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Meeting Minutes
General Meeting Minutes: Tuesday, November 18, 2008 Time and Location: 5:00 pm, 1830 Building, Room 2-108 Present: Erin Vasudevan, Anjanli Marshra, Crystal Watkins, Labiq Syed, Theresa Evans-Nguyen, Florence Depontieu, Rong Huang, Kirstie Adams, Dimiter Avtanski, Rahul Jain, Minghui Xiang, Marianne Stefanini, Claire Nicheilleachair, Swetha Kandula, Sonal Gupta, Derek Haseltine, Jitka Sojkova Proceedings:
Subcommittee Reports: Postdoctoral Development Conference: Derek, Rong and Anjali updated the group about the conference agenda, advertising and registration for the event. They also discussed the structure of the program and the specific definition of the individual development plan. The program is set for Wednesday, January 21, 2008 in the Turner Auditorium. Sample program includes a welcome from Dr. Levi Watkins, discussion of the individual development plan from Dr. Jennifer Hobin, a discussion of developing innovative concepts and moving towards independence by Dr. Phillip Cole, a faculty panel discussion regarding reflections on becoming an independent investigator, and a presentation on transition to industry by Astra Zeneca. Confirmed speakers are Dr. Sean Taverna and Dr. Jon Lorsch. Christie discussed concerns regarding the short timeline to generate advertisement posters ready over Thanksgiving. Erin recommended that we send an email out now, followed by flyers and poster placements in December. Anjali said we would like to advertise before the next meeting. Anjali will email everyone flyers. Christie and Rong agreed to have the flyers ready for distribution at the next general meeting. The communications committee will include date, time and highlight information on the flyer. Derek commented that the conference was shortened to one day. The committee is also putting together a list of participants for a networking lunch. Christie recommended including the NIH as one of the presenters. Rong asked how many people we expect to attend since it the event is scheduled after the presidential inauguration and the Martin Luther King Holiday. The committee believes there should be a high level of participation given the quality of speakers and range of topics covered. Treasurer's Report: Labiq discussed how to get timely reimbursements for expenditures. Any outstanding receipts and future receipts will be kept in a file by Labiq. Labiq has developed reimbursement sheets and will email a copy to all of the JHPDA committee members with instructions for getting reimbursements. Business Plan for Postdoc Office: Erin discussed the postodc business plan and the organization's objective to secure actual space for a postdoc office. It appears that we will have space in the PCTB building once it is renovated. We may or not be sharing the space with the graduate student association. We are looking in to potential donors to help supplement the costs for the office space. The JHPDA developed a business plan two years ago, which now needs to be updated. Erin asked for volunteers to do research to see what universities have postdoc offices. Specifically, it would be helpful to understand how they are staffed, how they are set up, whether there is computer area and any common area space. Labiq and Anjali volunteered to help contact institutions this week. Erin and Anjali will be meeting with Dr. Watkins on Monday 11/23 to discuss details regarding the office. Erin talked with Sonal Gupta at U. of Illinois, which is known to have had a very structured postdoctoral office with a dedicated staff person. The consensus of the group was that we would also like to have a dedicated staff person in the JHPDA. Erin would also like to have a joint officer meeting with the entire JHPDA. Communications Committee: The next newsletter deadline is Wednesday, November 25, 2008. Scientific Seminar Committee: Jitka and Florence gave an update on the scientific seminar committee. There have been 12 abstracts submitted to date. Sonjal and Anajli volunteered to be judges from the JHPDA. Kirstie has more flyers to put up for the last few days. They have posted flyers in PCTB, Ross, and the Broadway Research Building. The committee refused one abstract because one person is no longer a postdoc. Three abstracts were more than 250 words and the committee asked them to resubmit it. The seminar will need judges for two phases, abstract as well as poster presentation. Tentative date is December 9, 2008. The committee will send abstracts anonymously to judges to read individually and then the committee will meet to discuss them as a group. Florence recommended that we extend the abstract deadline one additional week. The committee will select a total of ten abstracts for actual presentation. The scientific series will include a lunch with the top three abstract receiving a prize. All other participants will receive a certificate. Update on Benefits Seminar: There were over 135 people in attendance. Many of the comments from the survey completed at the end of the seminar were very positive regarding the JHPDA presentation. There were a few recommendations, including dividing the seminar in to two separate presentations in the future, potentially next year. The committee will add a slide show to the JHPDA website once it is up and running. Website: Templates have been circulating regarding the website and the site continues to improve. The community is still working on the layout. We have been working with Academic Webpages and Aditya is the liaison helping with the webpage. We anticipate that the website should be functional by the end of the year. Other Business: Toastmasters club: Minghui talked about fear of public speaking and the need to have people skills and be able to talk and present information. He invited everyone in the JHPDA to the biweekly Toastmaster meetings to practice public speaking with the Johns Hopkins Toastmasters. He distributed a typical meeting agenda. The meetings are held every second Monday at lunchtime and every fourth Monday at 5:30pm. Action Items:
Future Business:
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