Dear Members and Friends,
The month of January is past and what a wet month it has been. Despite theinclement weather, we had a very successful and entertaining seminar by Dr. Brent Gaylord of Sirigen this past month, highlighting the fascinating work he and his company are doing in high sensitivity fluorescence. In addition to the monthly seminar, the Law Committee held a seminar detailing what every chemist needs to know about intellectual property, and the Young Chemists Committee sponsored a sold-out tour of Stone Brewery in Escondido. I had no idea that a brewery could generate so much interest. All told, we’re off to a good start to 2010.
For some, though, this isn’t 2010. Instead, as we proceed into February I want to wish everyone 新年快乐 and welcome to the Year of the Tiger! This month we turn east to consider the changes and challenges occurring to our industry here in San Diego. To address these changes, Dr. Richard Soll of WuXi Apptec will be speaking on February 24th about outsourcing and the changing paradigm of drug discovery. Whatever you might think of outsourcing, the performance of basic research and development is becoming a more collaborative and multinational endeavor. As chemists, we are best served by understanding these changes and finding the opportunities therein. The Chinese word for crisis (危机) may not literally translate as “danger” and “opportunity”, as popularized by John F. Kennedy, but perhaps we can take some lesson from that fanciful interpretation.
In other news, we still have a couple of crucial committee chair positions open on the Professional Development and the Women Chemists Committees. If you have been thinking about becoming involved, or more involved, in your Local Section, I would encourage you to attend the board meeting held during the first week of each month. The date and location can be found on the Section’s website (http://www.sandiegoacs.org/). We are also looking for volunteers to help with judging science fair entries at the Greater San Diego Science & Engineering Fair. The fair will take place on Wednesday afternoon, March 24th, at Balboa Park. Anyone able to help choose exhibits for our Section chemistry awards or wanting more information, please contact Ken Poggenburg at jkp135@att.net.
Randy Smith, PhD
Chair 2010
IMPORTANT NOTICE
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March Seminar:
William B. Martin, Ph.D.
Director
FDA Pacific Regional Labs Southwest
“Adulterants, APIs and Quality Challenges
in Dietary Supplements”
DATE: Thursday, March 18, 2010
TIME: 6:00 PM Social Hour, Light Dinner
7:00 PM Lecture
PLACE: Celgene Corporation
4550 Towne Centre Court, San Diego, CA 92121
DIRECTIONS: http://www.celgene.com/about-celgene/celgene-locations-na-dir1.aspx
RSVP: By Monday, March 15, 2010
About the Speaker:
William B. Martin, Ph.D., Director, Pacific Regional Laboratory - Southwest has been with the FDA for 12 years. As Director, Dr. Martin provides executive and scientific leadership to the third largest Regional Laboratory within FDA’s Office of Regulatory Affairs. Prior to assuming his current position, Dr. Martin was a Regulatory Mass Spectrometry Specialist in FDA’s Denver District Laboratory where he developed and performed analytical methods using mass spectrometry in the analysis of trace residues in tissues, foods and drugs. Prior to joining the FDA Dr. Martin worked for 8 years at Honeywell Space and Strategic Systems Operations in Clearwater, Florida, as
a Senior Materials & Process Engineer. While at Honeywell he was the director of several laboratories within Materials & Process Engineering and served as the Technical Director and Program Manager on a classified national security program.
Dr. Martin serves as a facilitator of the ORA Mass Spectrometry Working Group, ORA Drug Laboratory Managers Workgroup and has been on the ORA Training Cadre for Basic and Advanced Mass Spectrometry for field analysts and instrumentation specialists.
Dr. Martin holds B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Chemistry from the University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida and performed a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the National Science Foundation’s Middle Atlantic Mass Spectrometry Facility at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland. He is a graduate of the 2002 FDA Executive Leadership Development Program.
Dr. Martin and his wife Rae are enjoying empty-nesting in Southern California.
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