Winter 1997 Newsletter

Officers:

Council Members:

Message from the President

Greetings for 1997! We had a fine meeting in August in Tampere, a really beautiful part of the world. For those of us from more southern latitudes (that's an old Minnesota boy talking!), the long hours of magical summer light added a special aura to the proceedings. Special thanks go out to Simo Oja, Ted Ebendal and all their colleagues who made this a truly excellent meeting both scientifically and socially.

Preparations are already well underway for the next meeting in August of 1998 on the campus of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. We are fortunate to have two outstanding individuals to direct this meeting. The local organizer, Professor John Steeves, is a key figure in nerve damage and regeneration. He has extensive experience in organizing meetings and outstanding campus facilities at his disposal. The critical post of Program Chair is filled by Professor Lloyd Greene from Columbia in New York. Based on my past experience working with Lloyd, I can predict with confidence that we will have a superb program, rich in innovation and diversity. Note that Lloyd would like to have a strong showing of poster presentations at the meeting and is already formulating themes.

I would like to make a proposal regarding the long-term development of the Society. It seems to me that one of the advantages of carrying out scientific inquiry through ISDN is the relatively small, intimate atmosphere at the meetings. It is possible to really get to know our scientific brethen and delve into issues in depth. Nevertheless, given the explosive growth of development, I would like to propose that each member recruit at least one new member between now and the 1998 Meeting. This will be a way to bring young scientists and new disciplines and outlooks into the Society. To apply all that is needed is to submit a two page vitae with recent publications to our Secretariat (see below). I also welcome comments and suggestions via the directly, or via our new Web Site.

Do not forget to mark your calendars for 1998, see you in Vancouver.

ISDN '98 Program - Call for suggestions/proposals

A Program Committee for the ISDN '98 meeting in Vancouver has been assembled and is as follows: Lloyd Greene (USA) Chair; Ira Black (USA); Jose Campos-Ortega (Germany); Jean deVellis (USA); Kazuhiro Ikenaka (Japan); Nancy Ip (Hong Kong); Chaya Kalcheim (Israel); David Kaplan (Canada); Ann Messer (USA); Regino Perez-Polo (USA); Steve Pfeiffer (USA); Martin Schwab (Switzerland); John Steeves (Canada).

The tentative program will include poster sessions, special lectures, symposia, and workshops. We wish to strongly encourage a high level of poster participation and plan to dedicate specific time slots for poster presentations/viewing.

Please communicate your suggestions/proposals for topics and speakers as well as for ideas for encouragement of poster presentations to:

From the Secretariat

With pleasant memories of Tampere still on my mind I write to tell all of some changes in our Society. First, in Tampere new members of Council, a new President (Steve Pfeiffer) and President Elect (Klaus Unsicker) took office. It was decided to plan meetings a bit further in advance hence while Vancouver is already beginning to take shape under the leadership of Steve Pfeiffer, Lloyd Greene, and John Steeves; Klaus is planning Heidelberg in 2000 and Ian Hendry is at work for 2002 for a Down Under gathering. All can be contacted for suggestions and queries.

That Tampere was a success we owe to Simo Oja and Ted Ebendal. The dynamic duo from the land of the never setting sun outdid themselves and we all left full of scientific lore and incredible food and drink. As Steve Pfeiffer kept saying "I do not understand why I am tired as I go to bed with the Sun and rise with the Sun?" Of course, the Sun did set about 3 a.m. to rise again at 5 a.m. Satellite meetings to the main event all did well and I for one was sad to leave the Northern Lands.

Our journal IJDN continues to expand and will soon (summer) be "on line, on the WEB". Check out the IJDN Web Site.

You can also get in touch with me as Editor in Chief. Our journal is really a quality product now and since most reviews are now performed by email, we can review and process manuscripts faster than ever before. The conversion to the electronic medium slowed us down a bit in 1996 but that is now all over and the new capabilities with regards to availability of titles and abstracts in press on the net makes all the work worthwhile. We have new covers, faster review and production times, and a growing number of readers. Now is the time to submit an article to our journal.

As stated by our President this is the year to recruit new members, submit ideas to Lloyd for Vancouver, an article to IJDN, and if you have new uses for our Web Site or simply want to contact me, please do. We are growing and getting better. In keeping with all these changes, we want your ideas for new areas of growth for the Society and the Journal in keeping with our new accessibility and expansion. Certainly, the 1998 Meeting in Vancouver will test new format approaches only meters from the Pacific Ocean in what is one of the more spectacular settings I can think of for interchange of ideas and information. Let any of the officers or Chairs for 1998 (or further into the future) know about your suggestions.

Klaus Unsicker is organizing the Meeting for 2000 in Heidelberg, Germany, during the summer as in the past. He will be happy to hear from those that have suggestions and/or thoughts that they wish to share with him at

Ian Hendry is organizing the 2002 Meeting in Australia either at the usual time or hopefully in association with the Australian Neuroscience Society Meeting in late January to early February (Summer there). At this stage any feedback from the members as to a preferred time should be sent to