This application requests partial support for the Sixth Annual Meeting of the Organization for the Study of Sex Differences (OSSD), to be held June 7-9, 2012 in Baltimore, MD. The OSSD is a scientific membership society established in 2006, and is an affiliate of the Society for Women's Health Research (SWHR). The mission of the OSSD is to enhance the knowledge of the biological basis of sex/gender differences in health and disease. The primary goal of the OSSD annual meeting is to provide a forum for scientists to explore aspects of sex differences research at the genetic, molecular, cellular, organ, and systems levels in humans and model systems. This year marks the first joint meeting with the International Society of Gender Medicine (IGM), a European-based membership society whose mission and goals parallel those of OSSD. The annual meeting consists of two independent symposia, eight parallel symposia, and two poster sessions, which will be arranged around topics covered in these symposia and will highlight the work of new investigators and trainees, and a New Investigator symposium. The meeting will be bookended by a Keynote lecture at the start, and Capstone lecture at the end of the meeting, The symposia topics for the 2012 meeting include a workshop on Building Sex/Gender-Based Competencies Into Medical and Graduate Curricula, Sex Differences in Fetal Programming, Sex Differences and their Impact on Osteoarthritis, Depression and Anxiety Disorders: Novel Targets for Sex-Specific Treatments, Sex Differences in Cancers, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and One's Sex, Sex Differences in Mechanistic Pathways of Cardiovascular Disease, Hormonal Modulation of the Adult Brain, Global Assessment of Severe Coronary Artery Disease and Sex Difference in Global Health. The OSSD and IGM Programs Committee selected the symposia topics from among proposals submitted by the membership of both organizations. Proposals were selected on the basis of scientific merit, relevance of the subject matter to the overall goals and rotation of topics of interest to both groups and inclusion of basic and clinical speakers. The size (about 200 people) and the organization of this meeting provide an excellent opportunity for networking and interactive discussions. Funds are requested to support travel and lodging costs for the Keynote and Capstone speakers, registration fees for invited speakers, and travel expenses for junior investigators. The annual meeting program, including speaker and poster abstracts will be made freely available on the OSSD website (www.ossdweb.org). We will partner with the University of Maryland Medical School and Johns Hopkins University to organize this event and are requesting support from the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, as well as from private foundations.
This proposal requests partial support for the Sixth Annual meeting of the Organization for the Study of Sex Differences (OSSD) to be held June 7-9, 2012 in Baltimore, MD. The OSSD is a scientific membership society with the mission to enhance the knowledge of sex/gender differences in human health and disease by facilitating interdisciplinary communication and collaboration among scientists and clinicians from diverse backgrounds. This year the meeting will be held in collaboration with the International Society of Gender Medicine (IGM), a European Union-based group whose mission and goals parallel those of the OSSD.
