending on May 7, 1975; (2) define a Vietnam veteran as any veteran who served during such period, without regard to the character of such individual's service (discharge standing); and (3) make provisions regarding service-connected disability compensation and benefits applicable to such children. Allows vocational training programs for children of veterans to begin on the child's 18th birthday or upon completion of the child's secondary schooling, whichever occurs first. Makes conforming changes to effective dates with regard to the spina bifida provisions as contained in the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development, and Independent Agencies Appropriations Act of 1997. H.R.2923 - EARLY HEARING LOSS DETECTION, DIAGNOSIS, AND INTERVENTION ACT OF 1997. (Introduced 11/07/97; referred to the Subcommittee on Health and Environment on 11/14/97.) A bill to establish programs regarding early detection, diagnosis, and interventions for newborns and infants with hearing loss. Mandates
grants or cooperative agreements to: (1) develop statewide hearing loss
early detection, diagnosis, and intervention networks; and (2) provide
technical assistance to State agencies to complement an intramural program
and to conduct applied research related to infant hearing detection, diagnosis,
and treatment or intervention. Requires the National Institutes of Health
to carry out research on the efficacy of new screening techniques and
technology. Mandates coordination and collaboration. Authorizes appropriations.
Please send announcements of upcoming meetings to Nancy Dieter at Teratology Society Headquarters.
Asbestos and Cancer, Volume 16, edited by George A. Peters, J.D., C.S.P., P.E., and Barbara J. Peters, J.D. To order: tel: (800) 562-1197 or fax: (800) 643-1280. Advances in Molecular and Cell Biology, Volume 20, edited by Chipman, J.K. School of Biochemistry, University of Birmingham, UK., Series Editor: Bittar, E. Edward, Physiology Department, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI. To order: JAI Press, Ltd., 38 Tavistrock Street, London WC2E 7PB, UK, tel: 44-171-379-8834, fax: 44-171-379-8835 or e-mail: jai@cix.compulink.co.uk. Strategies for the Management of Headache, a new educational module released in the APGO educational series on women's health issues and fifth in a series of modules which enhance the teaching of women's primary and preventive care for medical students and residents. Contact: Donna Wachter, APGO, 409 12th St., SW, Washington DC 20024, tel: (202) 863-2507. Toxicology Desk Reference: The Toxic Exposure and Medical Monitoring Index (TDR), Fourth Edition, edited by P. Ryan and Claude E. Terry. Contact: Elizabeth Cohen, tel: (215) 785-5800, ext. 31 or e-mail: ecohen@tandfpa.com. Cost: $450 (paperback or CD-ROM); $550 (paperback and CD-ROM).
Teratology Society mail addressed to the following members has been returned undelivered. If you know where any of the following individuals may be found, please notify Annette Flannery at Society Headquarters, 1821 Michael Faraday Drive, Suite 300, Reston, VA 20190; fax: (703) 438-3113; e-mail: annette@teratology.org.
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