Dear Colleagues:

I am very pleased that the Society for Developmental Biology (SDB) has decided to become a full member of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB). I want to take this opportunity to welcome SDB and thank the society for making this significant commitment to collective action.

SDB has been an associate member of FASEB since July 1996.  During this time, the contributions of SDB to FASEB have been substantial.  The SDB representative to the FASEB Board, Roger Pedersen, has been a dedicated and effective voice on many issues.  It was Dr. Pedersen’s leadership on the human cloning issue that persuaded FASEB to join SDB in calling for a moratorium on human cloning.  This affirmative effort by the scientific community reassured the public and the Congress, and was a significant factor in slowing the rush to pass new legislation banning cloning experiments and many related types of biomedical research.

In addition to providing guidance on the cloning issue, Dr. Pedersen and other SDB members have made important contributions to FASEB policies on stem cell research.  The opportunity to work with internationally recognized experts has been a great advantage to the FASEB community and has allowed the views of SDB members to reach a broader audience in the science and science policy communities.

Additionally, Marie Di Berardino and Ida Chow made significant contributions to our effort to educate the public (and again Congress) on the new cloning research.  The article that they wrote for the Breakthroughs in Bioscience series, "Cloning: Past Present, and the Exciting Future" <http://www.faseb.org/opar/cloning/> was one of the most popular in the series, and continues to be requested by scientists, teachers, and students.  Dr. Chow, SDB Executive Officer, has served as chair of the subcommittee that was responsible for producing the Breakthroughs series.

Drs. Pedersen and Chow, along with Sally Moody, Gary Schoenwolf and Gary Wessell, have all participated in the annual FASEB Federal Funding Consensus Conference, helping to formulate recommendations for the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.  More recently, SDB’s Blanche Capel participated in a workshop on animal welfare that helped to develop the FASEB response to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s proposed changes to regulations administering the Animal Welfare Act.

We are gratified by the SDB decision to move up to full membership, and we are confident that the new status will provide additional benefits to SDB members.  As full members of FASEB, SDB will have full voting representation on the FASEB Board and all FASEB committees.  This will give the society and its membership a more active and visible role in public affairs.  SDB representatives will be eligible for leadership positions in the Federation, giving SDB more influence and visibility.  Individual members of SDB will receive the FASEB Newsletter and be listed in both the online and printed editions of the FASEB Directory of Members.

This is an exciting time for biomedical research and for developmental biology.  Members of SDB are on the forefront of many exciting areas of research, and the future looks bright.  But there are also major public policy challenges that biological scientists will need to confront. As we prepare to meet them, we are pleased to have SDB on the team.

Yours on behalf of the FASEB member societies

Mary J.C. Hendrix, Ph.D.
FASEB President