78th Penn Biomedical Postdoctoral Council Minutes, October 02, 2006

Seventy-Eighth Meeting October 2, 2006, 5:00 PM (Stellar-Chance 104) 1. Welcome / Attendance: BPC: Stacy Gelhaus, Mikolaj Pawlak, Luana Atherly, Tiangang Zhuang, Yuko Kimura, Ying Xu BPP: Yvonne Paterson, Kryste Ferguson Absent: Dave Hokey, Mark Lee, Janice Young, Africa Wallace, Fiona McGillicuddy, Arindam Basu, and Hedi Schelleman 2. Update from Biomedical Postdoctoral Programs: Dr. Yvonne Paterson, Associate Dean for Postdoctoral Research Training, Director, BPP a. RICDA grant was submitted for teaching fellowships 3. Major BPC and BPP projects: Kryste Ferguson and Subcommittees a. Symposium: Wednesday, October 11, 2006. Everything is in place with regards to the abstract booklet and schedule for the day. BPC members have volunteered to help that day at the BPP table and as moderators for poster and oral sessions. b. Budget—Dave Hokey will be the new treasurer of the BPC c. September Orientation—was successful with approximately 40 postdocs attending d. Editor’s Club—Luana will be leaving Penn within the next month or so and there is an open position for editor in chief of PEC e. Diversity—no update f. Seminar Series— Miku suggested a seminar on “common pitfalls in paper writing” or what to expect from the editors when you submit to a journal. Points of contact—Judy Swan and Linda Miller (Science) were mentioned g. Social Activities—Tiangang is in the process of organizing another happy hour. He has also decided to plan out a schedule for the upcoming year to better organize these events h. Foreign National Committee—Arindam has taken over FNC i. Medical/Dental Insurance: Meetings are taking place with Penn Faculty/Administration to determine how/who will handle the human resources side of the new postdoctoral insurance. This insurance will provide postdocs with medical, dental, vision, disability, and life insurance for 12% less then what the PI pays for only medical. Most likely, the insurance carrier will be Aetna. 5. Next meeting: November 6, 2006