RTB AALAS
Quarter 2 Newsletter
June 2020 |
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A Message from your RTB President
Hello RTB-AALAS Members!!
What a couple of months we’ve had! I’m guessing many of you have been working strange schedules, and maybe even from some interesting places, as we’ve waded through this pandemic situation. Some of the most important work on COVID is happening right here in our state, undoubtedly directly impacted by the tireless work of some of our very own RTB ‘AALAS Heroes in Biomedical Research’!
It is with great displeasure that we are announcing cancellation of all scheduled events through at least August 2020, due to social distancing measures. This includes Trivia Night, the Rabbit Wet Lab, which cannot be hosted as planned due to COVID, the Lemur Center Tour, which are not being offered at this point, the Vendor Spotlight, and… the GOLF & CORNHOLE TOURNAMENT ☹ We are really hoping to be able to start later in the year and with a potential Tech Night makeup event combined with the Compassion Fatigue Speaker, but all plans are on hold. Soon y’all… soon!
Also, in this newsletter you will find a letter written by Tracy Parker, the National AALAS President, where she explains plans for determining how the National Meeting will look this year. We also included the letter that Tracy Parker sent to the National AALAS Communities addressing current events in our country and how AALAS can improve.
For those of you who missed these letters, or other National AALAS communication lately, I highly recommend you get involved in the online ACE Communities for email updates: |
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There’s a link later in the newsletter that’ll take you to one of the communities dedicated to events, many free to view online!
We’ll continue to send educational opportunities via email as we receive them, and have included some activities in the newsletter to bring a smile, and maybe even spark some socially distanced game time with your coworkers. With all that’s going on out there in our world right now, I urge you to take care of each other, and maybe take a little extra time to check in on folks you might not have thought needed checking.
Until next time,
Emily Weston
2020 RTB AALAS President
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National AALAS President on Covid 19
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Hello AALAS,
I hope you are all well and that you, your families, and your teams have been safe during this unprecedented time. I can say with absolute certainty that I could not have fathomed a scenario that would have us where we are right now; that is saying a lot from a strategic planner who spends A LOT of time looking at the future and the “what ifs” that come with that. Yet (as the meme says), here we are.
So now what? There are many uncertainties surrounding us regarding COVID-19; all of the states have started to transition into reopening. What will that bring in the coming weeks or months? I don’t know and honestly do not think the scientists and specialists know. All this uncertainty touches every part of our lives every single day. Is it safe to go to the grocery store, can I get my hair cut, can I schedule an appointment to see my dentist? At the same time, AALAS leadership is asking the question: What about the National Meeting?
As Ann Turner said in her recent letters, we do not know what will happen in October. I can tell you we have been looking at different scenarios (playing the “what if” game if you will) and weighing the ramifications of making decisions, when to make decisions, and how to proceed.
The Board of Trustees (BOT) will meet online on June 12. The National Meeting in Charlotte will be discussed in detail then. In the meantime, I want to provide a bit of information to help you understand why the Executive Committee (EC) has decided to wait until the scheduled BOT meeting before making any decisions.
Based on our existing contract with the convention center in Charlotte, as well as with the hotels, if we choose to make changes to the National Meeting now, AALAS would lose a large amount of money. There is a clause in most contracts called “Force Majeure” that deals with “unforeseeable circumstances that prevent someone from fulfilling a contract.” If there are national, state, or local restrictions on travel, Force Majeure would be in effect and allow AALAS to nullify our contracts, thus avoiding major financial losses.
The AALAS office has worked hard to discuss scenarios with representatives from across our membership; for example, when do exhibitors need to ship items for display in the hall or what does travel look like for facilities in the fourth quarter of this year? We have learned that there is no benefit to AALAS to cancel now versus making a more informed decision later in the summer (but before exhibitors would incur costs to ship materials). As you’ve probably seen in the news over the past couple of days, Charlotte is also supposed to host the Republican National Convention (RNC) in August. That event brings a lot more people to a city than our meeting. Given that, Charlotte is doing a lot of work to develop protocols for hosting a sizable convention. We can learn a lot about whether a city can safely host a conference as the RNC planning continues.
I want to remind you of our #1 Goal: Provide education, training, and certification that facilitates professional development in laboratory animal science and enhances recognition within the research community. We have a responsibility to our members to provide training and the National Meeting is a main deliverable for us. To meet that, our “what if” takes us to examining alternative methods to provide National Meeting content to members if travel is restricted. The Program Committee has laid the foundation for a fantastic educational program; abstract submissions are still coming in, so the poster and platform planning will begin in earnest next week. Your peers have submitted content to be included in the program. We all have information to share. I want to make sure we provide training and respect the authors that have worked hard to submit their content, but I want to make sure we do it safely.
If this note seems to oscillate back and forth between what we should do, welcome to my world. The EC decided to proceed with this topic on the BOT agenda because we do not have the information to make an informed decision right now. We will certainly have a robust discussion and have more to share after that meeting. That meeting is only 2 weeks away and we know that is a long time in the information cycle for this virus. We will share more with you after the BOT meets. In the meantime, please feel free to reach out to me, Ann Turner, or any member of the EC or BOT with your questions or concerns at info@aalas.org .
Sincerely,
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National AALAS on Current Events |
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We have all been touched by the recent events in our world resulting from the senseless killing of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor. As the mom of 2 adult kids of color, I have seen first-hand incidences of racism, bigotry and discrimination and how it impacted their childhood and how they are impacted today. My son is in the USAF and stationed in South Carolina; I worry about what might happen to him when he goes out for a run. Many of my closest friends are members of the LGBTQ community and I am painfully aware of the fact that they have also experienced incidences of discrimination that are too numerous to count. At the same time, I am the daughter of a first responder. Growing up, many of the adults in my circle were local and state police officers. I condemn the action of the individuals involved in the murder of these innocent people as well as the use of force against otherwise peaceful protesters. I also condemn the rioting, looting and destruction of property and the indiscriminate targeting of people in uniform.
It is impossible to expect that the outside world does not influence our AALAS community. While I believe that we foster an environment of diversity and inclusion (indeed it is one of our strategic goals), I wonder what our members experience in their work places and in their communities outside of AALAS.
To help better understand how our membership is impacted, the Executive Committee is establishing an ad hoc committee on Diversity and Inclusion charged with the following:
- Does AALAS as an organization need a formal public statement on diversity and inclusion?
- As an organization, are there actions or other items that we need to promote or enhance diversity and inclusion?
Additional action items are likely to surface based on the info the committee gathers.
This is personal for me; we need to model the change that we want to see in our greater society. It is overdue.
As always, please reach out to me if you have any questions.
Best,
Tracy
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Tracy Parker CMAR, RLATG
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UNC: Nathan Elliott- ALAT Chelsi Holle- LAT |
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Submit your puzzle answers to Allison or Emily for a chance to win some cool prizes! |
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Check out research that is being done at UNC to learn more about Covid 19
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- Inform the public about the compassionate professionals working in laboratory animal science (LAS). - Communicate the important role of animals in biomedical research.
- Offer free or low-cost resource materials for community outreach activities.
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AALAS Foundation Public Awareness Campaigns
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- “Celebrate Animals in Research and Education” (CARE)
- Encourage LAS professionals to speak to their family and friends about how animals have helped discover treatments and cures for people and animals. - Request the free, fully scripted, speaker-ready, Power Point presentations such as "What's Happening in Breast Cancer Research?" or “… Heart Disease” or “…..Diabetes” or “….Alzheimer’s Disease” and more. Reach out within your local community for opportunities to present this informative program. |
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- “Caring for All” Website (Showcases compassionate professionals working in laboratory animal science) Collection of videos – highlighting careers and information about the importance of biomedical research and the strict guidelines in place for working with animals in research. www.care.aalas.org
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Social Media Public Awareness Campaign
- Videos promoting how research animals help with medical discoveries will be posted regularly on the Foundation’s Facebook Page.
- You Tube ‘Celebrating Animals in Research and Education’ (CARE) Channel is now established to allow members to create and submit videos describing the importance of animals in research and medical discovery.
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What can you do to help? - Volunteer for AALAS Foundation activities
- Volunteer to serve on the AALAS Foundation Board or Committees
- Donate items to the annual Silent & Live Auctions
- Make a monetary donation (memorial/honorarium) by mail or online
- Like us on Facebook!
- To learn more, please visit our website
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Bored and need something to do during your time at home? Check out these resources for informational webinars related to our wonderful field of Lab Animal Science! |
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Vendor members, don’t see your business card listed? All vendor members are entitled to a business card space in our newsletter and on our website, so please send a current business card to info@rtbaalas.org so our members know how to reach you. Interested in a half or full page ad? Please contact us for pricing.
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