ANNUAL REPORT
ASM International Membership Committee
International Ambassadors
Country: Brazil
ASM Ambassador: Prof. Leda Cristina Mendonça-Hagler
A. Goals:
· Promote ASM membership within Brazil;
· Help ASM to support the advancement of microbiology in Brazil;
· Identify the needs of the local microbiological community and report to ASM;
· Develop relationships with institutions and organizations in the region
· Exchange experiences with other Ambassadors.
B. Activities
a- Promotion of ASM membership
§ Contacting ASM members in Brazil: first action was to ask ASM to send the list of members. Over 200 members were contacted by e-mail, providing information on ASM representation in the country by an Ambassador and on ASM benefits to members.
§ Promoting ASM: information on ASM benefits to international members has been provided during meetings and at universities and research institutes. ASM materials were distributed during these occasions.
§ Translation of ASM materials: some materials have been translated into Portuguese and others are in progress. The materials available in Spanish have been quite helpful for Portuguese speakers.
b- Promoting Microbiology in Brazil:
1-Meetings:
§ Organization of a national meeting on Environmental Microbiology, (ENAMA), November 2001, Rio de Janeiro (270 participants). Six ASM members from abroad were invited to speak.
§ Co-organizing the National Microbiology General Meeting in November 2003, Florianópolis (aprox. 2800 participants). Forty speakers from abroad were invited, most of them are ASM members (opening ceremony keynote speaker: Dr R. Guerrero). An exponential growth of Microbiology in Brazil was observed during the congress.
§ Co-organization of the 3rd Brazilian Biosafety Congress, September 2003, held in Recife, (700 participants), with an expressive attendance of microbiologists and ASM members.
§ ICY 2004: “The Eleventh International Congress on Yeasts” to be held in Rio de Janeiro 15th-20th of August, 2004 (expected attendance of 300 participants). ASM membership will be highly represented. ASM materials will be distributed.
§ Co-organization of “Encontro Nacional de Microbiologia Ambiental” in November 2004, Curitiba-PR and other meetings planed for 2005. ASM materials will be distributed in these events.
2- Education in Microbiology: a diagnostic of the Microbiology in Brazil is under development. A summary of the actual scenario was presented during a workshop held in Barcelona and co-sponsor by ASM. The main objective is to identify the gaps of knowledge and send information to Brazilian policy makers. ASM program and activities can play a role to bridge the gaps toward the development of Microbiology in Brazil.
C. Suggestions :
§ Improving communication in the region by having ASM International Committee meeting during major Microbiology meetings (as it is planned for Argentina).
§ Sponsor travel expenses of distinguished scientists (ASM members) to speak at national meetings in Latin America with ASM visibility at the session.
§ ASM Award for nomination at a major national meeting to allow attendance to ASM General Meeting.
§ Actions to improve communication, specially by electronic means to be discussed in GM-IMC meeting
It has been an honor and satisfaction to be ASM Ambassador. We made efforts to promote ASM membership and Microbiology in Brazil and intend to intensify the actions. One major drawback to achieve increase in membership is the devaluation of the Brazilian currency making any payment abroad unaffordable to scientists and students.
We look forward to see better horizons…
Leda C. Mendonça-Hagler
ASM Ambassador-Brazil