The summer has passed by all too quickly and I hope that most, if not all, SRNT members had the opportunity to vacation and relax. My husband and I were SCUBA diving in Bali and Komodo National Park, in Indonesia and had a spectacular trip, highlighted by magnificent coral reefs, teeming with fish and invertebrate life, beautiful scenery and perfect weather. We are constantly reminded of the need to conserve these rare marine and land resources from the ever present pressures of population growth, illegal fishing and reef destruction. Traveling in Asia as often as we do, we are also very aware of the high smoking and oral tobacco use among both men and women in many developing nations, and the importance of tobacco control and additional research in these geographic areas.

I have two brief meeting reports to deliver, before the main portion of this column:

(L to R): Michael (Mike) C. Fiore, M.D., M.P.H., Director - Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention, University of Wisconsin Medical School; Ellen R. Gritz, Ph.D., President - SRNT, and Professor and Chair, Department of Behavioral Science, UT M. D. Anderson Cancer Center; C. Everett Koop, M.D., Sc.D., Honoree; Sue Curry, Ph.D., Director - Health Research and Policy Centers, University of Illinois at Chicago. Photo taken September 13, 2006 at Healthcare for the 21st Century. A Celebration of Dr. C. Everett Koop's 90th Birthday, Cosmos Club, 2121 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC.

First, on September 13, 2006, I was fortunate to attend "Healthcare for the 21st Century, A Celebration of Dr. C. Everett Koop's 90th Birthday." Held in the elegant and historic Cosmos Club, in Washington, D.C., the event was Co-Chaired by Drs. Michael C. Fiore and Jack E. Henningfield. Ceremony Co-Chairs were the Honorable Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Orrin G. Hatch, each of whom gave superb tributes to the honoree. Dr. Koop made a deeply moving address about the next great task for our century, obtaining healthcare for all Americans. His remarks will be published as an editorial in the December 2006 issue of the American Journal of Public Health. Four prominent reactants — Dr. M. Roy Schwartz, former Senior Vice President of the AMA and former Dean of the University of Colorado School of Medicine and Vice Chancellor of the Health Sciences Center of the same University; Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) at the NIH; Dr. Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, President and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; and Dr. G. Timothy Johnson, Medical Editor for ABC News — then made their own tributes to Dr. Koop, based on their unique professional and personal relationships with him. With over 200 persons in attendance, the event was a gala celebration for one of the most prominent physicians in our lifetime and one who has made a tremendous contribution to tobacco control science and practice.

Second, I attended SRNT-Europe in Kusadasi, Turkey, from 23-26 September. The meeting had 289 attendees from 26 European countries, and a good minority representation of U. S. members, as well. Dr. Gay Sutherland, President of the SRNT Europe Board, presided over a stimulating meeting program, with Dr. Sakire Pogun as Congress Chair, David Balfour as Past President and Eva Kralikova as President Elect. The meeting featured opening plenary lectures

SRNT Europe Meeting attendees enjoying dinner: Alexey Mukhin, M.D., Ph.D, Intramural Scientist, National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA); Edythe (Edy) D. London, Professor of Psychiatry, UCLA; Abe Wagner (Edy's husband); Jed Rose, Ph.D., Medical Research Professor, Dept of Psychiatry, Duke University Medical Center; Ellen R. Gritz, Ph.D., President-SRNT and Professor and Chair, Dept of Behavioral Science, The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center; Milton (Mickey) Rosenau (Ellen's husband)

on theories of nicotine dependence, daily theme lectures in basic science, clinical science and epidemiology/public health as morning plenaries, followed by basic science and clinical science dual tracks. SRNT may never again equal the magnificent setting of the Welcome Reception (and Cocktail prolonìe) at the Roman Civic Library of Celsus, one of the extraordinary structures of the spectacular Greek and Roman architectural marvel, Ephesus (in Greek) or Efes (in Turkish). Ephesus…"was one of the great cities of the Ionian Greeks in Anatolia, located in Lydia where the Cayster river...flows into the Aegean Sea,...and in modern times, Turkish Governmental archeological excavations continue on this architectural treasure of the World" (according to the Wikipedia library). Thus, many attending the meeting had the opportunity to tour Ephesus and to learn some of the fascinating history surrounding the site. Both for scientific and for cultural reasons, I urge our membership to try to attend SRNT-Europe and other affiliate meetings - read on below!!!!

As President of SRNT, I have had among my priorities for the year to help broaden SRNT's global reach. This is hardly an original goal, as I know several — if not all — of my predecessors shared this vision in one form or another. Indeed, Harry Lando virtually dedicated his Presidential year to this task. In this Presidential column, I'm pleased to provide some brief highlights of recent SRNT activities, accomplishments, and a few statistics that point to the ongoing internationalization of our great association.

SRNT currently has 232 members from 43 countries outside of North America, which represents 22 percent of the total membership. Countries in which SRNT members live and work include Nigeria, Tunisia, Chile, Egypt, India, and many European countries.
SRNT has an extremely active Global Network Committee, under the dedicated leadership of Harry Lando, focusing on research needs and tobacco control in lower-income countries around the world.
To complement the Global Network Committee, the SRNT Board recently approved a new Health Disparities committee, which will be focused on research needs in disparate and underserved populations in higher-income countries.
I have directed committee chairs to fill open seats, as appropriate, with members from lower- and middle-income countries in order to provide broader global representation within SRNT's working groups.
SRNT-Europe has just concluded an extremely successful conference, the first such event carrying SRNT's name to be held on the Asian continent (Kusadasi, Turkey).
SRNT's first regional conference in Latin America is currently in the planning stages and will be held in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil in September, 2007.
SRNT played a key role in the decision to hold the 2009 World Conference on Tobacco OR Health in Mumbai, India and will continue to be involved as the program is developed.
The new Bylaws, approved by SRNT members earlier this year, make it easier for members in different regions of the world to form chapters and, when requisite numbers are achieved, to gain geographic representation on the Board of Directors. Dr. Mira Aghi is our Board member representing global membership outside of Europe.

The above clearly demonstrate SRNT's commitment to global tobacco research, but one additional activity recently undertaken cements that commitment. During its September meeting, the Board of Directors approved a new dues structure in an effort to make SRNT more accessible to researchers globally. The new structure is based on the World Bank's ranking of economies in countries around the world.

Specifically, dues for Full Members from higher-middle income economies will be lowered to $100 (US) per year; dues for Full Members from lower-middle income economies will be lowered to $65 (US) per year; and the dues for Full Members from low-income economies will be lowered to $30 (US) per year. In order to accomplish this, it was necessary to raise dues for Full Members from high-income economies by $10 (to $130) which, I believe, is the first dues increase in more than five years, and more than reasonable considering the benefit it will bring to people from less affluent nations.

Details about the new dues structure will be included in the forthcoming dues renewal notices, and you may also find information about the World Bank's rankings on our website (http://www.srnt.org/).

Finally, I'm pleased to announce that the second joint meeting of SRNT and SRNT-Europe will be held in April of 2009. The dates and location have yet to be finalized, but the three cities under consideration are Dublin, Edinburgh and London. All three are or will be smoke-free in public places by the time of our meeting.

As we look at broadening our global reach, SRNT stands to gain invaluable new perspectives and insights organizationally as we bring new researchers from lower-income countries into our fold. Additionally, we hope to make these relationships truly reciprocal, with the science generated by SRNT members being shared more readily with researchers in areas of the world most in need of evidence-based information on nicotine and tobacco.

This emphasis on global issues and initiatives directly supports SRNT's mission to stimulate and promote the generation and dissemination of new knowledge concerning all aspects of nicotine and tobacco, from molecules to society, and I could not be more pleased by the direction in which SRNT is headed.