|
Commissions
and Reports
- Commission
on Continuing Education and Career Development
IUTOX Commission on Continuing Education and Career Development
Report of Activities 2001 – 2004
10th International Congress of Toxicology, Tampere, Finland, July 2004
Membership:
Judith A. MacGregor (Chair), Toxicology Consulting Services, Arnold,
MD, USA
Torbjörn Malmfors, Malmfors Consulting AB, Johanneshov, Sweden
Kevin Chipman, the University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom
Paul Wright, RMIT University, Bundoora, Melbourne, Australia
Mission and objectives:
- Promote educational
and career development opportunities for toxicologists worldwide
- Provide continuing
education programs to those in developing countries
- Develop specific
vehicles and tools to enhance educational programs
- Obtain funding
to support programs in above areas
Program Summary:
The Education Commission has a full program of active projects related
to its mission.
1. Continuing Education in Developing Countries: Organize courses,
workshops, or lectures, in developing countries at their society’s
meeting.
2. Risk Assessment
Summer School (RASS): A week long interactive training program for
students held every other year.
3. Donation
of Books and Materials: Obtain and distribute toxicological material to areas
where it is most needed.
4. Web Based
Graduate Training Programs at the Graduate Diploma and Masters Levels
in Toxicology: Make these web-based training
programs available
to those who would otherwise not have access to toxicology
training programs, and develop training material where needed.
5. AstraZeneca
Awards: Administer the AstraZeneca fellowships, which provide support for scientists
from developing countries
to attend the
annual Society of Toxicology (USA) meeting.
Each of the above projects are described below, with a brief summary
of the current activities and listing of those individuals who
have played lead roles in these activities.
1. Provide continuing educational programs at annual meetings of
societies of toxicology in areas where they are most needed. (Lead:
Judith MacGregor)
We received over 20 requests for educational programs, and continue
to receive additional requests. Attached
is a list of each of the 12 programs
provided during the past 3 years. These included multi day workshops
intended to facilitate formation of local toxicology societies;
continuing education courses; lectures; and symposia. In several
instances the presentation
was requested to be in the native language and these requests were
accommodated.
In planning the
programs, valuable assistance from several sources was obtained including:
1) EUROTOX (Ernie Harpur) in obtaining speakers for
the continuing education course on good laboratory
practices held in Estonia on April 25th , 2003 (see details
attached) and the
program in
India planned for October 29, 2004; 2) the American
College of Toxicology (Farrell Fort) for multilingual lecturers;
3) the Fogarty
International
Center for sponsoring and providing one of the
speakers for the program in Georgia (Dr. Natalie Tomitch) who
spoke about funding
opportunities
and 4) the Society of Toxicology (USA) for granting
permission to use continuing education course programs.
Contributions to the program have continued with
funds received from many sources to cover the costs
of our programs. The National
Institute
of Environmental Sciences (NIEHS), the Fogarty
International Center and the Society of Toxicology
(USA) continue to provide annual
support and
we also receive many other contributions from companies
and institutions. Our educational programs are
funded totally from contributions
without any need for general IUTOX funds.
Following the ICT X in Tampere, Finland, a new
solicitation letter will be sent to member societies
asking for interest in a continuing
education
program. This will provide the basis for scheduling
the program for 2005. Societies having interest
should insure their response
is submitted.
2.
Risk Assessment Summer School (RASS) (Lead: Torbjörn
Malmfors)
Risk Assessment Summer
Schools (RASS) are held biannually in different geographical locations.
The last program
was held in
Malta in 2002.
RASS is a specialized training and educational activity
which emphasizes learning
rather than teaching. The objectives are to offer young
toxicologists unique opportunities to broaden their knowledge
and experience
in the field of chemical risk assessment and to better
understand the data
evaluation process. RASS was initiated by Torbjörn
Malmfors and he has faithfully continued to organize
and offer RASS
programs every
other year since
1985 with the dedication and organizational help of Birgitta
Lewander, Malmfors Consulting AB.
The school is an exclusive training course that includes
a few formal lectures with ample time for discussions
initiated by the
lectures, faculty
cases, and most important of all, study cases written
by the students themselves in advance.
The purpose of the discussions is to convey the knowledge
and the experience of the faculty to the students and
to open up new vistas
for those who
are eager to learn and to take on new challenges.
IUTOX is indebted
to Torbjörn and Birgetta for
their years of hard work to make RASS a premier program.
The
Tenth Risk Assessment
Summer
School will be held September 25 - October 3, 2004, at
Seehotel Hoeri,
Bodensee, Germany. (applications E-mail: malmfors.consulting@ebox.tninet.se)
3. Donation and distribution
of books and educational materials. (Lead: Kevin Chipman)
This project started with the donation of surplus
syllabi from continuing education courses from
the Society of
Toxicology (USA).
This material
was distributed to the toxicology societies in
developing countries and this effort has now developed
into an ongoing
activity for
IUTOX. Publishers
have been asked to donate toxicology texts and
IUTOX has paid for the distribution of the educational
material.
Specific activities
include
of the following:
A. SOT educational materials. Annually copies of
surplus continuing education course syllabi are
distributed by
SOT and IUTOX. Hundreds
of syllabi
have been distributed in the past years.
B. Distribution of a selection of 12 books (3 copies
each of a major toxicology text) from Taylor and
Francis that were sent to
member societies
in 2002.
C. Distribution of information regarding the availability
free of charge of electronic publications for developing
countries such
as those of
Elsevier, NIEHS and others.
D. Elsevier made a major contribution of 24 hard
copies of a major text series (Comprehensive Toxicology
vols.
1-13) in a joint press
release
which is posted at the IUTOX Web site. These books
were distributed to 24 locations around the world
at regional
libraries.
Challenges for the future include obtaining contributions
from other publishers and organizations, providing
more regional awareness
of the
material, determining the best locations for the
material; and identification of the best method
for distribution
of the material.
4. Delivery of an online toxicology program to
developing countries. (Lead: Paul Wright)
Building on the
successful web-based graduate education program, Graduate Diploma/Master
in Toxicology, available at RMIT University,
Melbourne,
Australia, and IUTOX initiated
a program to make this available to countries without access to toxicology
programs.
A risk assessment
module was lacking therefore a "Introduction to
Risk Assessment" course was developed
and added to the courses already available
in the
toxicology
training
programs.
An effort was made to identify counties where formal
toxicology training programs were lacking but where
mentors were available
on the faculty
of universities. Mentors at universities were identified
(Cameroon, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Sri Lanka and Latvia)
for the pilot program
which was initiated
in 2003. Much progress was made in 2003, with the
initial enrollment of students into the online
program, co-mentored
by local academics
(in Cameroon, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Sri Lanka and
Latvia. The Latvian student
had to drop out of the program, but the four remaining
students have been very enthusiastic and conscientious,
contributing confidently
to
some lively online discussions and tutorials, as
well as benefiting from interactions with their
online classmates
from a range of
countries around
the world. This early stage of the project has
clearly been a great success, with the students
from developing
countries excelling
in their studies.
These students are now completing the remaining
five courses in the online Grad. Dip. Tox. program
during
2004.
Funding for this project was provided by IUTOX
and the International Education Program of the
U.S. National
Institute of Environmental
Health Sciences (NIEHS). Thanks to NIEHS for actively
supporting this timely
international initiative in toxicology education.
The present international situation necessitates
this mode of education, as it maintains the local
presence
of scholars in the developing
country, while simultaneously building their capacity
and impact to effect useful
changes locally in a much shorter timeframe than
if they traveled abroad for extended periods to
undertake research
and study programs.
It is
hoped that further funds can be obtained for the
next stage of the project, to enable these students
to complete
the four Master
of Toxicology courses
(which includes a research project that will deal
with their developing country's main toxicological
problem).
The establishment of these
Masters projects (performed by local people and
co-mentored by local academics
with online co-supervision) aims to promote postgraduate
research in developing countries by allowing these
people to receive research
training
and co-supervision from experienced overseas toxicologists.
Expressions of interest
from potential local mentors in developing countries,
or from organizations
interested in supporting
this project, should be
addressed to Paul Wright at <paul.wright@rmit.edu.au>.
5.
Administration of the AstraZeneca
Fellowships. (Leads: Meryl
Karol and Judith MacGregor)
AstraZeneca has for
the past three years continued to fund travel awards to the
SOT (USA) for representatives from developing countries.
In 2004,
4 fellowships were supported,
each for $2500. By the
December 15, 2003 deadline,
we had received 14 applications, and selected the
following
awardees: Xianping Ying (China),
P.K. Gupta (India), Salmaan Inayat-Hussain (Malaysia), and
Cristina Bolaton (Philippines).
We thank Peter Moldeus of AstraZeneca
for support for this project
and the SOT (USA) for their
leadership
in
facilitation of international
communications.
This effort has been a success
and we should encourage other
societies and sponsors to support
such programs.
IUTOX 2001- 2004 Continuing
Education Programs
Speakers and Topics
1. CHINESE
SOCIETY OF TOXICOLOGY (CST) Nanjing, CHINA, continuing
education course and lectures
(October 15-16,
2001)
John (Jef) French, NIEHS,
Res. Triangle Park, NC, USA
“Application of Transgenic Models in Toxicology” (SOT CE course).
Nancy Everds Experimental
Pathology Labs, Res. Triangle Park, NC, USA
“Assessment of Rodent Clinical Pathology for Nonpathologists”
Leena Nylander-French, University of North Carolina, Durham, NC, USA
“ Biological Monitoring in Exposure Assessment”
Erik Dybing, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway
“IUTOX – Goals and Activities”, and also a lecture on risk
assessment.
2 . TOXICOLOGY
SOCIETY OF SOUTH AFRICA (TOXSA), 1st National Conference on Toxicology,
May 6-8, 2002 University of Pretoria,
SOUTH
AFRICA,
2 lectures.
Elaine Faustman, University of Washington,
Seattle, WA, USA
“Challenges and Successes in Using Gene Expression Data for Determining
Mechanisms of Toxicant Action”.
Elaine Faustman “WHO/IPCS Activities on International Harmonization of
Mode of Action Data for Risk Assessment”.
3. ARGENTINE
TOXICOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION (ATA) September 18, 2002 Buenos
Aires, ARGENTINA 2 lectures
in Spanish.
Dr. Kenneth Ramos,
Texas A & M
University, College Station,
TX, USA
"
Molecular Biology of the Toxic Response: Implications in Human Risk Assessment".
Biologia Molecular de la
Respuesta Toxica: Implicaciones para la Evaluacion de Riesgo en Humanos.
Dr. Julio Cesar Davila, Pharmacia Corporation, Saint Louis,
MO, USA
“ Use and Application of Cultured Hepatocytes in Toxicology (El Use y Application
de Hepatocytos Cultivados
en Toxicologia)
4. ANDEAN
WORKSHOP in Santiago, CHILE, September 30 to October
1, 2002 entitled “Toxicogenomics” covering
issues related to air pollution,
heavy metal poisoning, and
risk assessment.
Approximately 200 attendees
attended this
workshop
with representation
from Chile, Ecuador, Peru,
Brazil, and Argentina.
5. SLOVENIAN
SOCIETY OF TOXICOLOGY,
Ljubljana SLOVENIA October
25-26, 2002, continuing education course
and panel
discussions.
“
Environmental Bioindicators: Useful Tools for Assessing at-Risk Populations” (SOT
CE course)
Judith Zelikoff, New
York University School
of Medicine, New York,
NY, USA
“ Immunological and Molecular Markers for Assessing Pollutant Exposure
and Effects”
Marshall Adams, Oak Ridge
National Laboratory, Tennessee,
USA.
“Evaluation of Exposure and Effects Endpoints for use in Bioassessment
and Ecological Risk Assessment”
October 26 Panel Discussion
Linkages between human
health and wildlife
health Drs. Zelikoff
and Adams
6. ESTONIAN
SOCIETY OF TOXICOLOGY,
Tallinn, ESTONIA, April
25, 2003, National Institute of Chemical
Physics and Biophysics,
Tallinn, Estonia, continuing
education course.
Andrew Waddell, Managing
Director of Tower Mains
Limited, Edinburgh,
Scotland.
Continuing
education
course “Introduction to Good Laboratory Practice” Nearly
100 people attended
from 44 different institutions.
7. GEORGIAN
ASSOCIATION OF TOXICOLOGISTS (GATOX), October 17, 2003, Tbilisi,
GEORGIA, 2 lectures
in Russian
Dr. Olga I. Lavrik,
Laboratory of Bioorganic Chemistry of Enzymes
Novosibirsk
Institute
of Bioorganic
Chemistry Prospekt Lavrentiev,
Novositbirsk
Russia.
“
Role of DNA Repair in Protection of Humans from Environmental Mutagens”.
Dr. Natalie Tomitch, Fogarty International Center, National Institutes
of Health, Bethesda, Maryland,
USA
“ Collaborative Research Opportunities and How to Obtain Grants.”
8. 5th Congress
of Toxicology in Developing Countries (CTDC), Guilin, CHINA
November 10-13, 2003.
Roundtable discussion
Education Challenges in Toxicology
Torbjörn Malmfors, Malmfors Consulting AB, Johanneshov, Sweden
“Teaching
and learning methods in toxicology”
Takemi Yoshida, Showa University, Tokyo, Japan “Toxicology
education in Asia”
Glenn Sipes,
University
of Arizona,
Tucson,
Arizona,
USA “How
should
toxicologists
continue
their education?”
A. Wallace
Hayes,
Harvard
School
of Public
Health,
Andover,
MA, USA “What
will happen
with textbooks
in toxicology
in the
future?”
Paul Wright,
RMIT University,
Bundoora,
Australia “Distance
teaching/learning
via internet”
9. ASIATOX,
February 1 2004, Bangkok THAILAND, 3 lectures
Dr. Meryl Karol, University of
Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
" Challenges for Immunology in the 21st Century."
Dr. Bruce Fowler,
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Control (ATSDR), Center for
Disease Control, Atlanta
Georgia, USA
“Developing and using biomarkers for environmental health studies”
Dr. Christopher
Schonwalder, Fogarty International Center, National Institutes of
Health,
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Research Triangle Park,
North
Carolina, USA. “Grant
Opportunities for Research and Training
from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Fogarty
Center
and NIEHS
with a focus on Collaborations
in Developing Countries.
10. MEXICAN
SOCIETY OF TOXICOLOGY, March 29-April 1, Guadalajara,
MEXICO, lecture in Spanish
Dr. Jose Manautou,
University
of Connecticut,
School
of Pharmacy,
Storrs, Connecticut,
USA. “Basic Concepts in Chemical Liver Injury and the Effects of Peroxisome
Proliferators on Acetaminophin Toxicity” in Spanish “ Conceptos
Basicos de
Daqo Hepatico
Producido
por Quimicos
y el Effecto
de Proliferadores
Peroxisomas
en Toxicidad
por
Acetaminofen”
11. ICT X
Educational workshop: Tampere, FINLAND, July 2004,
Paul
Wright and Erik Dybing co chairs.
" Educational Challenges for IUTOX in Developing Countries"
Erik Dybing (President,
IUTOX)
" Past challenges faced: an overview of current educational activities of
IUTOX"
Irma Makalinao (Philippines)
" Poison control centres in developing countries and Asia's needs in toxicology
education"
Maritza
Rojas Martini
(Venezuela)
" Latin America's present and future needs in toxicology education"
Mary Gulumian (South Africa)
"Africa's present and future needs in toxicology education".
12. SOCIETY
OF TOXICOLOGY INDIA Silver Jubilee Year, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala,
INDIA, October
29, 2004, continuing education course.
Nigel Dent, Director of Country Consultancy
Limited, Milton Malsor, Northants,
United Kingdom
Continuing
Education
Course, “Good
Laboratory
Practice
Regulations”
|
