Friends of the PAS Annual Meeting:

We are hard at work planning the 2009 PAS Annual Meeting program to be held at the Baltimore Convention Center, Baltimore, MD, May 2-5, and we welcome your input.

Our meeting provides a venue for interdisciplinary scientific interactions. Our goal is to present a wide range of cutting-edge science, from basic to translational (pre-clinical), clinical and health services research that reflects our diverse pediatric academic disciplines. As always, we are committed to presenting a high-quality program addressing all aspects of academic pediatrics.

The program committee, chaired by William Keenan, includes representation from the PAS and a growing number of pediatric subspecialty societies who affiliate with the PAS (the American Society of Pediatric Nephrology; the Asian Society for Pediatric Research; the Association of Pediatric Program Directors; the Child Neurology Society; the International Pediatric Hypertension Association; the Japan Pediatric Society; the Lawson Wilkins Pediatric Endocrine Society; the North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition; the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society; the Society for Adolescent Medicine; and the Society for Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics). This planning group will meet in July to select the invited science components of the PAS and joint programs.

We would like to receive your input toward the ultimate make-up of the meeting. This request is focused on the invited science that will be presented at the meeting.  A separate call for PAS Educational Workshops will be made later this summer.  

Please provide your best ideas toward a state of the art plenary, topic symposia, hot topic or mini-course. If you have any questions, please contact me directly at the email address below. Otherwise, proposals should be submitted electronically using the web-based 2009 Official PAS Program Submission program found on our website at www.pas-meeting.org beginning Wednesday, June 11th. The submission deadline is July 10th.

The creative work by the program committee last year led to a successful meeting this year in 2008 where the attendance at this special Hawaii meeting was 5704 which reflects our 5th highest attendance meeting of all time. I am sure we will all strive towards topping this performance for the year 2009 in Baltimore.

We look forward to your thoughts and suggestions and hope you will mark your calendars to join us in Baltimore next May!

On behalf of the PAS Program Committee,

Debbie Anagnostelis, PAS Meeting Director

PAS Program Office

Phone (281) 419-0052

Email: info@pas-meeting.org