PABMB: From 1994 to present

My interest in PABMB resulted from my having three postdoctoral students who came to my laboratory from Argentina in the late 1980s and from enjoying very much the VII PAABS meeting (Pan American Association of Biochemical Societies) in Ixtapa, Mexico, the fall of 1992. It was a beautiful resort area and the meeting was of a very high quality having many eminent speakers not only from the Americas, North, Central and South, but also from Europe and Asia. That was the meeting when the PAABS Council decided to change their name to PABMB, the Pan American Association for Biochemistry andMolecular Biology. At that time I was a member of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) Education Committee and we had a subcommittee that dealt with Latin American educational affairs. Leopoldo de Meis from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil would sometimes attend the ASBMB meeting and we had some occasion to discuss with him what he was doing with respect to training of undergraduate as well as graduate students in Brazil. In 1993 I received a call from him asking me if I would be interested in being the Secretary General of PABMB, effective, 1 January 1994. There was hesitation on my part as I was not really interested in taking up another administrative job. But Leopoldo was insistent and I agreed. At that time the PABMB Chairman was Marino MartinezCarrion who was Dean of the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Missouri Kansas City. The others on the Executive Committee were Vice Chairman, Manuel Krauskopf from Chile, Treasurer, Armando Parodi from Argentina and Immediate Past Chairman, Antonio Pena from Mexico. PABMB consists of Societies of Biochemistry and/or Molecular Biology and equivalent organizations in the Americas (including the Caribbean), designated as Constituent Societies. Similar organizations outside the geographic area of the Americas, but culturally related are designated as Adherent Societies. The Council and the Executive Committee conduct the business affairs of PABMB. The Council is composed of one delegate from the Constituent and Adherent Societies of PABMB. The Constituent Societies at that time were the biochemical societies from, Argentina, Brazil, Canada (known as the Canadian Society of Biochemistry and Molecular & Cellular Biology; CSBMCB), Chile, Mexico, Peru, Venezuela, ASBMB and the American Chemical Society-Division of Biological Chemistry. In addition there are two Adherent Societies, the Biochemical Societies of Spain and Portugal. Their delegates are non-voting members of the Council. As indicated in the Statutes, the purpose of the PABMB is to promote and support the growth and advancement of the sciences and education of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology particularly among the Biochemical Societies in the Western Hemisphere. In doing this, PABMB has sponsored, promoted and supported a number of meetings between the PABMB-associated societies in presenting and discussing scientific discoveries in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. It has also sponsored and helped organize special courses for advanced students in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and has sponsored the exchange of faculty and students between institutions engaged in research and teaching. In the furtherance of these aims, the Association has worked closely with other organizations having similar objectives, for example, the International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (IUBMB). Indeed it must be said at this point that the IUBMB has been a most supportive organization of PABMB and very much in financial support. PABMB is very happy to be a regional organization associated with IUBMB. With IUBMB support and with the dues provided by the Constituent and Adherent Societies, PABMB has been able every third year to sponsor a PABMB Congress meeting. Indeed ten Congress meetings have occurred with the last one, the PABMB Congress in Pinamar, Argentina in December, 2005. These meetings have brought many scientists from the LatinAmerican countries together with scientists from the USA and Canada. The main representatives from Latin-America usually are from Brazil, Argentina and Chile with the largest Received 2 February 2007; accepted 2 February 2007 Address correspondence to: Jack Preiss, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA. E-mail: preiss@msu.edu IUBMBLife, 59(4 – 5): 212 – 213, April –May 2007