Society of Reproductive Investigation (SRI)

SRI 2017 Annual Meeting Summary

The 64th Annual Meeting of the Society for Reproductive Investigation (SRI) welcomed over 1,000 attendees to Orlando for its March 15 – 18, 2017 Annual Scientific Meeting. The theme for the 2017 meeting was, “D2D: Data to Discovery.” The meeting was preceded on Wednesday by six satellite meetings covering the topics of Fetal Physiology, Placenta, Preterm Birth, Myometrium, Endometrium, and Ovarian Biology. Wednesday kicked off with a career development session for mid-career researchers, titled "Navigating a Changing Landscape: Mid-Career in Reproductive Science." Attendees were split into groups by topic to discuss challenges they were currently facing as mid-career researchers, and then brought together for an overall discussion. The discussion will be developed into a white paper by session organizers Drs. Elizabeth Bonney and Jared Robins, to be published in the Society's journal, Reproductive Sciences. Over lunch, Dr. Marie Lynn Miranda of Rice University presented, "Maps Where Children Matter." Attendees found great value in Dr. Miranda's talk, with one attendee saying, "This speaker was very engaging and I was so glad to see that gender and health disparities is being discussed." Following the satellite sessions, there was an additional career development session targeting those at the new and early career investigator level titled, "Job Search and Negotiation." Wednesday concluded with the traditional welcome reception where appetizers, wine and stories from the day were shared.

The meeting officially started Thursday with a Welcome Address by SRI President Dr. Yoel Sadovsky. Dr. Suchi Saria of Johns Hopkins University then gave the SRI Distinguished Lecture I talk, “Leveraging "Big Data" for Individualized Care.” Dr. Saria's talk was followed by the New Investigator Plenary, the first poster session and Special Symposia I, "Systems Biology in Pregnancy Health and Research," moderated by Dr. Mark Chance of Case Western Reserve University and Dr. Nathan Price of the Institute for Systems Biology. Concurrent Oral Presentations and six Mini Symposia were held Thursday afternoon. One of the Thursday Mini Symposia focused on this year’s meeting topic on data, titled, "The -OMICs Revolution in Understanding of Uterine Leiomyomas, and the Future of Therapy." Thursday evening, in training members had the opportunity to meet with mid-career and senior mentors to discuss topics of interest at the fourth-annual Connection Corners event. Connection Corners is an event hosted by the In Training Members Committee dedicated to the development of in training members. The table topics during Thursday’s event ranged from finding a good mentor to publishing tips and tricks. The event was well received, with comments like, "Excellent opportunity to meet with other attendees! Particularly enjoyed Basic Science Grantsmanship table discussions - very helpful suggestions about grant writing style and response to reviewer critiques" and "Great opportunity to talk to faculty at different levels and get advice."

Friday morning started off with the SRI Business Meeting, where members learned about the overall health of the Society. The Business Meeting ended with Dr. Sadovsky officially handing the leadership of the Society over to Dr. Sandra Davidge, 2017 – 2018 SRI President. Following the Business Meeting was the second President's Distinguished Lecture, "Molecular Stethoscope in Pregnancy," given by Dr. Stephen Quake of Stanford University. Dr. Quake's stimulating lecture was followed by concurrent oral presentations, and the second poster session. Special Symposia II, titled "Precision Medicine and Women's Health" was held over lunch and moderated by Diana Bianchi. Dr. Bianchi's lecture focused on fetal precision medicine, while the two other speakers in the session, SRI Past President Dr. Linda Giudice and Dr. Gordon Mills, spoke on precision medicine and women's health and precision medicine for gynecologic cancers.

Concurrent Oral Presentations III and Mini Symposia II rounded out the afternoon. Mini Symposia topics included "Mining Big Data to Reveal Biomarkers and Pathophysiology of Preterm Birth" moderated by 2017 SRI Program Director Sam Mesiano, and other popular topics such as "Frontiers in Diagnosis, Treatment and Prevention of CMV and Zika in Pregnancy." On Friday evening Dr. Sadovsky gave a short inspirational speech during the President's Address, and presented the President’s Achievement Award to Dr. Jennifer Condon of Wayne State University and Dr. Thomas Jansson of the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. Dr. Carole Mendelson of UT Southwestern was selected to receive the Frederick Naftolin Award for Mentorship. The Frederick Naftolin Award was established in 2003 to recognize the contributions of a member of the society to training and career development of investigators in the field of reproductive health. Dr. James Roberts of Magee Women's Research Institute and SRI Past President Dr. Joe Leigh Simpson of the March of Dimes were honored with the SRI Lifetime Distinguished Service Award. This award was developed in 2016 to recognize an individual who has made outstanding contributions to the Society for Reproductive Investigation and significant contributions to the field of reproductive medicine and women’s health. The evening ended with the wine and cheese reception.

On Saturday, Dr. David Haig of Harvard University gave the President's Distinguished Lecture III, where he discussed "Maternal-Fetal Conflict and Cooperation in Human Pregnancy." The third and final poster session and Concurrent Oral Presentations IV followed. The afternoon brought the “Hot Topics” session, which is comprised of four late breaking abstracts selected for oral presentations. Finally, the Awards Ceremony completed the meeting. At this ceremony, the Laxmi Baxi Awards, the Giorgio Pardi Awards, SRI President's Presenter's Awards, the Thomas McDonald award, and the 20 Best Poster Awards were given out.

SRI would like to thank its sponsors for their support, as well as its exhibitors:

Abbvie
Bayer AG
Burroughs Wellcome Fund
Fondazione Giorgio Pardi
Lina Medical USA, Inc
March of Dimes
Pfizer Inc
Reproductive Scientist Development Program (RSDP)
University of Hawai'i Biorepository

Save the Date for 2018!