"Emerging and Reemerging Infectious Diseases"  The conference will be held at UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN-FLINT campus. Flint, Michigan on Saturday, October 12. Organizer: Mary Ann Cardani Assisted by faculty members and students of the  Biology Department at UM-Flint

Dr. Paul Ewald, Professor of Biology at University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, will speak on "The evolutionary control of virulence and antibiotic
resistance among diarrheal diseases: Darwin in the Land of Ooze".

Dr. Paul Ewald obtained his B.Sc. in Biological Sciences from the University of California-Irvine and his Ph.D. in Zoology from the University of Washington, Seattle, Washington. His area of specialization for his doctoral research was Ecology and Evolution. Dr. Ewald recently moved to Louisville after a long tenure as Professor of Biology at Amherst College, Amherst, Massachusetts. While at Amherst, he was the first recipient of the Geroge R. Burch Fellowship in Theoretic Medicine and Affiliated Sciences.

Dr. Ewald’s research interests in the evolution of infectious diseases include the evolutionary ecology of parasitism, evolutionary medicine, pollination biology and agonistic behavior. In 1994, he published a widely received book, Evolution of Infectious Diseases ,which brought new attention to the study of evolutionary medicine. More recently Dr. Ewald published Plague Time: How Stealth Infections Cause Cancers, Heart Disease and other Deadly Ailments for which an updated, second edition was recently released.

Dr. John LiPuma, Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Michigan School of Medicine and Associate Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Michigan School of Public Health in Ann Arbor will deliver a talk entitled "Phytonotic infection: the Burkholderia cepacia story - from onion rot to lung disease".

Dr. John LiPuma is also the Director of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Burkholderia cepacia Research Laboratory and Repository at the University of Michigan.  He received his B.A. from Canisius College, Buffalo, NY and his M.D. from St. Louis University School of Medicine.  He completed his residency in Pediatrics and Infectious Disease fellowship at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Dr. LiPuma was
a member of the faculty at MCP/Hahnemann University,  Philadelphia from 1986 to 1999 when he returned to the University of Michigan.

Dr. LiPuma’s research in infectious diseases has focused on the molecular epidemiology of Burkholderia cepacia for many years. He has used molecular genetics to identify new genomovars within the Burkholderia cepacia complex, and to aid in associating Burkholderia species with cystic fibrosis.

Dr. Duane Newton, Assistant Director of the Clinical Microbiology and Virology Laboratories at the University of Michigan Medical Center, and a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Pathology, University of Michigan Medical School, will update us on "West Nile and Other Mosquito-Borne Viruses in the U.S. and Michigan".

Dr. Newton is twice a graduate of the University of Dayton, Dayton, OH, receiving his B.S. in Biology in
1988 as well as his Ph.D. in Biology, with an emphasis in Microbiology and Immunology, in 1993.  His doctoral work focused on the role of Natural Killer cells in murine innate resistance to bacterial infections cause by Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Listeria monocytogenes.  His post-graduate work included a research fellowship at the University of Tennessee-Memphis and VA Medical Center in Memphis, TN where he studied host and pathogen factors affecting the severity of invasive Group A streptococcal infections in humans.  This was followed by an ASM-sponsored Clinical Microbiology laboratory training fellowship at the University of Rochester Medical Center in Rochester, NY.  In 2000, Dr. Newton joined the Michigan Department of Community Health in Lansing, MI as the manager of the Virology/Immunology Section in the Bureau of Laboratories, and in July 2002 began his current position at UM.  His research interests include the development and improvement of diagnostic tests for the detection and management of viral infections.

NOTICE OF PROPOSED CHANGES TO THE CONSTITUTION OF MI-ASM

The Executive Board of the Michigan ASM has determined there is a need for clarification of, and changes to, certain Articles in our Constitution. The majority of the proposed changes support our application to the Internal Revenue Service for a tax-exempt 501 (c) (3) status. MI-ASM has had a 501 (c) (6) status since 1972. The new tax status would, among other things, give the Branch nonprofit mailing privileges and would assure any donors of the deductibility of their contributions. Further, this change would bring MI-ASM in line with the national American Society for Microbiology, which is also a 501 (c) (3) organization. Most of the new language includes words and phrases that the IRS absolutely requires of a 501 (c) (3) entity.

We ask the members of MI-ASM to carefully read and consider the proposed changes in advance of a vote to adopt these changes. The vote will occur during the business luncheon at the fall meeting at University of Michigan-Flint on Saturday, 12 October 2002.

The proposed changes can be found in the recent MIASM Newsletter announcing this meeting, or by clicking here.

The Board welcomes your written or email comments regarding the proposed language changes prior to the fall meeting. Contact information for Board Officers is on the MIASM webpage.

For the Board,

Ralph J. Gorton
Past-President (2002-03)