March 26, 2013

Location

Penn Tower 21 Ballam Room

Present

Drs. Broennle, Goldfine, Kefalides, Heyner, MacGregor, Meadows, Myers, Paterson, Saunders, Steinberg, Webber (PASEF), Rachael Berget (FAPD) Kayvon Nikoo (FAPD)

Absent

Drs. Bloch, McCarthy, Rubin, Salcido and Winegrad

The meeting was called to order by Meadows at 12:15. Brief discussion around the phrase 'basic science is not going away' in the minutes. Minutes were approved, with the correction that the name, University Club supersedes the former Faculty Club. The Council congratulated Yvonne Paterson for her Health Sciences Award 'Curing Cancer in Large Dogs'.

Meadows reported on the appointment of a new Chair of Pediatrics at CHOP (Joe St Geme, who comes from the chair at Duke) and also reported that she's received the new version of Hitchhikers' Guide; Kayvon has put this on the website. She suggested that directions to the BRB building should also go on the website together with the notice of Ezekiel Emanuel's talk. Additionally, the PASEF talk by Vijay Kumar should be on the ASEF site. The Council is in favor of entering titles of ASEF and PASEF talks on both websites.

Nominations for President-elect and Council: Meadows reported that Stanley Baum has agreed to be a candidate for Council membership. Meadows, Saunders and Heyner will approach three other possible candidates and report back in April. Difficulty in recruiting members and identifying a President-elect was acknowledged and it was clear that ASEF needs new blood. A sign-in sheet at Emanuel’s talk might provide some leads. There was considerable discussion regarding the future of ASEF and PASEF. Steinberg defended ASEF, pointing out that we have a direct line to the Dean, space in Penn Tower and a budget. Webber said that in contrast, PASEF is a conglomerate of different schools, and doesn't have the same sense of connection to the University.

Program for new Emeriti

This will beheld at the Sweeten Center. Three possible dates are: October 29, 30 and November 6. The date has to be decided by April 1. The Provost will attend and bring one of the new Vice Provosts with him.

Committee Reports

April 9th talk by Emanuel on Healthcare Reform at 4:00 pm followed by a reception in BRB. The caterer is Fresh on 47th. Since this is a new caterer, Myers would like to get comments regarding the food and presentation, as there are no current plans for the June party. The June 18th Council meeting will be at 2:30 pm followed by the party in Penn Tower 21 from 4:00 to 6:00 pm.

Lunchtime Speakers

April 10, Virginia Lee will speak on Neurodegenerative Diseases and May 8th, Vivian Chung will speak on Individual Variation in Human Gene Expression. Notices will be sent out one week, and subsequently, one day in advance of the talk. There was considerable discussion concerning the lunchtime seminars. Concern was voiced over the few attendees. Webber said that PASEF formerly used the Lenape Room of the University Club, but when attendance grew larger, had to move to the Hourglass Room; there, the numbers fluctuate significantly. Advantage of the Lenape Room is that there can be more of a 'conversational' atmosphere although the audience number may be small. Discussion centered around the possibility of alternating ASEF and PASEF monthly talks and the council agreed that a single monthly talk would be tried. Webber will present to PASEF that program chairs should work together on this. There were also comments regarding the appeal of titles; they should appeal to a broad audience (e.g., Alzheimers rather than neurodegenerative disease) and the organizer should make the speaker aware of the various backgrounds in the members of the audience.

Retirement Program

PASEF's Road to Retirement will be held on April 29 in the Hourglass Room with free lunch. Meadows will moderate and Neville, Howard Goldfine and Lance Donaldon-Evans will form a panel while Vicki and Hilary will be there to answer questions. Invitations have gone out and there may be more than the Hourglass room can hold.

New Business

Webber reported that the PASEF office is being renovated and asked if PASEF could use the small ASEF office in Penn Tower 21. This was agreed upon. The availability of a computer connection will be checked.

MacGregor asked Kayvon to generate a list of Senior and Emeritus faculty. He answered in the affirmative; Saunders commented that he'd worked in the past on such a list including addresses and e-mail.

Next meeting will be Tues, April 23 at noon in the Ballam Room 21 Penn Tower. Respectfully submitted Susan Heyner Secretary Treasurer