The latest news on ABRF Events & Activities
July 5, 2023
  • President’s Message
  • Chapters’ Corner: MAD SSCi and MWACD Meeting Updates
  • Call for ABRF DEI Award Nominations
  • DEI Council Member Recognition: Debbie Hollingshead and call for New Members
  • OSTP Action Plan for Biotech Workforce – an Opportunity for Cores?
Message from the President 
Happy Summer Everyone, and I hope all our ABRF members in the USA had a restful Fourth of July weekend.

This month, I’ve been reflecting on the different ways that we can communicate as ABRF, and I want to highlight a few changes that we’ve made to our communications recently to increase transparency for all members. The first is that we’re making public a summary of each of our executive board meetings and publishing it both here in the newsletter and online in the ABRF Community. I invite everyone to look at the issues we’re reviewing as a board and follow up with either myself or our Executive Director, Ken Schoppmann, if you have any questions or are interested in learning more about what we do. The second is that we’ll be reaching out to our membership over the next few months to capture feedback on how we’re doing at achieving our current strategic plan, as well as areas you’d like us to focus as we design our plan to improve ABRF over the next few years.

One final way that we’re working to improve communication is through outreach; identifying and partnering with other societies that ABRF members already consider valuable – you may have noticed a one question poll at the beginning of our Town Halls and other online programming asking you to identify other societies you belong to. We realize that we all have other scientific priorities that ABRF can’t support alone, so the goal is to communicate between our groups to find ways that we can collaborate and enhance the quality of support you receive as members, whether it be designing a joint session spotlighting cores that we can bring to both societies’ national meetings, working on a science advocacy project, or creating new opportunities for research study participation. If you have an interest in helping create these partnerships, or an idea for a joint project, please reach out, we’d love to hear it!
 
Best,
Marie Adams
ABRF President 
Chapters’ Corner
Do you work in a Core? Would you like to talk to other people who work in Cores? Then I have got the meeting for you!!! MAD SSCi’s ROCKIN’ annual meeting will happen soon at the Friday Center at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill on August 9-11, 2023. As part of the meeting there are two engaging pre-meeting workshops, ABRF Business Skills and Train the Trainer.
 
There is still time to decide to join us for several days of training, learning, and networking.  Check out the program at https://madssci.abrf.org/
2023 Annual Meeting, October 16-17, Ann Arbor, MI
ABRF DEI Council Updates
Call for DEI Award Nominations. ABRF welcomes nominations for the DEI Award, which was created to honor, celebrate, and give due recognition to individuals, groups, or organizations whose work has contributed to a diverse, inclusive, and equitable scientific community. For more details, and to nominate an individual or group, visit https://www.abrf.org/abrf-diversity-equity-and-inclusion-award

DEI Council Membership Changes
On behalf of the ABRF Executive Board and the entire ABRF membership, we’d like to thank Debbie Hollingshead for her service on the DEI Council. Debbie has provided valuable insights and perspectives to help the Council develop its plans for Affinity Groups and programming to support ABRF’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
The DEI Council invites members who are interested in contributing to its ongoing work to join the group. Contact co-chairs Tania Mesa or Mary Winn to learn more about how you can participate.
OSTP Action Plan for Biotech Workforce – an Opportunity for Cores?
The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy recently released a new Action Plan to invest in the development of the biotechnology and biomedical workforce, including commitments to elevate these career options among community colleges and minority-serving institutions. The objectives of this substantial federal initiative are well-aligned with the new ABRF Careers in Cores consortium project, which is expected to begin later this year.  
If you have information for future ABRF Updates to share with your ABRF colleagues, please send your contributions to ABRF Updates to be included in an upcoming issue.