Welcome from the HCS President
Dear HCS friends, It is my privilege and my honor to write this first letter as President of the Histochemical Society. I look forward to working with all of you to fulfill the HCS Mission through 2024 and beyond. I want to express my warmest welcome to our new Councilors, Dr Babajide Ajayi and Dr Tracy Fisher, and congratulate our President-Elect, Dr Sally Davis, our new Secretary-Treasurer, Dr Scott Tanner, and Dr Charles Frevert for being re-elected for Council. I also want to express my gratitude to Dr Liliana Schaefer for her outstanding work during her tenure as President ensuring that our Society would thrive even in the most challenging environment. With her leadership, we maintained an active schedule through the pandemic, including online conferences, a webinar series, a renovated social media presence, and new trainee grants and awards. In 2022, we had an outstanding presence at the final Experimental Biology meeting and a very successful in-person course on immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence. I also thank all Council and committee members for their unwavering support and hard work to ensure the success of all these initiatives. This year, we have several exciting initiatives planned. First, as you may already know, we are now partnering with ASIP and ASMB to host a new conference, "Tissue, Matrix & Pathobiology". The meeting program is almost finalized. We will have many travel awards available, and I look forward to meeting all of you in Salt Lake City, UT this October! Second, we will be running again the in-person IHCIF course this June in Germantown, MD. HCS is subsidizing in part the cost of this small class, hands-on course, including travel awards. Please visit our website to learn more about this amazing opportunity for learning the best practices from our experts. Third, we have a packed webinar calendar that includes trainee and awardee talks, invited speakers, and career development sessions. As always, webinars are free for everyone, including non-members, so please spread the word and encourage your colleagues to sign up. Lastly, we continue supporting the best science that uses histochemical techniques and last year expanded our offers. Don't forget to nominate candidates for our merit awards (self-nominations allowed) and to take advantage of our Capstone, Cornerstone, and Keystone grants. All the information is as always on our website. Many awardees also have the opportunity to present their research at our webinars. Throughout its long history, HCS has a proud tradition of promoting a diverse membership in an inclusive environment. Still, we are always looking for ways to improve our support for diversity in research, and in our Society in particular. Last year, we implemented a program to provide automatic fee waivers for members from developing countries, and allow fee waiver requests from anyone that cannot afford the full membership. However, we realize that our initiatives are limited by our unknown unknowns. Our latest anonymous membership survey will ask you to share personal information with us. Rest assured, our goal is to promote a more diverse and inclusive environment, so please consider answering this section of the survey. However, we fully understand if you choose not to. We are here for you. This is your Society! We are always happy to hear your requests, so please do not hesitate to contact us if you have a particular request or suggestion in mind. You can get in touch via email, social media, and hopefully in person in Salt Lake City. Wishing you a successful and happy 2023, Alex Adam President, Histochemical Society Associate Professor, Albany Medical College |
January 2023