After an enthusiastic Research Committee meeting at the PAS meeting in Toronto, with an attendance of over 30 members, several new members joined the Executive Committee. Membership of the Executive Committee of the Research Committee now includes: Benard Dreyer, Peter Szilagyi, Gretchen Caspary, Bill Cooper, Ruth Etzel, Glenn Flores, Jim Guevera, Donna Halloran, Larry Kleinman, Chris Landrigan, Janet Serwint, Mark Schuster, and Karen Wilson. The Executive Committee has monthly conference calls as well as subcommittees that work on individual activities throughout the year. Connie Mackay, the Associate Director of the National Office of the APA, has provided a great deal of support to the Executive Committee.

Here are some of the present activities of the Research Committee:

Young Investigators Grant (YIG)
The call for proposals has gone out and we are expecting Letters of Intent to be submitted by mid-October. We have set up a group of reviewers to judge the first round of this submission process and invite the investigators of the strongest proposals to submit a full application. Last year we had almost 50 applications and we are expecting at least as many proposals this year. The quality of the proposals has been excellent, and choosing among them difficult.

Evaluation of the YIG Program
We have started an evaluation of the YIG program. Karen Wilson has volunteered to head up that evaluation. We will be surveying previous awardees to determine the impact of the YIG program on their careers. Since the major goal of the YIG program is to support and promote the careers of young investigators, we think this evaluation will help access how successful it has been, and hopefully encourage additional funding.

Evaluation of the PAS Abstract Review Process
As reported in the Summer Newsletter, the Research committee has begun an evaluation of the PAS abstract review process. We have started by reviewing the reliability of scoring of abstracts that APA leadership has participated in. Benard Dreyer has led this effort, and preliminary data from that evaluation reveals areas for action to improve the reliability of the scoring process, and we are working with Marilyn Dumont-Driscoll, who represents the APA in PAS planning, to brainstorm ways of intervening in the process for this year’s abstracts submission. Stay tuned!

PAS Workshops Subcommittee
A subcommittee has been set up to consider a strategic plan for workshops focusing on research at the PAS. Certain workshop categories (fellow core curriculum, research, and grant preparation) are of particular interest. The first step of this process is to look at the workshops presented over the last several years and see whether there are any important areas of research skills that have been missing. We could then encourage submissions to fill the gaps, recognizing, of course, that workshops are accepted through a peer-review process. We will report findings as they are available.

Research Networks
The Research Committee continues to work with Janet Serwint, who directs CORNET (Continuity Research Network), and Chris Landrigan, who directs PRIS (Pediatric Research in Inpatient Settings) to help support their important efforts.

Membership
If you have an interest in joining our committee, please contact me! All APA members are invited, from trainees to senior faculty. We have a monthly conference call during the year for our Executive Committee which is open to anyone interested in year long involvement, as well as subcommittees working on specific projects!

If you are interested, or have any questions, contact me at bpd1@nyu.edu

Updated 11/1/07