President’s Message
As I head into my final months as President, I look back on nearly eight years of service marked by excellent science, wonderful friendships and the opportunity to serve with three outstanding executive committees. When I stepped into the director position after Tohru Inoue, I did not foresee nearly a decade of working with scientists around the world I met through IUTOX who have shared interests and research in toxicology.
I am pleased my term will conclude in the beautiful city of Honolulu at the ICTXV meeting hosted by SOT, a congress in the making for over six years since they were selected as the host society at the General Assembly in Seoul. Continuing education courses will kick off the meeting followed by the Deichmann Lecture delivered by Linda Birnbaum on day two during the opening ceremony. Mid-day sessions on soft skills and mentoring and the gala dinner are already proving quite popular with our registrants. The centerpiece of the week will be the General Assembly where our member societies will gather to hear a report of the 2016–2019 term, elect the officers and directors who will serve during the 2019–2022 term, and vote on the host societies that will organize CTDC12 in 2024 and ICTXVII in 2025. The closing ceremony will feature presentations by the Malaysian Society of Toxicology and the Netherlands Society of Toxicology, your hosts for CTDC11 and ICTXVI, and their invitation to join them in Kuala Lumpur and Maastricht.
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In March, IUTOX once again organized the Global Collaboration Coffee at the SOT Annual Meeting. The topic, Open Data in a Big Data World: A Toxicology Perspective, was popular and enjoyed excellent attendance. Our thanks to the presenters: Elaine Faustman, Gary Miller, Raja Mangipudy, Richard Judson, Bert Hakkinen, and Barbara Hales (Moderator) pictured below in that order.
In Baltimore, IUTOX also made great strides with our friends in Europe by signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with EUROTOX, which will serve as our guide whenever an ICT congress is held in conjunction with EUROTOX in the future. I would like to particularly thank Heather Wallace, EUROTOX President and Barbara Hales, IUTOX Secretary-General for putting a great deal of time and care into creating a document that serves both of our organizations well and puts us in good stead for the future.
IUTOX has also made steady progress building its social medial presence thanks to the tireless efforts of Patrick Allard. I encourage you to keep up with IUTOX news, programming and travel award information by following us on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.
Finally, I leave you with a heartfelt thank you or “mahalo” for your support of IUTOX during my presidency. I will be delighted to thank you in person in Hawaii—please register today to provide me the opportunity! Finally, I wish Peter Di Marco and the next Executive Committee great opportunity and success as they take the reins in July and move IUTOX ahead to the next level.
Aloha!
Jun Kanno
2016–2019 IUTOX President