The Society for the Study of Reproduction (SSR) holds an annual scientific meeting attended by ~900 basic and clinical researchers, teachers, and undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral trainees, from universities, medical schools, research institutes, and clinics in the U.S. and more than 30 other countries. The three-fold goal of every meeting is (1) to present state-of-the-art research in the biology underlying and associated with reproductive processes; (2) to provide an environment that encourages scientific dialogue, and (3) to provide a meeting program, setting, and culture that promotes the professional development of trainees and early stage investigators. Each meeting consists of plenary and state-of-the-art lectures by world-class scientists, and concurrent sessions (with 2-4 speakers in each) that focus on subjects of interest to scientists in biomedical, clinical, and animal science, and researchers who concentrate on wildlife and environmental preservation. Oral and poster presentations (typically 50-100 and 500-600, respectively) highlight research contributions by scientists from a range of career stages, most especially trainees. These presentations are selected from submitted abstracts, based on review by the Program Committee. Abstracts submitted for trainee award competitions also are reviewed by the SSR's Awards Committee. This grant application is a renewal for partial support for the 2018 meeting and the subsequent meetings through 2022. The 2018 meeting will be held at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside Hotel in New Orleans, Louisiana, and the 2019 meeting will be at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, California. The selection process for the 2020 meeting venue is down to two finalist sites, Atlanta, Georgia and Ottawa, Ontario. Support is requested specifically for travel and lodging expenses for invited speakers (including but not limited to Keynote, President's Symposium, and State-of-the-Art speakers, and for non-SSR member speakers in focus sessions), and to support travel awards for trainees with meritorious abstracts and documented need who are not supported by an NRSA and who meet the NIH criteria for funding. Participation of underrepresented minorities is encouraged in all aspects of the meeting, and a highlight of the meeting is the lecture and lunch hosted by the Diversity Committee. In designing the program of the Annual Meeting, each Program Committee incorporates translational research and clinical applications. Exchange lectures with the American Society of Reproductive Medicine (ASRM), the Society for Reproductive Investigation (SRI), the Society for Reproduction and Fertility (SRF), and Society for Reproductive Biology (SRB) emphasize recent advances in reproductive health, and highlight the SSR's bonds with sister societies. The Program Committee also ensures topic, gender, race, and geographic balance in designing each program. The SSR meeting provides an atmosphere of learning and collaboration, with the goal of generating new knowledge leading to solutions in reproductive medicine, public health, agriculture, and conservation that will benefit humankind.
The Society for the Study of Reproduction (SSR) is the leading international scientific society that promotes the integration of basic, applied, and translational research in reproductive biology by fostering interdisciplinary communication between scientists across more than 30 countries. The SSR prides itself as a ?training and mentoring society? by fostering the participation of trainees who will become the next generation of scientists and physicians. Each year, the SSR Annual Meeting serves as the premier venue to communicate new knowledge and solutions that address worldwide problems such as infertility in humans, pregnancy risk, contraception, healthy reproduction in domestic and wild animal species, and environmental impacts on reproductive health.
