There have been quite a few changes at the Association of Medical School Pharmacology Chairs (AMSPC) this past year.

1) First let me introduce myself as the incoming president. I am Kent Vrana, Chair of Pharmacology at Penn State College of Medicine in Hershey, Pennsylvania (Sweetest Place on Earth). In 2004, I succeeded Elliot Vesell the founding chair of the department and former president of this organization. Many thanks to Mike Frohman (Stony Brook University) for so ably leading the organization these past two years. Mike now will become immediate past president. I look forward to working with all the members of the organization and our constituencies these next two years.

2) After many years of service as secretary, David Taylor (East Carolina University) has stepped down and Alvin Terry (Medical College of Georgia) has assumed that role.

3) The remainder of the leadership team remains the same.

Treasurer: David Busija (Tulane University)
Councillors: Kathy Cunningham (University of Texas Medical Branch), Rick Neubig (Michigan State University) and Jill Siegfried (University of Minnesota)

4) We will hold an election for a new slate of councilors in the coming months.

5) We just completed a successful annual meeting in Kauai, Hawaii. A brief summary of the meeting will appear in the March 2019 issue of ASPET’s The Pharmacologist. Detailed minutes will be posted here on the AMSPC website in the coming weeks.

6) Mark your calendars for the 2020 meeting (January 24-28, 2020) in Nassau, Bahamas at the British Colonial Hilton. We hope to see you there.

7) A number of new initiatives in medical education are upcoming, so stay tuned.