Written by Dr. Bridgette Semple, Ph.D, on behalf of the Membership Committee
The NNS Membership Committee has been working hard behind the scenes! Our primary goal is to promote and enhance both new memberships and renewals to the Society, by planning and executing events and opportunities of benefit and interest to members. Some of these benefits were highlighted via social media posts and email blasts sent out in the lead-up to the NNS 2022 Symposium registration, which resulted in a spike in new and renewing memberships.
A key focus over the past few months has been on updating the NNS membership webpage, including the definitions of membership categories. In particular, we have added a discounted Standard Membership sub-category for Allied Health professionals with an interest in neurotrauma research; and secondly, expanded the Student Trainee Membership (Graduate) category to also include research staff/post-baccaleureate graduates within 5 years of receiving their undergraduate or Masters degree. These expanded descriptors have been approved by the NNS Council, and are intended to assist NNS to become more inclusive and accessible.
The virtual roundtable events, held via Zoom, have continued to garner enthusiastic participation. If you missed the discussion at February’s roundtable discussion was on the topic of ‘Sham controls in TBI and SCI preclinical research’, featuring expert panelists Dr. Dana McTigue, Dr. Adam Ferguson, Dr., Grace Griesbach, and Dr. Ed Dixon, and organized by Zoe Tapp, Eleni Haritomeni Moschonas, and Dr. Audrey Lafrenaye. This roundtable involved a vibrant discussion regarding various controls and conditions to consider as we all plan our next rounds of neurotrauma experiments. By popular demand, the recording and chat transcript from this event are available on the NNS members-only webpage, alongside some relevant literature for future reading. Also, please join us for our upcoming roundtable on Careers in Neurotrauma: Academia and beyond on Monday, May 9th at 6pm EST, featuring panellists: Dr. Maha Saber, Dr. Stacy J. Suskauer, Dr. Justin Beller, and Dr. Beth D. Slomine. Registration: https://www.neurotrauma.org/2022-Ask-an-Expert-Virtual-Roundtable .
We are also excited to be working closely with the Finance Committee on some NNS merchandise! The plan is to start small and scale up if there is sufficient demand, both within the Society and externally. Our goal with NNS-branded merchandise is to promote brand awareness and recognition of NNS and the work that we do, and we are planning to have items available for purchase via an online store. Watch this space – more details to come shortly!
