President’s welcome – NAIPI 2021

Welcome to all new members and congratulations for succeeding to compete and launch your new IDeA-funded programs.

We have had a tumultuous year in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We are all very hopeful that with the advent of wide distribution of vaccines, this pandemic will be dealt with effectively in this new year and we will be able to return to our normal activities.

I took over as the new President from my predecessor Dr. Douglas Wright (Kansas INBRE PI) officially at the start of 2020. However, due to COVID-19 and the prospect of having Doug and Kansas State planning for the 2020 NISBRE meeting, NAIPI business accounts and control transferred to our new administration late in the year. Unfortunately, the 2020 NISBRE was cancelled.

I am happy to report that the new Executive Committee has been meeting regularly and has taken a number of actions that I detail below. We are focusing on three main aspects of enhancing NAIPI-related functions and provide valuable functions to our NAIPI members.

We have recently awarded a contract to an external vendor to take over our NAIPI website. The website will be restructured based on the original format, but there will be a number of new features that will be added.Unfortunately, the previous website was not up to security standards and did not have flexibility for automated information gathering and distribution. We are excited about the possibilities that our new website will provide including “a members only” section where research and other information such a job postings, etc. will be provided.

We have started a nomination and election process that will be carried out electronically in the near future. Please respond to our request for nominations, which will be sent to all members in the near future for replacing certain positions for each of the four IDeA geographic regions.

We have submitted an R13 application for the 2022, 2024 and 2026 NISBRE meetings through the Louisiana State University, which will be reviewed in late March. As you know, NAIPI plays a crucial role in the organization of this national meetings with regard to the collection of registration fees and covering all expenses that are not covered by the R13 funding.
We have appointed a working group to focus specifically on membership needs and NAIPI website review. This working group will be chaired by Dr. Carolyn Bohach and involve COBRE, CTR, and Hub PIs.

We have appointed a working group chaired by Dr. Scott Seville (NAIPI vice president) with Ian Meng (Treasurer), Doug Wright (past president), and Carolyn Bohach to interface with the EPScoR Foundation to increase our communication and exchange of valuable information in the pursuit of our common goals. Dr. Seville may add few more members in the NAIPI Committee.
We are planning for a NAIPI National Committee meeting on April 17, 2021 (at noon CST).Information about this meeting will be sent to all members in the near future.

We are planning for a NAIPI Meeting open to all members to be held sometime in May, 2021. John Lorsch, Dr. Ming Lei and other keynote speakers will be included in the program.

I am excited to be in the midst of my NAIPI presidency. We will work diligently with our Executive Committee and Working Groups to promote our goals in fostering biomedical research and training and advancing the importance of all NAIPI programs for our constituents. As your President, I hope to continue to improve our website, increase our social media presence, and overall communication with our membership. Virtual tools that will be put in place and launched through our website will enable the gathering and dissemination of valuable information to all our members. Also, we plan to launch various surveys to learn more about our membership needs, so that we can best serve you.
Please keep your eyes open for emails containing survey links because I want to hear from all of you on how we can continue to make improvements to all NAIPI functions and services.

Best regards,