News and Reviews

Eleventh International Congress of Toxicology (ICT XI)
July 15–19, 2007 - Montreal, Canada


To All Members of the International Toxicology Community:

The planning of the 11th International Congress of Toxicology to be held in Montreal July 15–19, 2007 is well underway. Indeed, the Organizing Committee is now in the ‘implementation phase’ of our planning cycle. The ICT XI Organizing Committee continues to meet several times a year, often at the Palais des Congrès de Montréal (Montreal Convention Centre), the site of the future Congress. In 2004, after touring the Palais, the Organizing Committee decided on the space allocations for ICT XI. We are fortunate to be able to host this Congress at a world-class convention center that is situated in an easily accessible and attractive location between historic Old Montreal and the modern downtown city core.

Another of our highlights in 2004 was the launch of the official ICT XI website: www.ict2007.org. The website serves as our main communication tool to the external community for up-to-date information on the Congress. Various other communication tools will be used and promotional activities are being planned throughout the period of time leading up to July 2007. During ICT X in Tampere, the ICT XI Organizing Committee set up an attractive promotional booth with the help of our NRC (National Research Council Canada) and Tourisme Montréal colleagues. ICT X also provided valuable opportunities for members of our team to meet with the IUTOX Executive Committee, ICT X organizers, and other members of the international toxicology community. At the recent SOT meeting in New Orleans, once again we hosted an ICT XI promotional booth and benefited from face-to-face interactions with the IUTOX EC, representatives from member societies and individual scientists. During SOT, the International Scientific Program Committee (ISPC) for ICT XI met for the first time with more than 20 members present. It was gratifying to see such an enthusiastic response and we appreciate the willingness of the members to dedicate time for working on this committee.

The ICT XI scientific program is beginning to take form even as more proposals continue to be received after the mid-February deadline. The number of proposals received is now over 120 and the National Scientific Program Committee has been hard at work screening and ‘binning’ these to present themes and subject areas to the ISPC for an initial evaluation. The next step will involve identifying appropriate speakers and presentation topics for integration into the framework of the program. This will be a reiterative process with input from the ISPC who will be meeting again at EUROTOX 2005 in Krakow. An International Advisory Committee (IAC) to the ICT XI Organizing Committee has also been established whose membership reflects the geographical and professional composition of IUTOX member societies. The role of the IAC will be to advise the Organizing Committee on the overall ICT XI program and to facilitate communications with the member societies.

The Local Arrangements sub-committee is beginning to plan out the schedule of ‘official’ events associated with the Congress, and select venues for off-site ‘social’ activities. There is much work ahead for this and all of the other sub-committees involved in the planning and execution of ICT XI. I am confident that with the excellent team we have in place, and the strong support we have from IUTOX and the international community, we are well positioned to host the most successful ICT ever! We hope to see all of you here.

Mallé Jurima-Romet, Ph.D.
President, ICT XI