This five year proposal requests support for trainee attendance at the 2003 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Andrology (ASA) in Phoenix, Arizona, March 29-April 1, 2003, and for selected scientific sessions of the meeting as well as subsequent meetings for the four subsequent years. The American Society of Andrology (ASA), a scientific society of approximately 750 members, is a unique partnership of basic scientists and clinicians. Its primary missions are to advance and promote basic knowledge of the male reproductive tract and clinical andrology by fostering interdisciplinary collaboration and communication, and to attract young investigators to the field. An important means by which ASA fulfills its mission is by holding an annual scientific meeting, which typically attracts approximately 350 attendees. The participation of trainees (predoctoral students, medical students, postdoctoral fellows, medical fellows) is essential to maintaining and instilling new vigor into andrology. There are many opportunities for active participation in the 2003 meeting by trainees in the meeting's four oral sessions and two poster sessions. If this application is successful, trainee travel awards will be based on the dual criteria of scientific merit and need. We also request funding to help defray the costs of travel, hotel and honoraria for nine speakers on topics of inhibin and its role in reproductive health (Stacey Chapman, Ph.D.), new insights on Sertoli cell proliferation (Luiz Renato de Franca, Ph.D.), MIS and its role in development and adult function (Mary Lee, M.D.), a Symposium on the future of prostate cancer (Nancy Weigel, Ph.D., Ronald Ross, M.D., and Charles Sawyers, Ph.D.), a Symposium on Androgen action in human health and disease (Randall Urban, M.D. and Monique Cherrier, Ph.D.), and a Symposium on environmental influences on human semen (Shanna Swan, Ph.D). ? ?
