SRNT Newsletter

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2008, Volume 14, Number 3

President's Column

by Scott Leischow

The Future of SRNT

Dear colleagues: SRNT is at a crossroads, and it is one of those crossroads that many organizations could only wish was possible. After many ups and downs, including a time several years ago when SRNT was on the verge of financial ruin, SRNT is in good financial and scientific shape as a result of the efforts of many dedicated people. SRNT has continued to grow as an organization. The European SRNT organization is solid and conducts exceptional conferences every year, and there are active efforts in Latin America and Asia to develop strong SRNT networks in those regions. The SRNT meeting in Rio was a success last year, and the Bangkok SRNT meeting is sure to be successful as well. Moreover, there is increasing recognition that tobacco control science must be at the foundation of global tobacco control efforts, and SRNT members are central to those efforts as well. For example, SRNT members play central roles in WHO's tobacco laboratory network which was developed to create standards for the analysis of tobacco products worldwide. And other SRNT members are playing central roles to encourage a scientific foundation to expanding global cessation programs.

Our success in expanding our efforts, and in demonstrating the fundamental need for research to be at the foundation of practice and policy, has a cost. The dedication and hard work of our members has put increasing demands on our organizational infrastructure, such that our current contract with the Rees group - which manages our resources, conferences, website, membership, etc - has been exceeded. The Rees Group, which is the business group with whom SRNT contracts to help us run the organization, has helped the Board to understand this expansion of effort has been happening for several years, but that a decision must be made about SRNT's future and that we need of a long term strategy for assuring its financial stability.

For, example, we are paying for approximately half of Bruce Wheeler's time, and he regularly spends more time than that on current SRNT business. Thus, we are in a position where we either need to cut back our efforts (e.g., global expansion, expansion of the SRNT website, etc), or develop a plan for how we can continue to expand in such a way that that we remain financially strong. Perhaps most importantly we will need to develop new leadership, and a plan for expanding and coordinating fundraising for SRNT.

Susan Rees and Bruce Wheeler presented this information to the Board recently, and the Board's view - along with mine - is that we should not scale back our efforts but should instead develop both a financial and organizational plan for smart growth to assure that as a scientific society we can press for translational science that can move us more rapidly toward the elimination of tobacco use and tobacco-caused disease. Toward that end, the Board will meet this fall for a retreat to begin developing a plan for the future - and of course we welcome the ideas and perspectives of all members so please pass along your thoughts, recommendations, and concerns to myself or Bruce Wheeler so that we can get them to the Board.

In the meantime, there are some new expenses that will occur, including a revamping and likely expansion of our website after the Electronic Communications Committee obtains website recommendations from SRNT members, and funding support for our efforts to help the WHO implement the Framework Convention for Tobacco Control (FCTC) tobacco treatment recommendations. We have also begun the process of developing two new Committees.

I have asked the Board to support the creation of a treatment committee because SRNT is increasingly active in the treatment area. After Board approval, I asked Drs. Nancy Rigotti and Jean Francois Etter to co-chair the new treatment committee, and they have begun the process of identifying members of that committee so that they can provide oversight for treatment matters pertaining to SRNT. One unique component of the Treatment Committee will be a subcommittee of treatment scientists who have no conflict of interest with pharmaceutical companies _ which puts this subcommittee in an excellent position to review and comment on science matters pertaining to medications without criticism of being biased.

The new Treatment Committee will provide oversight of all treatment efforts and provide recommendations to the Board. In addition to oversight of treatobacco.net and the FCTC efforts, the Committee will provide oversight for a new initiative. The Board authorized myself, Mitch Zeller of the Policy Committee and others to meet with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to explore how SRNT might be able to assist the FDA on regulatory matters pertaining to medication testing and approval. This effort could put SRNT in the position of providing scientific input to the main medication regulatory authority in the US in order to recommend that they employ the best science to their decision-making.

In addition, I have asked our immediate past president, Ray Niaura, to begin identifying SRNT leadership who will help us to develop a new basic Bioscience Committee (specific name to be determined). We need to assure that SRNT serves as a good professional home for our basic science colleagues, and this Committee can potentially serve that purpose. Please connect with Ray if you have any suggestions for that developing effort.

Finally, the announcement for submissions to the next SRNT meeting in Dublin, Ireland have gone out so please put this conference on your calendar and plan to submit your best data. We should all be pleased at the dedication of our members, and the great science that is being disseminated via SRNT, because with careful planning we are in a position for SRNT to play an even larger role in fostering strong science as a foundation to tobacco control practice and policy. I look forward to working with you all to make that happen.