I am honored to begin my term as President of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco. I joined SRNT in 1999; SRNT has been my scientific home base and contributed significantly to my professional development, so I hope to make a contribution to the Society through my work this year.

This is an exciting time to help lead SRNT. The organization has a new Strategic Plan that includes many important themes: strong science, a commitment to inform policy makers using robust evidence, expanding our global focus, and development of innovative methods to help people stop or reduce tobacco product use. The organization is strong, with over 1100 members, and is financially sound. Like most of you, I just returned from the International Annual Meeting in Boston which had record attendance. There was enthusiastic interest in the theme lectures, papers, symposia and posters and attendees were galvanized to work yet harder to reduce the preventable health burden of tobacco use. The Society's journal, Nicotine and Tobacco Research, is growing in impact and increasingly profitable for the Society. Our able management team is led by Bruce Wheeler of The Rees Group.

In spite of these strengths we have several important challenges. The public funding climate is lean and competitive and this threatens the productivity of junior and senior scientists as well as SRNT itself. The tobacco industry continues to use creative and effective methods to sustain and promote tobacco use. Perhaps most important, tobacco will claim millions of deaths in developing nations without an organized international effort.

I look forward to working on three major initiatives this year. One is implementation of the beginning phases of the Strategic Plan. We will focus on several initiatives in 2013-2014: supporting professional development of early career investigators, especially from developing countries, reconstituting the Public Policy Network to be an effective entity to address legislative and regulatory issues that deserve SRNT comment, increasing communication between the SRNT Board, Networks and Committees, and exploring alternative funding sources with the help of a Development Committee. In addition, a new work group will consider ways to both diversify SRNT sources of financial support and minimize conflicts of interest, increasing transparency with the goal of protecting public trust in our scientific rigor.

The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act makes this a critical time for SRNT to make its voice heard. The potential for tobacco regulation is a long-awaited opportunity. Our organization as a group and individual members will make important contributions to scientific discovery to guide this process. In addition, changes in public policy continue to contribute to reduced tobacco smoke exposure. The almost palpable excitement at the Boston meeting was reflected in multiple discussions of potential "endgames" - this is an exhilarating time for our field.

We are building membership, and encourage both new and old members to join at least on the of the SRNT Networks: Basic Science, Global Health, Genetics, Tobacco-Related Health Disparities, Public Health Policy, Trainee, or Treatment. These working groups are terrific venues for career development, inter-disciplinary interactions, and meeting colleagues with similar interests. Please plan to join us for another exciting Annual Meeting in Seattle, WA February 5-9, 2014. If you are thinking about joining SRNT please contact me with any questions you might have. For members, I welcome your comments - please let me know how SRNT can help you.

Anne Joseph, MD, MPH
amjoseph@umn.edu