PRIM&R Blog Squad

Last week I attended the PRIM&R 2011 IACUC conference in Chicago. I hope to get a bunch of photos posted soon from the trip. The conference was from Tuesday-Friday and I met up on Friday evening with my mom and we stayed the weekend to see a few sights of the city. As a member of the PRIM&R blog squad, I submitted a number of posts (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) that are on the PRIM&R blog Ampersand.

The 'windy city' is famous for its deep dish pizza - so of course one of the nights during the conference I had to go out and try some! Delicious!

Blog Squad Application

Down to the wire...the Blog Squad Application for the 2011 IACUC Conference is due tomorrow.

I've enlisted the fine artistic talent of Tim Brown to do the comic illustrations to go along with my 'statement of purpose'. It's been said that a "picture is worth a thousand words". In the case of this application, I'm limited to 500 words, so we'll see what happens! Please remember all images are copyright of Tim Brown.

IACUC Blog Squad

Blog Squad applications must also submit a writing sample relating to animal care and use and research ethics. While not a blog, here’s a link to our UCACS Animal Care Course Registration / Login Information which is used to give animal users details about our Education and Training Program and the process for registering and logging in for the online course that all animals users must complete before their protocol is approved. Also relating to training, on the Research Ethics Office website, one can find a poster I developed to highlight our program - Meeting Responsibilities: The institutional animal user education and training program at the University of Saskatchewan (which was even presented at the 2009 IACUC Conference in San Diego, CA).

2011 IACUC Conference - I'd like to join the Blog Quad!

In late March, I will be attending the 2011 IACUC Conference in Chicago, IL. In my current position, as the Animal Ethics Research Facilitator in the Research Ethics Office at theUniversity of Saskatchewan, this is a great opportunity to meet with others in field of research ethics administration. This is a conference sponsored by Public Responsibility in Medicine and Research (PRIM&R), an organization dedicated to advancing the highest ethical standards in the conduct of research.

This year, they are putting together a PRIM&R Blog Squad. While I don’t normally blog about research ethics issues (my only other blog to date has been the one I created last year to track my fundraising marathon for my niece, Alivia), I am keen to give it a whirl, especially since the blog squad members receive a complimentary registration to PRIM&R's 2011 IACUC Conference! The PRIM&R Blog Squad will post articles, or other information about IACUC Conference speakers, events, and the city of Chicago. All posts will appear on PRIM&R's blog, Ampersand.

So as part of my application to be considered as member of the PRIM&R Blog Squad, in the coming days I’m going to post my ‘statement of purpose’ to let the PRIM&R conference coordinators know why I would be a great addition to their Blog Squad.

Please note that all artwork from the comic panels is copyright of Tim Brown – artist and bike geek extraordinaire!