E-Board No. 44

Special message

Dear ISDCI Members

This is a message from the organizers of the The European Immunology Congress will take place in Paris, France on September 6th-9th 2006, and is about a special session that they have organized.

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BAR-ILAN UNIVERSITY (RA)
The Mina & Everard Goodman
Faculty of Life Sciences
Ramat-Gan 52900, Israel
אוניברסיטת בר-אילן (ע"ר)
הפקולטה למדעי החיים
ע"ש מינה ואבררד גודמן
רמת- גן 52900

Ramit Mehr, Ph.D. Phone: 972-3-5317990 : טלפון
Fax: 972-35351824 : פקס
E-mail: mehrra@mail.biu.ac.il
URL: http://repertoire.os.biu.ac.il
ד”ר רמית מר

August 23rd 2006
To: members of immunology and related societies
Re: Session on Women’s careers in the life sciences, ECI 2006
Dear Colleagues,

We would like to draw your attention to the special session in the 1st Joint Meeting of European National Societies of Immunology Under the auspices of EFIS and the 16th European Congress of Immunology ( www.eci-paris2006.com ). The session, which will take place on Saturday Sept. 9th, is devoted to "Women’s careers in the life sciences". Even if you are a male scientist or a female
scientist well-established in the career path, your participation in this session may largely benefit not only yourself but also your female colleagues and students.

The advancement of women in the sciences is still impeded by many obstacles, from prejudices in hiring and promotion [reference 1 below], through exclusion from networking opportunities [ref. 2], to taking more than their share of the home and family workload [ref. 3]. The aim of the special session, organized by us, is to increase awareness to these problems – and to the various solutions and helpful resources available for women climbing the career ladders in the life sciences. Your awareness of these resources may – we hope – increase your ability to promote equality and diversity in your home institution and your professional field.
In addition, one speaker will address the issue of gender differences in health risks, which – with a few exceptions – is still largely neglected by the medical and scientific establishments.

The session will include the following talks:
• Women’s careers in the life sciences – Teresa Rees (UK).
• Gender differentials in metabolic and life-style risk factors for coronary artery disease – Orly Manor (Israel).
• A Swedish national programme to promote women scientists – Kerstin Lagerström (Sweden).
Resources for women scientists and for any scientist struggling with career/family balance issues will be presented by the organizers, and also published on a special website (see the website draft at: http://repertoire.os.biu.ac.il/women.html).
We hope that you will participate in this session and encourage your colleagues and students, male and female alike, to participate as well.

Sincerely
Dr Ramit Mehr (Israel) Prof. Francesca Chiodi (Sweden)

References
[1] Gender differences in hiring and promotion: See, for example, the Report on the Status of
Women in the Academic profession in the web page of the American Association of University
Professors, which also contains many useful resources.
[2] Exclusion of women from networking opportunities: See, e.g. “Advancing Women Scientists:
The Immunology Experience”, Nature Immunology 6(9):855, 2005.
[3] Inequality in the career/family balance: See, e.g., the articles listed in “Scientists as Parents”, a
special feature of ScienceCareers.Org , at:
http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_development/previous_issues/articles/2800/scientists_a
s_parents_feature_index/

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