Medical Sciences Congress 2004

Letter from Bruce Smaill, President, Physiological Society of New Zealand

Dear PSNZ Members,

I am writing in relation to MedSciNZ 2004, the combined meeting of the Physiological Society of New Zealand, the Human Genetics Society of Australasia, the New Zealand Society of Endocrinology, and the Perinatal Society of Australia and New Zealand which will be held in Queenstown from November 30th to December 3rd, this year. I believe that this meeting is an important milestone for our Society. Let me explain why.

I have been a member of the PSNZ since 1977. Over the years, I have attended the Society's annual scientific meetings regularly and have always enjoyed them far more than I expected to. They have been relatively small, informal meetings with a uniquely human quality. This has been a venue at which many graduate students have given their first scientific presentation and at which some great science has been presented.

However, our discipline has changed markedly over the past 15 years, and our attitudes and expectations have changed also. Most of us see ourselves as biomedical scientists with a focus on a specific organ system or tissue. The integrative principal of Physiology remains constant, but we borrow tools from genetics, molecular biology etc and commonly work in multi-disciplinary teams. We (graduate students included) travel more widely and regularly network with colleagues in the United States and Europe. Paradoxically, our links with groups in related research areas nationally often have not developed as strongly.

I believe that the concept that underlies MedSciNZ 2004 holds the key to the future. This combined societies meeting follows the format of the annual spring US Experimental Biology meetings. The vision of the people responsible for driving this initiative are Paul Donaldson, Simon Malpas and Dave Grattan. Paul and Simon are Treasurer and Secretary of the PSNZ, while Dave is a PSNZ Council member, but is also the Chair of the New Zealand Society of Endocrinology. Their vision is to have a meeting big enough to attract sponsorship and therefore with the resources necessary to attract distinguished international speakers and to mount focussed symposia of high quality and wide general interest. And yet to have a framework that will retain the character of the individuals societies and preserve the scale and human qualities that have made our meetings memorable in the past. Within this context, MedSciNz 2004 looks as if it will be a winner. The sponsorship target of $30,000 has already been exceeded and astrong group of national and international keynote has been confirmed. The Queenstown venue is excellent and splendid social activities have been planned. Look at the website www.medsci.co.nz.

As has been noted, the PSNZ Council has played a leading role in ensuring that a combined meeting is to be held. However, it is now critical that Society members take ownership of their (rather large) component of it. We need this meeting to be a financial, scientific and social success, one that strengthens the Society and its links with other closely related societies. Please make sure that you attend this meeting and encourage your colleagues and graduate students to do so also. The PSNZ sessions within the meeting are being organized by Ged Davis and Kirk Hamilton from Otago and abstracts can be submitted anytime up to September 15th.

I look forward to seeing you in late November.

Bruce Smaill, PhD DIC
President, Physiological Society of New Zealand