David Burr chosen as AAA president‐elect; Kathy Svoboda moves up to presidency

Abstract

David B. Burr, professor and chair of anatomy and cell biology at the Indiana University School of Medicine, has been chosen as AAA president-elect after serving just a year as AAA secretary-treasurer. David Burr In his candidate's statement, Burr pointed to several key challenges facing AAA and the anatomy discipline in the coming years, including: Dealing with the potential shortage of future instructors, particularly in gross anatomy. “Our discipline depends on our central role in education. This is one reason to develop associations both with medical educators in AACA and with undergraduate educators, many of whom belong to HAPS (the Human Anatomy and Physiology Society).” Maintaining the vitality and novelty of research in the morphological sciences. “Anatomists have a fundamental role to play both in the imaging technologies and in characterization of genetically modified animal models. We are well positioned to take advantage of NIH's new Roadmap, which stresses translational research and clinical relevance, but the important role that we can play is not widely recognized outside our field.” Sustaining AAA financially. “There is a strong push by NIH for open access to published research. Science must be a public endeavor, and descriptions of research findings must be available to anyone who wants or needs them. However, scientific societies derive significant revenue from journal publication. AAA's financial vitality would be seriously damaged without this source of support. The challenge is to balance access to published literature with the needs of scientific societies.” Also elected to the AAA board of directors were: Charles D. Little, professor of anatomy and cell biology, University of Kansas. Charles Little Hazel L. Sive, member, Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research and professor of biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Hazel Sive Julian A. Guttman, postdoctoral fellow, Biotechnology/Michael Smith Laboratory, University of British Columbia. Julian A. Guttman At the AAA Annual Business Meeting held on April 4 in San Diego, former president John Fello congratulated Kathy Svoboda as she moved up to assume the AAA presidency for the coming 2 years. Svoboda announced that Richard L. Drake, Professor and Director of Anatomy at Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, has been appointed secretary-treasurer to fill the vacancy caused by Burr's election. Finally, McCuskey thanked outgoing board members John Fallon, Kimberly Latacha, Lynne Opperman, and Robert Specian for their service, presenting them each with a certificate of appreciation. Kathy Svoboda Richard L. Drake