Hello from the EIC!
We are incredibly excited for what lies ahead in our second year. We recently announced our 2 nd NAA Virtual Symposium this February 12th and 26th with the theme “Under Pressure: Consequences of arterial dysfunction on end organs.” The first symposia will be our scientific session where Dr. Chris Martens will give the keynote presentation and we will then highlight the work of 7 trainees! The second symposia will be focused on career development in which Dr. Ashley Walker will deliver a tutorial lecture explaining how arterial dysfunction damages end organs and leads to disease, followed by a career development panel and discussion.
We would also like to reflect on our first year of existence where we built some great momentum and had a palpable impact within NAA in 2023-24, all of which we hope to provide again! Last year we:
Organized the first 2 NAA virtual symposia “New Kids On the Block: Emerging Contributors to Vascular Dysfunction” and “Mitigating Stiffness in the Lab and Your Career” that brought together over 200 virtual attendees.
Held our first Social to kick off NAA 2024 that included over 40 early career attendees who were able to connect with new colleagues, make friends, chat science, and indulge in some free brews and tasty food from a local food truck.
Were fortunate to receive gracious private donations that allowed us to support 6 trainee travel awards to attend NAA and provide monetary prizes for the oral abstract presentations and career development award.
Organized a career development breakfast at NAA around the theme of “career transitions” where early career attendees had the opportunity to enjoy conversations with multiple experts and ask their burning questions in a less formal environment.
Helped stimulate new energy into the conference discussions through the dissemination of NAA BINGO that miraculously made its way into the conference, although the architect of this remains to be identified.
This year, the EIC has said goodbye to Dr. Lyndsey DuBose and Emily Reeve and hello to 3 new at-large members! We are excited to welcome Sky Ferguson, a PhD student from the University of Oregon; Marnie McLean, a PhD candidate from the University of Michigan; and Dr. William Hughes, a new assistant professor from the Medical College of Wisconsin. We immediately put our new members to work, relying heavily on their thoughts and opinions for our upcoming programming.
We are incredibly excited to build on the energy from NAA 2024 and will continue our work to ease the pressure and strain on early career investigators through our work and programming within NAA.
With positive reflection,
Wesley Lefferts, PhD, Committee Co-Chair
Elizabeth Lefferts, PhD, Committee Co-Chair
The NAA Early Investigator Committee
