Safety Pharmacology Society

It was a great pleasure to meet you at the 2009 annual meeting of the Safety Pharmacology Society and to have a chance to review our progress in the Outreach to Asia initiative and plan the next steps. I'd like to thank Hugo Vargas, Yi Yang and Keiji Yamamoto for contributing to the discussion on that Friday morning. The purpose of this note is to summarize the key discussion points and ask your participation in the next steps in this initiative. For those who were not present, please consider volunteering to continue with this important initiative of the society.

There were three presentations made at the meeting: I have attached slides for the first two presentations. Presentation 1 Presentation 2

1) Hugo is forming a working group to devise a plan for a website link to where individuals and organizations with an interest in the Safety Pharmacology could go to learn more about the field of safety pharmacology, the services and programming offered by the society, and other educational information. This presentation also offered a view of how the website may serve to facilitate informing those who use the website of the products and services of the society to regions of the world in time zone vastly different from that of Europe and North America. The four points below summarize the key deliverables planned and an invitation to you to participate with the website committee in developing this important link to the Asian countries.

On behalf society, would like to offer products and services to individuals worldwide with an interest in safety pharmacology. This would include members, potential members and those who would not become members because of affiliation with other societies.
Facilitate this connection through the SPS Website - Outreach ICON which would hyperlink individuals to an introductory page that may be translated in the specific language
Utilize members of the Outreach to Asia working group to communicate this website link to like-societies (ASPET, SOT) and like-organizations (NIH, FDA, Academic) within their country. Similar association developed for other regions of the world
Also invite the members of the Website Outreach to Asia Task Force to participate in the development of the website link and communication. and to have their names displayed as contacts in their country as an ambassador of the society.

2) Keiji Yamamoto provided an important update on an initiative in Japan to establish a Japanese Safety Pharmacology Society to serve the Japanese colleagues in this field who are unable to participate in the annual meeting of the Safety Pharmacology Society. The JSPS held their first annual meeting February 20-21 in Tokyo.

3) Yi Yang provided an update of progress in China to introduce Safety Pharmacology and how there is a good opportunity for outreach by the Safety Pharmacology Society and an interest of safety pharmacologists in China to take advantage of the services offered by the society.

Let me know if you have any questions regarding the summary of the minutes of this meeting, your willingness to participate in the Website Outreach to Asia Task Force, and also your willingness to act as an ambassador on behalf of the society in making contact with societies and organizations within your country that would have an interest in Safety Pharmacology.

With kind regards,
Alan

Alan Stuart Bass, Ph.D.
Global Safety Assessment
Merck & Co.
2015 Galloping Hill Road, K15-2-2880
Kenilworth, NJ 07033-0539
Email: alan.bass@spcorp.com