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Take it to the Bridge: new blog from Sb commenter, namnezia

terrasig — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 06:58:29 +0000

Take it to the Bridge: new blog from Sb commenter, namnezia

~~Altered~~ Alerted by fellow blogger, Drugmonkey, I learned that insightful commenter, namnezia, has launched his own blog, Take it to the Bridge, with this great intro post on the blog and blogname (I like blog names that make you think.)

For those who began reading us for our discussions of underrepesented minority groups in the sciences, namnezia holds forth on the awkwardness of minority status in the university:

[S]oon after starting my job I promptly ended up in a list of "faculty of color". In fact, I am the only minority in my department, and one of a handful in my entire division. Now, to me "faculty of color" implies having brown or black skin. The problem is that, being Jewish, although I clearly am Mexican and my name is in Spanish, I don't look Mexican. Which puts me in an awkward situation. Every September I get invited to a luncheon for incoming students of color, and every September I struggle whether to go or not, or whether to sign up to be a mentor for an incoming student of color. On one hand, I can relate as a minority, which I felt much more growing up Jewish in a Catholic country where the antisemitism is real and stereotypes abound. I remember we would occasionally receive pictures of Hitler in the mail, or swastikas would show up on a synagogue or Jewish school wall. Some of my friends would tell me that their parents told them that the Jews killed Jesus. But those were things you got used to and overall I really loved growing up in Mexico. I feel very close to Mexico, and feel very Mexican.

I'm traveling back home today after visiting with PharmMom and PharmStiefvater for my mom's 70th birthday. As I start my morning in Santa Fe, New Mexico, their very Catholic and very Hispanic-influenced adopted home, I can appreciate the depth of namnezia's love for the motherland just a few hundred miles south.

But that's not all. namnezia speaks of coming up for tenure this year, having Tourrette syndrome, and the challenges of changing a shop-vac from dry to wet mode.

Add to this that Take it to the Bridge is presented in an eye-pleasing Georgia font of adequate size and spacing and you've got all the makings of a blog that you must put in your RSS reader and blogroll (which reminds me that I have to reconstructed my blogroll here).

Enjoy, readers, and welcome to this side of the tracks in the blogosphere, namnezia!

terrasig Mon, 07/19/2010 - 02:58

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"Altered by fellow blogger, Drugmonkey"

Altered? I deny it, good sir!

Whoa! Where was my brain? Alerted, alerted.

I claim high-altitude hypoxia.

I hear and obey, oh PharmLeader.

Hey, ToddW's found Pharma ShillTM recruitment center -- I figured you yould know if there was one in Northern California. Drop me a hint.

Thanks for the lovely welcome and recommendation!

HBCU medical schools at Morehouse, Meharry, and Howard lead "social mission" metric - Annals of Internal Medicine

terrasig — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 06:02:54 +0000

HBCU medical schools at Morehouse, Meharry, and Howard lead "social mission" metric - Annals of Internal Medicine

Reuters Health Executive Editor and proprietor of the excellent Embargo Watch blog, Ivan Oransky, was kind to alert me to this topical paper that appeared in Monday's issue of Annals of Internal Medicine entitled, The Social Mission of Medical Education: Ranking the Schools.

To the credit of the Annals, the full text of the primary article is currently free. An accompanying editorial is behind the subscription wall.

The study was conducted led by Fitzhugh Mullan with Candice Chen, MD, Gretchen Kolsky, and Michael Spagnola from the Department of Health Policy at the George Washington University and Stephen Petterson, PhD from The Robert Graham Center was supported with funding from the Josiah Macy Foundation.

The authors developed a metric called "social mission" to rate US medical schools on their responsiveness to three major issues they cite as facing medical schools and policymakers: "an insufficient number of primary care physicians, geographic maldistribution of physicians, and the lack of a representative number of racial and ethnic minorities in medical schools and in practice."

Attempts to increase physician distribution to underserved populations and/or geographical areas have had mixed success. My anecdotal experience is a typical case: a program to recruit high school students from rural areas to medical schools gave me a chance to work while a postdoc with an exceedingly bright high school student from a sheep ranching family in rural northwestern Colorado. She went to the University of Colorado Medical School and did a vascular surgery fellowship at Emory University, finally returning to Denver. In her case, it's not just that a country kid got a taste for the big city; she told me long ago that she couldn't be a doc in her rural town because the one that was there hardly ever got a chance to take a day off or vacation. So - yes - being a vascular surgeon in the city gives her more flexibility than being a primary care physician in the country.

And with all of the baited breath that awaits annual magazine rankings of all educational institutions, this passage in the Introduction notes that such rankings fail to take into account these major issues that impact underserved communities:
"Medical schools, however, are the only institutions in our society that can produce physicians; yet assessments of medical schools, such as the well-known U.S. News & World Report ranking system, often value research funding, school reputation, and student selectivity factors over the actual educational output of each school, particularly regarding the number of graduates who enter primary care, practice in underserved areas, and are underrepresented minorities."

To evaluate the "social mission" rating of US medical schools, the authors developed a metric based on three criteria: percentage of graduates who become primary care physicians, work in health professional shortage areas (HPSAs) as defined by the Health Resources and Services Administration, and are underrepresented minorities based on an Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) definition (African-American, Hispanic, and Native-American).

These criteria were then used to rank medical schools based on following the career path of 60,043 physicians in active practice who graduated during 1999 to 2001 using data from the American Medical Association Masterfile.

The three historically Black medical colleges obviously skewed the data for the underrepresented minority score so the authors, "normalize[d] the skewed distribution, we calculated the standardized scores without these 3 schools, then reincluded them by using the calculated mean value and SD."

Still, these three schools - Morehouse in Atlanta, Meharry in Nashville, and Howard in Washington, DC - ranked as the top three schools in social mission. Perhaps not surprisingly is that the major top-tier USN&WR medical schools in the northeastern US ranked in the bottom 20 of the rankings, with Duke, Stanford, and Johns Hopkins the bottom three - the only time you will ever see these schools at the bottom of any ranking.

You can view Table 1 for yourself to see if there are any surprises to you. I was pleasantly surprised to see Kansas, Michigan State, Iowa, and Oregon Health & Sciences among the top 20. Conversely, I was surprised to see Texas A&M in the bottom 20.

The key point of my post here, and perhaps the primary reason Ivan Oransky referred the article to me knowing of my interests, is that we see here a specific and essential role of historically Black colleges and universities. HBCUs not only education underrepresented populations, but they then served underrepresented communities - not just with regard to race but also with regard to, in this case, providing primary care to areas with a shortage of health professionals.

Of course, not everyone is happy with a social mission in medicine. The first commenter on the paper, William S. Aronstein, in a screed entitled, Fundamentally Wrongheaded, seems to state that medicine is above this and responsiveness to diverse and underserved populations is more the realm of public health. Beginning with, "This is one of the most disturbing articles I have ever seen in the Annals," it's worth a read if for nothing else than this gem taking a swipe at the corresponding author:

To a large degree, I suspect that the folk-marxist ethos in which from his other voluminous writings at least Fitzhugh Mullan appears to operate may account for the article's emphasis on population-based public health rather than the actual practice of medicine.

Any wagers as to whether he graduated from one of the bottom 20 schools?

Mullan F, Chen C, Petterson S, Kolsky G, & Spagnola M (2010). The social mission of medical education: ranking the schools. Annals of internal medicine, 152 (12), 804-11 PMID: 20547907

terrasig Fri, 06/18/2010 - 02:02

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I am a third year medical student at the University of Colorado SOM, so it is very nice to hear you make the reference. Anyway, primary care is at the top of my list of things that I would really enjoy in an ideal world. Though at the moment I am quite worried about the long term potential of such a career. The looming Medicare/Medicaid cuts are perhaps at the forefront of my mind, but even if it wasn't for the direct pay cuts current reimbrusement models keep whittling away at the time primary care physicians can spend with their patients. The current expectation is for PCP visits to last less than 12 minutes. To really emphasize that point I tried renewing my auto insurance policy and the very polite customer service representive spent more than that asking questions about other vehicles, other drivers, driving habits etc. I find it mindblowing the expectation to manage chronic conditions, diagnose new issues and also spend some time on lifestyle interventions in such a short period of time. Anyway, I just thought I might be a single datapoint and emphasize that my hesitancy to do primary care has less to do with my school and much more to do with the schizophrenic political climate and the popular culture expectation to practice fast food medicine.

Attention HBCU College Faculty and Administrators:
Learn how to internationalize your campus through the U.S. State Department-sponsored Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence Program. A special webinar is being offered for U.S Historically Black colleges and Universities. It will include presentations by HBCU college administrators who have hosted SIR grantees. Date and time: June 25, 2010, 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm EDT. Those interested can go to http://www.cies.org/sir/webinars.htm to register.

HBCU Symposium discussion of math skills

terrasig — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 05:27:53 +0000

HBCU Symposium discussion of math skills

In continuing our discussion of the Centennial HBCU Symposium held June 3-4 in Research Triangle Park, NC, I wanted to briefly follow up a theme that emerged several times across the diverse talks.

Outside of a high dropout rate, a major challenge to African-American students succeeding in universities is poor preparation in math skills from high schools. Of course, this is not just a problem of this demographic but, sadly, is a major challenge we see everywhere in the US and has been especially evident in our ScienceBlogs annual support of the DonorsChoose project.

This point seems obvious but math skills are far more important than just for success in the STEMM disciplines.

In the June 9th edition of The New York Times, Bob Tedeschi discusses a study (PDF) with senior author Columbia University business professor, Stephan Meier, on the role that poor math skills may be playing in the current mortgage foreclosure epidemic.

The respondents were asked five questions, with the first requiring borrowers to divide 300 by 2, and the second to calculate 10 percent of 1,000. (Since the survey was conducted by telephone, the questioners did not know who was using a calculator.)
About 16 percent of the respondents answered at least one of the first two questions incorrectly. Mr. Meier said that the results were consistent among all levels of education and income.

Over all, 21 percent of the respondents whose math abilities placed them in the bottom quarter of the survey experienced foreclosure, versus 7 percent of those in the top quarter.

Note that the findings challenge the idea that educational level is proportional to facility in math skills.

Eileen Anderson, from the nonprofit Community Development Corporation of Long Island, a nonprofit housing organization was quoted at the end of the article:

Borrowers who receive prepurchase buyer education are less likely to end up in foreclosure than those who do not, she added.

"In our programs," Ms. Anderson said, "we're doing the math with them, not for them."

And better-educated borrowers are not exempt, either.

"People say they're doctors, so they don't really need it," she said. "So what? We see doctors who took out loans they didn't understand, and who are in foreclosure now."

I'd love to hear from university educators around the country and world, especially those who teach freshman, about how well prepared their students are with mathematics skills (or "maths" for our British colleagues). I submit that this is *not* just a challenge for HBCU students.

terrasig Wed, 06/16/2010 - 01:27

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OK, I tweeted it, and I'll keep asking.

NCCU Centennial HBCU Symposium - Setting the Agenda for Historically Black Colleges and Universities

terrasig — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 09:43:28 +0000

NCCU Centennial HBCU Symposium - Setting the Agenda for Historically Black Colleges and Universities

On June 3rd and 4th, I had the pleasure of attending a fabulous program on the modern role and future sustainability of historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the United States. The HBCU Symposium: Setting the Agenda for Historically Black Colleges and Universities was the culmination of the 100th anniversary of the founding of North Carolina Central University (NCCU).

NCCU is one of five HBCUs in the University of North Carolina system and among 11 such institutions of higher learning in the state (list and links here). I currently serve on the faculty of this institution.

For those unfamiliar, HBCUs were classified by President Lyndon B. Johnson's Higher Education Act of 1965 as institutions established prior to 1964 with the intention of providing higher education to the Black community. There remain 105 such institutions today, primarily in established former slave states following the Civil War.

However, the original HBCUs were founded in the North prior to the Civil War by the generosity of Quaker, Episcopalian, and other abolitionist supporters of the day: what is now Cheyney University (1837) and Lincoln University (1854) in Pennsylvania and Wilberforce University (1856) in Ohio.

Our September 2008 post for National HBCU Week provides more introductory background on these institutions as well as a round-up of commentary around the blogosphere on the continued relevance of these institutions.

It is important to note that the special federal classifications of these institutions was not meant for any preferential treatment of Black students but rather simple parity with historically White institutions. But among public HBCUs, state higher education funding per student averages about 3/5ths that of historically White institutions, a fraction whose irony is not lost on me.

Another important source of financial support, but one that cannot be influenced by federal or state policies, is university endowments. A good example of the disparity here in North Carolina is that HBCU endowments average 12.4% that of the state's non-HBCU institutions when calculated based on full-time student equivalent (Nelms and Fobert, PDF). In the city of Durham, the endowment of Duke University, established in its current form in 1924, is $4.4 billion; that of NCCU, established in 1910 a couple of miles away, is (PDF source) about $20 million. This may not be an entirely fair comparison, though, because James Buchanan Duke and family endowed their university, then Trinity College, with $40 million - yes, Duke started in 1924 with twice the endowment of NCCU today.

(An aside: a little-known fact is that the Duke family and Duke Endowment played an very important role in the early days of NCCU, especially Benjamin Newton Duke who took over leadership of the endowment when brother James B. Duke died a year after its establishment in 1924. The Dukes donated just over half of the acreage upon which NCCU sits and its main campus performance facility is the B.N. Duke Auditorium. The first interracial collegiate basketball game, known in sports history as The Secret Game, in the segregated South occurred in 1944 between the then-North Carolina College for Negroes and the Duke intramural team comprised US servicemen attending the medical school. The relationship between the two universities, IMHO, remains today much closer than one might expect based on the 2006 Duke lacrosse episode.

What's so special about HBCUs?
A September 2008 post here provides more background on HBCUs and the debate over the purposes they serve today. Here are a few relevant facts about HBCUs that are most relevant to the readership of the ScienceBlogs network:

From an article by Michelle J Nealy in Diverse Issues in Higher Education, "While HBCUs represent only 3 percent of all colleges and universities, they enroll close to one-third of all Black students. Forty percent of HBCU students pursue four-year degrees in science, technology, engineering and math, and about half of all Black students in teaching fields attended HBCUs. Three-quarters of all African-American Ph.D.s did their undergraduate studies at an HBCU, and, according to a study conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics, the total economic impact of the nation's HBCUs in 2001 was $10.2 billion."

Rochelle R. Bush wrote, "Spelman College and Bennett College produce over half of the nation's African American female doctorates in all science fields."

Xavier University in New Orleans, the only Catholic HBCU, is particularly notable in the biomedical fields. From their website:

According to the U.S. Department of Education, Xavier continues to rank first nationally in the number of African American students earning undergraduate degrees in both the biological/life sciences and the physical sciences.
The College of Pharmacy, one of only two pharmacy schools in Louisiana, is among the nation's top three producers of African American Doctor of Pharmacy degree recipients
In pre-medical education, Xavier ranks first in the nation in placing African American students into medical schools, where it has been ranked since 1993.

HBCUs moving forward
But HBCUs are not just for Black students. In North Carolina, the student body of HBCUs generally range around 70% to 80% African-American. The fastest growing segment for many HBCUs is the first-generation Hispanic college student. HBCUs are also an exceptional value and accept students whose high school performance may have been suboptimal because of secondary school issues beyond their personal control.

But that is history. The focus of the symposium was on HBCUs moving forward and clarifying their purpose for the future and defining their role in higher education that is financially sustainable while consistent with their historical mission. African-American students have a much wider choice of institutions now than in the 1960s and are often very heavily recruited by top-tier, Research I universities. Many schools are now also offering the "nurturing, family environment" that epitomized HBCUs for decades. The chronic underfunding of HBCUs often makes them appear less desirable since the other fringe, creature comforts offered in the competitive higher ed market - recreational facilities, for example - may be less than optimal at some institutions.

The unifying introductory message from NCCU Chancellor Charlie Nelms was that to move forward as a collective institution, HBCUs need to share successful approaches and not be fearful of adopting programs developed elsewhere. Nelms spoke of the benefits of distributive leadership and lamented that "we keep starting over and over." Nelms, together with journalist and public relations director Cynthia Fobert, wrote this provocatively titled article, HBCU Reconstruction (PDF), that first appeared in the Winter 2010 issue of the American Council on Education publication, The Presidency. The post-Civil War Reconstruction era in the United States was when most HBCUs were established in order to provide formal education to newly-freed slaves.

The PDF is a great primer for those not familiar with HBCUs but should also be read by those who care about and work at HBCUs.

"The future of HBCUs will be determined by their competitiveness, responsiveness,
and relevance," he writes.

The NCCU HBCU Symposium featured some of the most influential voices in higher education today, not just Black higher ed. Most notably, the keynote address was given by the Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan. The full text of his comments can be found at the Department of Education website.

Duncan noted that HBCUs have served the important role of providing opportunity for advancement of students most often neglected by historically White institutions and may were originally established as teacher's colleges. I particularly loved this statement from Secretary Duncan which I tweeted from the symposium under the hashtag #hbcusymp:

Ambrose Caliver, the first African-American research specialist hired by the U.S. Office of Education, captured that urgency in a single sentence 75 years ago when he wrote: "In the hands of the Negro teachers rests the destiny of the race."

As a result, Duncan issued two challenges to the HBCU representatives gathered:

"First, I want to see HBCUs taking the lead in improving teacher preparation programs and training a new generation of minority students, especially black males, to teach in our nation's public schools."
"The second challenge I would like to see HBCUs take on is the one I began my remarks with: Boosting graduation rates. HBCU graduation rates are significantly lower than those at non-HBCU two-year and four-year institutions. We know this is the case chiefly because HBCUs work with disproportionate numbers of students who need remedial coursework, have significant financial hurdles to overcome, or are the first members in their family to attend college. Individually, and collectively, these are huge challenges."

I was blown away to learn that less than two percent of US schoolteachers are African-American men. This simple fact accounts for many issues but most obviously influences that Black boys and teenagers do not often see people like themselves as educators and, informally, that there are fewer same-demographic mentoring opportunities for Black students as compared with White students. As we will discuss in subsequent blog posts and interviews, the comparative lack of a strong male influence in some Black households has tended to perpetuate a significant problem for Black men - an issue that is a hot-button for discussion and one for which I, as a White male, welcome comment on from those in the African-American higher education community.

The second point that Duncan raised is equally important. Yes, HBCUs have traditionally offered opportunity. And with traditionally challenging budgets, HBCUs have had to work harder on student retention and graduation than historically White institutions. The challenge to HBCUs is to somehow "get out of the remediation business." Duncan feels that we can do this by focusing on high schools that would otherwise feed African-American college ranks. One of his facts that I tweeted during the symposium: half of all US high school dropouts come from just 2,000 high schools and 75% of those account for Black and other minority dropouts. Those who do graduate from such schools are students who require the greatest magnitude of remediation.

I've worked in higher education with minority student recruitment and development in the pharmacy profession and broader biomedical sciences since 1992. I am convinced that opportunity can make up for poor college preparation. But funding problems in secondary schools are making it even more difficult for higher education programs that are also increasingly strained. I'm so impressed by how HBCUs do indeed reach out to secondary schools in their communities. My hope is that by training more and better-qualified teachers to work in those schools might increase the ultimate probability of success of underrepresented minorities in higher education.

We'll continue this discussion of the HBCU Symposium over the next few posts. Please feel free to ask questions and share comments.

terrasig Sun, 06/13/2010 - 05:43

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What does it take to knock off K2 Spice readership?

terrasig — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 05:32:33 +0000

What does it take to knock off K2 Spice readership?

Just the other day, I wrote about how DrugMonkey and I have experienced unprecedented and sustained blog traffic for posts we wrote in February on K2 Spice, one of a couple of marijuana-like "incense" products still sold legally in the United States.

Every morning, I dial up my SiteMeter blog statistics and take a look at what posts readers first land upon when coming to visit the humble world headquarters of Terra Sigillata.

Last week, 2,700 to 2,800 of the 4,000 most recent hits were landing on our February K2 Spice post. (You will also note below the sad state of my readership in that posts on Stiff Nights erectile dysfunction supplement and Horny Goat Weed products are the next most popular direct hits.)

Finally, one post has knocked it out of the top spot after nearly four months:

Monday's post about the memorial unveiling of the gravestone for Henrietta Lacks this past weekend.

I have been completely overwhelmed by the interest in this story. This widespread attention would not be possible without the Facebook and blog referrals by author Rebecca Skloot, The New York Times Science page, and the enthusiastic Twitter referrals by other writers who I respect greatly such as David Dobbs, Sara Goforth, Mike Rosenwald, T. DeLene Beeland, Ted Winstead, scribbler50, Eric Ferreri, - as well as the dozens of you sci/med bloggers and folks from other walks of life who found this post worthy of recommending to your friends.

Please accept my apologies if you were not mentioned by name - I don't have Bora Zivkovic's flair for aggregating and linking to every referral but you have my gratitude for further popularizing the story of Henrietta Lacks and her family.

And for those of you so inclined, here are images of the memorial program that weren't included in the last post:

terrasig Wed, 06/02/2010 - 01:32

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Hey Abel, glad the NYTimes widget sent some traffic your way, but I just thought I'd show you where I first saw the link to this post: the twitter feed of buyk2incense.

As I was saying over at Obesity Panacea about the difficulty of getting rid of sham weight loss ads from our automated ad network, algorithm-based advertising occasionally makes exactly the wrong decisions based on keyword optimization.

But, like spam, the sheer number of people who will click on anything related to sex, drugs, or free money is enough to make such errors totally irrelevant. This phenomenon ensures that Jonah Lehrer's article on gay animals and this short piece on women watching monkey porn will forever be two of SeedMag's most popular articles. You can imagine the search terms that got people there.

You are more than welcome, TS. Was a especially nice post, giving us both the flavor of the day and a feel for how powerfully Lacks' story, related so richly by Skloot, can affect not just you as a researcher and person but your relations with many circles of society. (Plus the pictures were cool.)

I take it this means you're finally finally over that cold!

Evan Lerner - note to self: sex, drugs, free money - but no rock 'n' roll???

David - you are too kind yet again but, yes, my inhaled corticosteroid-induced dysphonia has resolved to the point that I was actually able to speak in church Saturday. I'll be starting speech therapy in two weeks to strengthen my vocal cords and learn good vocal hygiene.

Oh, and by the way: K2/Spice is sadly back on top in this morning's ranking of the last 4,000 hits: K2 over Henrietta 1331 to 781.

Nature asks eight "experts" about Venter's prosthetic genome work

terrasig — Sun, 23 May 2010 08:45:02 +0000

Nature asks eight "experts" about Venter's prosthetic genome work

Men. Check.

White. Check.

Grey. Mostly. That dude must use color.

Beards. Only two. Maybe three. Aw, hell, Church's makes up for the rest.

Article here.

Ed Yong (Asian-British, man, young, dark hair, no beard) also lists a great wrap-up of the week's commentary on the work.

terrasig Sun, 05/23/2010 - 04:45

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*sigh*

just b/c they're old white dudes doesn't make them not experts

and just b/c ed wrote an article about it doesn't make him an expert

8 old white dudes and Woese not among them? That's just BORING. (Woese on Venter is HILARIOUS, always)

All those white people look the same to me ;-p

It's all about the beards. Doesn't matter the specialty - sociology (Durkheim), economics (Marx), psychology (Wundt), biology (Darwin)... I could go on, but I don't have to. So, only a couple of them are credible... amirite?

Aside from the beard, Church also deserves an award for his penetrating stare. If I were a gene faced with that look I'd give up my secrets too.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot: NOT just for scientists

terrasig — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 11:02:52 +0000

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot: NOT just for scientists

This past weekend's international science communication conference, ScienceOnline2010, also saw the first, final hardback copies of Rebecca Skloot's long-awaited book make it into the hands of the science and journalism consuming public. Moreover, an excerpt of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks has just appeared in the new issue of Oprah Winfrey's O Magazine. And already, those online science communicators who left the conference with Skloot's book are registering their praise via this Twitter feed that was so active it was a trending topic at the science aggregator, SciencePond.

The story of the rural, Virginia woman who descended from slaves and developed cervical cancer in the early 1950s is notable most obviously for her tumors giving rise to HeLa, the first immortalized human cell line continuously maintained in culture. I have noted previously my enthusiasm for this story as both a long-time admirer of Skloot's writing and the fact that HeLa played a central role in my PhD thesis work and first papers from my independent laboratory.

But as a historically black college professor at a predominantly liberal arts school, I want to make clear that Skloot's book is of far broader appeal than just the scientific community. So I was delighted to see some page referral hits from Skloot's site which told me that my pre-press comments in that regard had been posted in academic publicity of the book.

So here is my "blurb" from the page, "What Professors Are Saying About The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks":

"No student or biomedical scientist should be permitted to broach the barrier of a cell culture hood without reading Rebecca Skloot's, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks ... the story of the rural Virginia woman whose aggressive cervical cancer gave rise to the most famous of immortalized cell lines is full of lessons in science and humanity that should be read by all who are involved in research and patient care. Basic scientists in particular, whose work is usually more detached from direct patient interaction, will especially benefit from this poignant account of a woman and family whose experiences epitomize our embarrassing history of medical injustices against poor, underserved minority communities ... The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks illustrates the need for responsible mentoring of scientific trainees and demonstrates the importance of clear and compassionate communication skills. When a medical student can't understand why an African American patient vehemently refuses to enroll in a clinical trial, they need only visit some of Skloot's accounts of Lacks Town and other black communities and read about the "colored-only" clinics of major medical schools to see how the profession fostered mistrust even in recent history. Skloot's book is so much more than a medical history text ... she became immersed in black Southern culture, slowly earned the trust of the Lacks family, and shared in the joys, frustrations, and pain still shared by black families across the South today. What is The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks really about? Science, African American culture and religion, intellectual property of human tissues, Southern history, medical ethics, civil rights, the overselling of medical advances? The difficulty in defining the book is also what makes so appealing to academics in both the arts and sciences. The book's broad scope would make it ideal for an institution-wide freshman year reading program but it is versatile enough for incorporation in special topics coursework for medical and graduate training or health disparities courses in public health programs. Of course, the book will be an excellent choice for extracurricular discussion groups ranging from university honors programs to working scientists and cell culture user's groups ... The abundance of moving passages in this book is enough to make even the most stoic scientist to take pause. Skloot is a master of the written word who skillfully weaves the cultures of reason and tradition, from the laboratories of Johns Hopkins to the churches of Clover. This is a work of science and the heart."

Forthcoming February 2, 2010, you can pre-order from your local independent bookseller, or online via Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders or Powell’s

Pre-ordering the book is a mutually-beneficial proposition.

First, Amazon, for example, is currently offering the book at a 34% discount off the retail price - almost $9 off - an offer that will disappear on the release date.

Second, I learned that all book pre-orders count toward a book's first-week sales, the major determinant of subsequent momentum and popularity of the book. Being such a vocal booster of this book, the story, and the author, I urge you to consider pre-ordering the book in the next two weeks if you have any inkling that you will ultimately be interested in reading it.

My active involvement in popularizing the story of Ms. Henrietta Lacks is just one way that I can acknowledge the role that her gift has played in my scientific career.

terrasig Tue, 01/19/2010 - 06:02

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Pre-ordered my copy about a month ago. Looking forward to reading it.

#scio10 Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Session: Engaging Underrepresented Groups in Online Science Media

terrasig — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 20:10:57 +0000

#scio10 Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Session: Engaging Underrepresented Groups in Online Science Media

Next weekend at ScienceOnline2010, I'll be co-moderating a session on encouraging scientists and science trainees from underrepresented groups to participate in social media. I will be working with Damond Nollan, a social media specialist and Web Services Manager at North Carolina Central University (NCCU). Damond is the author of the aptly-titled blog, In The Mind of Damond Nollan. The whys and hows are what we hope to discuss in the outline below.

The reason for calling this the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Session stems from the fact that this conference has been held for the last four years over the MLK holiday weekend. It's a practical time of year, just after the beginning of spring semester but before things get too crazy, the crappy January weather in North Carolina gives us great hotel rates and encourages people to stay inside and engage at the conference, and the Monday holiday allows for greater travel flexibility and cheaper airfares.

But the conference timing may keep some attendees away in their hometowns participating in local MLK activities. Therefore, we are introducing this session to celebrate the principles of Dr King in the context of online science communication: promoting social justice and eliminating racism in areas ranging from healthcare to scientific career paths, giving opportunity to those often left out of the conversation. In my case, that conversation involves increasing the diversity of the biomedical science community.

A longstanding example of the dominant demographic in science communication is the cadre of bloggers in the ScienceBlogs network and the repeatedly missed opportunities to increase diversity in this network. I announced last month my intentions to use this page and my white maleness to give greater voice here to that of underrepresented groups.

The conference is being held in Research Triangle Park, NC, part of the county of Durham, home to Duke University, North Carolina Central University, and Durham Technical Community College. Dr. King had ties to Durham and visited here several times as shown here from a photo shot on February 16, 1960 on West Main Street. On his immediate left is the Rev. Douglas Moore. The civil rights activist Moore, who now lives in Washington, DC, was the leader of the 1957 Royal Ice Cream sit-in where he led six African American students in protest to use the white entrance of a local business and request service at the counter. This event preceded the more famous Greensboro Woolworth sit-ins by two-and-a-half years. I had the rare pleasure of visiting with Rev. Moore a few weeks ago at the dedication of the Royal Ice Cream Sit-In historical landmark that I wrote about here. It was simply amazing to shake hands with him and chat for about five minutes with someone who worked with Dr. King. The source of the photograph, Gary Kuebke of the historic preservation blog, Endangered Durham, has a superb discussion of the Royal Ice Cream Sit-In here.

We plan to take a different angle from the Casting a Wider Net session being led by Anne Jefferson, although we are sure to have overlap - not a bad thing, IMHO.

How do we cultivate emerging science writers from underrepresented groups to promote science, for example, in areas of health disparities (i.e., diabetes, substance abuse, prostate cancer) and in providing opportunities to increase the number of underrepresented minorities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics careers.

First things first, of course. Locally in Durham, North Carolina, efforts are underway through the non-profit Kramden Institute to start by making newly-refurbished computers available to honors students in underserved school districts as a model for what can be done nationally. Working in my community has opened my eyes to the fact that a large swath of our population only has access to internet, or computers for that matter, at the local public library. Before we can even get to discussing social media, we have to bridge the digital divide and get computers and reasonably priced internet access into the households of all low-income families, regardless of their racial or ethnic bakcgrounds.

Any advice, comments or ideas are welcome from all readers, not just attendees, especially if you engage with underrepresented groups in your respective line of online or offline work. Here are a few ideas to start:

Why would underrepresented individuals want to get involved with science blogging and social media in the first place?

My feeling is that this is a two-way street. First, I see many students and postdocs benefiting from the advice and community of professionals outside their home institutions via online interactions. Particularly in blogging and blog comments, the playing field seems more even and the advice given to trainees by more established scientists is not influenced by institutional self-interests or other constraints as might occur in seeking advice in one's own department. I see many benefit to science blogging and Twitter interactions that serve the student. Those from underrepresented groups who are not currently engaged in this community can benefit greatly from these interactions.

On the flipside, trainees from underrepresented groups might serve as examples and role models to others. DNLee's Urban Science Adventures is a perfect example. This outstanding graduate student took it upon herself to volunteer at last year's conference together with acmegirl to then present a session and launch the Diversity in Science Blog Carnival. Peruse her archives and you will see that DNLee is a tireless promoter of activities, scholarships, and training opportunities for underrepresented groups.

How could we make it easier to introduce young underrepresented individuals in to science blogging?

I recently had an exchange about this issue with Dr. Marybeth Gasman from the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Gasman is a nationally-leading expert on African American higher education and has led project on the role of HBCUs in increasing the representation of black women in the STEM fields. She is currently PI of an NIH MORE grant to prepare postdoctoral fellows for education careers at minority-serving institutions. Dr. Gasman's view is that students will write about science on blogs but they need leadership to direct them toward the platforms to do so.

Blogging 101 sessions like those run locally by Bora Zivkovic and Anton Zuiker are great. These sessions are run at ScienceOnline and at local libraries where attendees launch a blog in roughly an hour. The question is how to get these sessions to science students in underrepresented demographics.

One way this has been done at NCCU is in their Office of Orientation & First-Year Experience. While not science-based, the associate director of the program encouraged a small group of freshman to draft blogs to document their first year at the university and aggregated them on the program website. A follow-up workshop by social media maven Ginny Skalski served to reinforce the blogging skills the students initially learned. While only a few students have stuck with it, a university-based portal to overcome the energy of activation is one enabling step.

That leads us to the next consideration:

How could we do this in the context of a university learning environment?

This is one of the primary reasons that I wanted to have Damond Nollan be part of this discussion. Damond is not a scientist but he is the leader of Web services at an HBCU who is also active in local social media. Following a brainstorming meeting we had prior to the holidays with a couple of other folks across campus, Damond has put together a university social media interest group under the umbrella of the widely-known Social Media Club movement. In fact, Damond learned with there is a "edu" component of this initiative.

Damond and I are fortunate to be at a HBCU with a growing population of other first-generation college students from Hispanic and Native American backgrounds. Our goal is to have brown-bag meetings across campus to pull people out of the woodwork, and bring some students with them, who might be interested in joining the online dialogue. A leader from our Center for University Teaching and Learning is another early adopter (although he still doesn't see the value of Twitter) and is helping our professors incorporate blogs and Twitter into the classroom to improve networking and writtern communication skills.

This part of our session might overlap with that of Casting A Wider Net but I've found that these conferences seem to do well by having two related sessions on two different days to foster discussion, further brainstorming, and action.

This is my current stream of consciousness but we welcome your comments below on any of these issues, whether you are attending ScienceOnline or not.

Alternatively, drop some comments on the session wiki if you are attending.

terrasig Sun, 01/10/2010 - 15:10

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The effort by the Office of Orientation & First-Year Experience to encourage freshmen to blog their college experiences was a good way to expose the students to blogging platforms (they used Blogger) and to practice their writing skills. If students are learning to blog, chances are they're proud of their site and want to tell their classmates, roommates, etc. about it. By spreading the word about their blogs, hopefully they are piquing interest among fellow students, which could help increase interest in blogging.

I think brown bag lunches are a good idea of helping spread the word and generate interest. Having professors incorporate blogs and Twitter into their classrooms is a logical step toward generating interest. What if they took it a step further and invited professionals who are using these networks in their fields to generate business, improve customer service and communicate with their audience?

I wish you and Damond the best of luck in your efforts. Please let me know if I can help!

Ginny, thanks so much - the first part of your comment reminded me that a student blogger was really jazzed when she was giving a campus tour and a prospective student knew her face from the blog.

Your point about pulling in people outside of academia per se is a great one. You coming over here, for example, gave our students exposure to a pro who is not necessarily in education.

We are really grateful for how wired you are in our community and dedicated to using new media to build community.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention to readers that you are the (relatively) new social media director for one of the world's leading companies in LED technology, Cree. Among the many things she does in their marketing department, Ginny writes their blog, Cree LED Revolution. Compact fluorescent technology is so "naughts"; all the kool 2010 kids are going LED.

I came into reading science blogs out of a love for science publications and magazines, and I think that a lot of other students may have the same interest but may not be aware that such a vibrant and helpful community of science communicators exists online. I think that creating a culture of interacting with students through blogging and other online social media would be very helpful in rousing up some interest in the field in general. Encouraging students to use blogs and Twitter early in their collegiate career is a good way to start them early on being engaged in the world of science communication. Perhaps this could be done by incorporating online interaction or blogging into an official course for undergraduates (and/or graduate sutdents!).

Irving Epstein on why we need to cultivate nonwhite students in the sciences

terrasig — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 08:02:34 +0000

Irving Epstein on why we need to cultivate nonwhite students in the sciences

In today's Los Angeles Times Dr. Irving Epstein, Brandeis University chemistry prof and HHMI investigator, writes in "The science of science education":

In 2005, more than two-thirds of the American scientific workforce was composed of white males. But by 2050, white males will make up less than one-fourth of the population. If the pipeline fails to produce qualified nonwhite scientists, we will, in effect, be competing against the rest of the world with one hand tied behind our backs.

Let me repeat: By 2050, white males will make up less than one-fourth of the [U.S] population.

There are many science educators around the world who are trying to cultivate into the STEMM disciplines young people who are not of the default demographic.

However, wanting to do so and actually doing it is far more challenging than one might think. Even a scientist as accomplished and educator as experienced as Epstein was challenged. Brandeis already had a program for select minority students, "that utilized team-building and peer support as mechanisms to help students survive and thrive academically":

The program, run by The Posse Foundation, works with universities to select and coach "posses" of 10 inner-city students who then attend, in a group, some of the country's top universities. The program is remarkably successful, producing a graduation rate over 90%. But even the Posse Foundation fell short in the sciences. Fewer than 10% of its students graduated in science, even though nearly half started off intending to do so.

Succeeding in the sciences required a much more intensive effort. For example, many of these students know that they need to work hard to excel in universities such as Brandeis, they just never learned how in their high school experiences.

Posse Foundation president, Deborah Bial, embraced Epstein's idea and, with the additional support of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, The Science Posse Scholars program was established to give students substantive pre-college experiences:

In January, they begin eight months of weekly after-school training sessions involving academics, problem-solving, team-building and communication skills. In July, they come to Brandeis for a two-week "boot camp" designed to give them not only a flavor of campus life but also a realistic sense of how hard one has to work and how much one must rely on peers, teachers and mentors to succeed in science at a competitive university.

When the students arrive in September, they are provided with a graduate student mentor, who meets with them regularly and serves as a resource for academic and personal issues. They are offered the opportunity to work part time in research laboratories in order to earn needed cash and to appreciate the sense of community in a research group.

Epstein reports that nine of the 10 students completed general freshman chemistry with six of them making Dean's List. While he doesn't provide the baseline numbers, it is not uncommon to see a pass rate of 50% or less in similar cohorts without intervention.

The lesson I take from Epstein's article is that it is not enough to recruit well-qualified minority students and help them once they arrive at university. Instead, programs need to cultivate these students earlier and prepare them better for the intensity and rigor of college-level science. Research experiences are great and certainly introduce students to the community of science and provide a context for their studies. But there is work that must be done at the basic level: basic writing skills, critical thinking skills, how to study, time management skills, and even (or especially) basic financial management.

I have to admit that his area is part of my continuing education as I am trained as a laboratory investigator, not an education investigator. As Michaelangelo said, I am still learning. However, I have been part of "boot-camp" types of pre-collegiate experiences for minority students accepted into pharmacy programs and have been fortunate to participate in the kinds of successful outcomes of such a program in clinical pharmacy practice.

So, I thank Professor Epstein for sharing with us his story and an example of how to do the same in the basic sciences. After all, according to the Good Professor's quote at the outset of this post, when I am his age I will be in the minority.

For additional reading, The Posse Foundation featured the Brandeis program here in May, 2009.

terrasig Sun, 01/03/2010 - 03:02

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Thanks â sharing the positive stories and the benefits to all is important as the narrative often leans toward the xenophobic. Remember, underrepresented minorities in the health professions are more likely to give back to their communities. And immigrants who have studied high-tech in the US tend to be more entrepreneurial than their American peers (i.e., creating jobs/wealth, rather than taking them away).

***In 2005, more than two-thirds of the American scientific workforce was composed of white males. But by 2050, white males will make up less than one-fourth of the population. If the pipeline fails to produce qualified nonwhite scientists, we will, in effect, be competing against the rest of the world with one hand tied behind our backs.***

A better idea would be adopt Jason Richwine's idea of selecting smart immigrants. Intelligence is significantly heritable and there is bucketloads of research suggesting that populations have different group averages. For instance, the average IQ for Ashkenazi Jews has been pegged at 107.5 to 115. That's only modestly higher than the overall European average of 100, but the gap is large enough to produce a huge difference at the upper end of the distribution. When a group's average IQ is 100, the percentage of people above 140 is 0.4%; when the average is 110, the rate is 2.3%.

G. Cochran, J. Hardy, H. Harpending, Natural History of Ashkenazi Intelligence, Journal of Biosocial Science 38 (5), pp. 659â693 (2006).

http://homepage.mac.com/harpend/.Public/AshkenaziIQ.jbiosocsci.pdf

Page 134 of this paper by Linda Gottfredson sets out the ability needed for different occupations and the implications of different group averages.

Skills gaps, not tests, make racial proportionality impossible. Gottfredson, Linda S. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law. Vol 6(1), Mar 2000, 129-143

http://www.udel.edu/educ/gottfredson/reprints/2000skillsgaps.pdf

Wait, why don't you extend these same extraordinary measures to poor white students from Appalachian regions so that white male numbers stay high? Why are you discriminating against deserving white males?

Four for Pharmboy: Thank you and a mission modification

terrasig — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 13:02:09 +0000

Four for Pharmboy: Thank you and a mission modification

The Preamble

Four years ago today, I wrote my first post in the blogosphere over at the old Blogger version of Terra Sigillata. The post, entitled, "A Humble PharmBoy Begins to Sow," set out my mission to be an objective source for information on natural health remedies and drugs that come from nature, whether used as single agent prescription drugs or as botanical mixtures and supplements.

I read blogs for about six months before setting off on my own, primarily because I wanted to be sure my efforts were not redundant with others. Because I am academic and paid by a combination of federal research and state educational funds, I feel that I can provide an objective forum for discussing news and developments on natural products that is not driven by a need to sell a product.

While I do not write every day, I hope that I have succeeded in approaching that goal. I thank you for coming by to read, participate in the comments, and refer us to other blogs, your colleagues, and your friends and families. It has been a delight to meet many of you and grow to call you my friends and colleagues. I still get a particular charge out of being called "Abel" in person, especially when the person addressing me knows my real name nonetheless.

I command thee: Delurk!

I have been very fortunate this year to see an uptick in the number of regular readers that I believe may have been stimulated by our presence on Twitter. I'd like to get a feel for who you are and why you are here because I always like to serve the community who takes time out of their busy schedules to see what pixels I've scribbled on this electronic papyrus.

As my colleague and blog mentor, Orac, did the other day for his fifth anniversary, I wish to ask those of you who read to delurk and drop a note in the comments to share 1) your general background, 2) why you read, and 3) what other stuff you'd like to hear from us. I know you are out there, so I thank you in advance for sticking your head up, saying hello, and going back to lurking. In fact, you may find that commenting is kind of fun and may be something you'd like to do more often.

Since you are here, you already know my answer to #1 and why I write.

But here's my answer to #3 and how I would like to move forward with this blog in the coming year:

On being a white, American male at ScienceBlogs

It is no secret amongst my readers, and evidenced by the charcoal sketch of my likeness in the Profile section to the upper left and my detailed biography, that I am a bespectacled, goateed, and somewhat graying white male. I am, therefore, a representative of the most abundant and privileged demographic in the biomedical sciences. As such, I have always endeavored to work in support of those not like me, those who may have not had the advantages that I underestimated for so many years.

My work to date has primarily involved the promotion of women in science and technology and I have been fortunate in my career to have been trained by and involved in the training of women scientists.

However, some of you may know, or have noticed from trends in my content, that I have joined an academic institution where I am a minority faculty member. It is an experience entirely consistent with my early days of working in minority career development in pharmacy that now gives me an opportunity to broaden my impact in the basic sciences. (From a perspective of personal growth, it is also an experience I wish I could share with every one of my white male colleagues.)

Being invited to ScienceBlogs in June, 2006, by editor Katherine Sharpe was a great honor because it gave me the opportunity to reach the majority of you, my current readers. The ScienceBlogs network is a superb and highly-visible platform for discussing issues central to the global scientific enterprise.

But in exchanges with many of my colleagues both within and outside the network, a common theme is that we fear this platform has been disproportionately white and US-centric.

I would go so far as to say that it is an embarrassment that ScienceBlogs™ does not have more diversity and has not taken the lead in cultivating voices from the scientific community that are unlike mine.

I cannot do anything about being blogging from the United States or being a US citizen. However, I can do something about giving greater voice on this platform to people who are not like me.

"Let the word go forth from this time and place..."

Therefore, I wish to make this the blog's mission for 2010:

Terra Sigillata will broaden its focus area to become an open platform for scientific and career development issues specific to underrepresented or underserved minority groups as described in the US by the National Institutes of Health: African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Native Americans/Alaska Natives who maintain tribal affiliation or community attachment, Hawaiian Natives and natives of the U.S. Pacific Islands, persons with disabilities, and underserved groups such as disadvantaged rural Whites or other low-income groups.

I actively encourage interested parties to submit to me items of interest, research findings, fellowship program announcements, news from minority institutions and student organizations, essays - anything that others feel would give greater exposure to individual and group efforts in the sciences on behalf of those who have not historically had substantial representation in the sciences or, more precisely, are not currently represented across the ScienceBlogs network.

Bottom line: If you aren't seeing it in the scientific blogosphere, I want it seen here.

We don't have huge traffic at this blog but the real estate on the front page of ScienceBlogs can easily bring in four-digit pageviews daily. I suspect that if we start addressing issues of underrepresented groups, other bloggers may pick up on our posts about your projects and other activities.

So, I hope that you will help me in this mission during my fifth year of blogging.

I refuse to allow being a white male to hold me back.

terrasig Tue, 12/15/2009 - 08:02

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Congratulations on four years of excellent blogging. I've been reading for three of them and I look forward to your next four!

You already know who I am and why I read but I'll just re-emphasize that I am certainly in your core audience. I appreciate discussions of natural products pharmacology and, heck, real pharmacology of any stripe. Don't lose that stuff, we're not bored yet!

I'm a pseudo-lurker. I'll echo what DrugMonkey said. Keep doing the pharmacology stuff. I love it.

I'm a science educator and any resource I have that assists me in combating ignorance and pseudoscience is welcomed and encouraged.

About your mission for 2009. The three most important teachers and mentors I have had in my schooling were all women (From calculus to organic chemistry to Ph.D. advisor). I can assure you, I would not be where I am and I would not be the person I am without the influence of those most wonderful and intelligent people. I have three daughters who I hope have the option to do whatever they want to do. I am thankful for all of the women that have gone ahead and removed road blocks (someday all of them) so my daughters can reach their dreams. So, yeah, I appreciate your mission. Even though I am also "a representative of the most abundant and privileged demographic" in the sciences.
Cheers

Mostly lurker, irregular reader of your blog. Although you know me because of twitter to an extent you wouldn't if I were just a lurking reader. While your academic pharmacological posts sail over my head because chemistry has always been the science topic I'm most weak at, I really enjoy posts like the one on witches and broomsticks. :-)

I admire your positions on various social justice issues greatly, and how consistently you advocate for them. I also love the fact the you are a musician. If I ever meet you in person in a group, I'm sure I'd be one of those putting you on the spot with a song request. Hope you keep your guitar handy :-)

While your post on your dad was touching, the one live-blogging your vasectomy was pretty hilarious while being educational.

You're an all around awesome human being. Keep up the blogging goodness, and good luck with the admirable goal for 2010!

One field that relates to your enhanced mission is the world of historical uses of medicinal herbs by indigenous populations. I am ignorant of much of this knowledge, but remember listening to old-timers back in the hills talk about it when I was a little one (a long time ago.)
The process of going out down by the creek and pulling up something to cure your ills has a rustic quality to it. Could you blog about any reference materials on this subject?
I also enjoy reading your blogs very much. Keep up the good work.

I lurk and have only recently commented and then started lurking again. I am so appreciative of your posts. I learn so much. I'm an ex-church worker, turned alcoholic who quit her Master's degree with three credits to go because the drinking and the dying kind of got in the way. Now, I work for a surgeon (hence, my fascination with drugs) and part time in the field of addiction counseling (hence, my fascination with drugs.)

I get so much more from reading your posts than I do from just reading medical journals. Because even though you don't really have a face - you engage with me as a human being, you're not just words on the page. Thank you for blogging and I can't wait to read more! Reading blogs like yours make me more convinced that I belong back in graduate school.

Congrats, Pharmboy and mazel tov.

Abel, it's nice to know you're still here and kickin'!

Mostly I lurk & read in RSS feed.

I can't remember how I found your blog but I think it was at least 3 years ago or even closer to the beginning.

I'm interested in natural remedies especially debunking the "wonders" of natural remedies in CAM.

Increasing women & POC in STEM (including medicine) is also an interest of mine.

Happy anniversary and congratulations! I don't lurk (you can't shut me up, can you?), and I am completely "out" online. I applaud your resolution for the next year. I look forward to more great stuff.
You go, PharmBoy!

Happy anniversary and congrats on your blogging activity.
I'v been following as a lurker from the orther side of the Atlantic for a while, partly because of my field of expertise (phytotherapy and ethnobotany) but mostly because of the slant you give to your posts. I have most appreciated the interest you showed for minority and gender issues in science, and hope you'll keep up with the good job.
One subject on which I am very keen and that is, IMHO, going to become a fertile ground of ethic research is that of urban ethnobotany: turning our gaze from the more "romanticised" study of ethnic communities in the distant fields, to the pressing reality of immigrant communities on our cities and to the transformations their plant knowledge and use undergoes (cfr. the works of Balick, Pieroni, etc.).

Another lurker here :) Don't take it personally; I have been lurking for a while at few ScienceBlogs and only recently started commenting (and you're right, it is kinda fun). I am now a postdoc and a biochemist by training. There was a strong emphasis on toxicology and pharmacology at my grad institute, though, and I enjoy the pharmacology posts. I look forward to hearing more from you on issues of diversity, as well.

Long-time reader and lurker, occasional commenter here; I think I started reading your blog because of your posts on Colorado history and culture (we share some connections to that region). I'm a researcher and anatomy/neuroscience instructor in medical and dental school courses at an HSI, and so I share your interests in encouraging diversity of participants and voices in science and science education. I really appreciate your unique perspectives at ScienceBlogs, and look forward to reading many, many more of your posts on diversity and minority education issues.

Looking forward to the next four :)

Congrats on the 4th anniversary... from another greying member of the same academic demographic! The demographic "pie chart" is pretty similar where I am (UK) to the US version, I guess - although we are certainly seeing more women in academic posts, and my Univ now has a woman scientist as Deputy Principal (or equivalent).

Anyway, second what DrugMonkey said. Often wish I could follow your example and blog more about actual, like, science, but the need to vent/rant often overrides.

Congratulations, Abel. Why do I read? Because you're writing from a unique perspective. If I knew what to suggest you write about, you wouldn't be unique. Surprise me.

Congratulations! My story is typical of the people we lose in science. I am ABD, population genetics, but returned home to help take care of my family. I muddled through a few years as a project manager for a national tissue registry and medical communication firm before finding a passion for informal science. After a decade in science museums, I recently returned to academics where I write grants and increasingly serve as resident "STEMMologist" (thanks for the new word). I also coordinate a few grant programs and do little teaching, some internships, and a lot of facilitating communication/collaboration ("stealth professional development" per my dean). I've been reading Sb for a long time, but rarely have much to add. I come here because you all remind me why I love science - you're smart and funny - and I think those are two qualities that can bring us together regardless of background.

Hello there Abel! Look at that, my only 'blogspring' 4 years old already. *sniff* Though I shuttered my own blog long ago and don't read yours as often as I'd like, I definitely keep tabs on you via twitter. I go round and round with myself about whether to start a new blog with a new focus but don't think I'd keep it up very long.

Keep up the good work, I think your goal for the new year is admirable. Women and POC need more allies in places of power (so to speak) such as yourself.

(BotanicalGirl)

I'm an undergrad microbiology student who's been going to school half-time while working full-time (in a diabetes lab), looking to finally graduate in the spring after 7 years. :( Not certain what I'd like to do most when I graduate - my grades aren't very competitive, but I'd like to do either basic science research or vet school... can't decide. If I can't get into vet or grad school, I'll work up to taking the firefighter exam and do that instead.

I started out on scienceblogs reading Pharyngula; these days I mostly only have time for Orac, though I've been trying to make time for others. I stumbled upon TerraSig when looking for some information about pharmacognosy for a friend whose daughter wanted to go to school for 'herbal medicine'. Now that the semester is out, I'll happily have time to start following more blogs again, including yours.

I'm pretty happy with the selection of topics to read about on scienceblogs. I'm also very gratified that there are voices like yours supporting demographic minorities in science. Thank you!

Happy Blogoversary!

Why do I read TS? Why does one read any blog? Because it provides something that no other place does: unique topics given in a unique voice. There is stuff here every week that cannot be found anywhere else on the planet. Oh, and wine...

I refuse to allow being a white male to hold me back.

Love you, Abel. :) Happy blogoversary.

Congrats Pharmboy, I've only been following your blog for about two years and would echo Coturnix's comment above.

congrats and keep up the good work!!!

Abel, you rock!

To delurk: I'm Dr.AA, recently minted Ph.D. in sub-sub-field of biology. I read your blog for the great writing and to hear an advocate's voice - my current working environment provides little in this department.

Looking forward to many more years of reading here - great job and keep it up.

Enjoy your blog. Congrats on four years of blogging.

Hi Abel,

At your insistence and in commemoration of your fourth year, I'll respond:

1) I'm a Sr. undergraduate in chemistry and mathematics. My capstone project is assessing the properties of nanoparticles functionalized by antisense oligonucleotides. Most of my research experience is in physical chemistry and I've applied to several graduate schools in that area - I'm awaiting replies!

2) I started reading after Orac gave you link love in Jan. '06. I like to learn things about fields I'm not studying, because I often get bogged down in the minute details of my own stuff. Plus, your perspective is educational just by itself.

3) What I love are critiques or peer-review of published works. Heck, seeing seminal papers and their discussion is often very enjoyable.

Very Best,

Chris

1. I'm a massage therapist, fighting the alt. med stupidity on the front lines every day. I have a degree in English and an honors diploma in massage.

2. I read several of the science blogs daily and you're on the list. I can't remember when I started, but I enjoyed your style.

Our blogs are almost exactly the same age.

3. I mostly enjoy fisking of poor research or, because my training is lacking in statistics and study design, I enjoy explanations of why a particular study is well done and why.

/delurk
/lurk

Abel: You were one of the first blogs I started following, and it's still on my go-to list daily. Your work has inspired others to speak up. Keep up the great work.

Congrats on 4 years!
Well I guess I'm a minority if we're speaking of American white males... I'm a 1st year surgical intern from Mexico, with interests in oncology; I really enjoyed your post about HeLa cells. I'll be sure to keep up and not lurk so much.

This is a another Chris who lurks here. Hi!

Oh, and this Chris likes this part of your blog:

My work to date has primarily involved the promotion of women in science and technology and I have been fortunate in my career to have been trained by and involved in the training of women scientists.

Hi Abel

I read your blog most days and I have a special fondness for your scientific explanation of naturally derived molecules that we can use as drugs.

I can see what you're doing with your 2010 mission but it will have the effect of making your blog entirely US-centric.

Lafayette, we are here !
or something.
Keep up the good work!

First, de-semi-lurking to say, Happy Blogiversary!

Now, on to the test questions:
1) your general background I was born a poor black child, in a log cabin I helped my father build...okay, that was not entirely true. In fact, it was more or less completely false. I would even go so far as to say, a total lie. Female, white, fifties, some college (but a voracious reader). The degree I didn't finish was in biology, which won out over astronomy because the college I went to didn't offer it, and I was far too timid to fare alone into the unknown. Scifi geek, history & archaeology buff, serious D&D player, inordinately fond of tentacles. Says it all, really.

2) why you read I've got too much time on my hands at work, a vicarious-science monkey on my back, and access to a computer. I surf the Scienceblogoverse, and stop in here daily in the course of my travels, as I have since the day one of your sciblings linked to one of your blog entries. You have successfully caught and held my attention, and now you're stuck with me until and unless you become boring---which I see no symptoms of, yet.

3) what other stuff you'd like to hear from us. You're doing good; keep doing it. Add whatever suits you. As long as you don't become boring, or distressingly teabaggy or religious, I'm along for the ride.

Guess I'm a lurker. I post on other blogs, but don't think I've posted here...mainly because I spend more time 'listening' than 'talking' when I'm learning items outside my area of expertise. To answer your questions:

1) General Background: Wildlife biologist/ecologist, involved in research usually on small mammals, migratory birds, stress hormones in those populations, arctic and sub-arctic plant nutrient studies; also sessional professor teaching a variety of biology courses, ecology, genetics, chemistry to first and second-year undergrads when I'm in the mood to stay indoors over winter rather than freeze half to death doing winter field work on some high arctic mammal that doesn't know enough to get in out of the cold. Also former career as a social worker dealing with juvenile delinquents (young offenders, some were drug addicts).

2) Why I read: To gain knowledge, to understand, to expand my boundaries. What you blog about sometimes ties in with so many aspects of what I do so I drop by about once a week to soak up what you've written.

3) what other stuff you'd like to hear from us: I really don't know. Write about what interests you, and your interest in the subject may be contagious and I'll become interested in something I didn't even think about before. Science-blogs are avenues of exploration. You never know what blog post will catch your fancy and pull you along into the maelstrom.

Congratulations, and happy bloggaversary!

I started reading you relatively recently, and I enjoy your writing style & perspective immensely.

And now, if there were any justice, the gods of the blogosphere would reward you with a Martin Steve Earle Signature M-21 to replace that Taylor of yours...

Stumbled on your blog before you moved here, asked a question and we figured out that you worked with my spouse- small world.

You write good stuff, so I read!! Sometimes I comment, sometimes I lurk. I particularly appreciate the stuff you write debunking news stories that overstate what can be said from in-vitro and in-vivo cancer studies and plaster links to your blog all over cancer support boards when you do this.

Thanks

Congrats, man! You're one day ahead of me!

Delurking now. ABD Plant Biology, MS Biology, BS Industrial Engineering -- time spent as part time adjuct at both Community Colleges and University levels. Left academics to help family with end of life care for grandfather. Choice made easier by deeply disfunctional lab and department. Now tech in a clinical lab area. God, I love health insurance! Lurk at work to cure bordom waiting for tissue to frozen section or slides to stain. Thanks to you and all your sci-blings esp when your tag lines let me filter what will get past the Big Brother work-place controls. Love it when pathology and botany meet.

And yes,I would be female. And yes, only after I joined the "pink collar" work force did my father say he was proud of me. I'm older than you might think -late attempt to bloom. And oh how I love health insurance -- and therefore my job.

A great many thanks to the first 12 of you who commented in before I tweeted today and was retweeted by many of you on the occasion of this birth - afterbirth, if you will.

#1 DrugMonkey - I know who you are indeed but I still look forward to getting to know you in meatspace someday. I really appreciate the support of you and all the other neuropeeps, not just for reading but for also referring our posts and drawing others over to join the conversation.

#2 Chemgeek - Fabulous to have a fellow homebrewer (me, formerly though) and honest-to-goodness chemist among this gathering. And yes, being the father of little women simply encourages us in the pursuit of equality. Not a bad thing. Especially if they learn to homebrew. It's biochemistry, right? And pharmacology, too.

#3 arvind - If you are a lurker then you are the most active lurker I know. I really appreciate your pointing out your favorite posts as they are some of mine as well! But be sure to come and ask questions if the science posts are over your head. This is supposed to also be a place for general science ed so jump in from time to time. I say "musician" but, honestly, I'm more a guy who plays guitar and bass with other musicians. What I hope to do someday is to go for a run with you and Mrs Arvind. Be well, and thank you.

#4 Roger - Are you *my* Roger Austin? If so, thanks for hunting me down. If not, thank you for hunting me down. The PharmKid has actually learned more than I about going down to the river and picking some medicinal plants. Lots of folk history of such here in NC and her nature camp counselors have shared a lot with her. That'll be a future project: to translate the truth behind some of these folk stories. Thanks for the suggestion.

Yes, I promise to respond to each and every one of you - Thank you for reading and writing. It's a pleasure to see my old friends and to make new ones.

Hi there Abel,
I first met you near the (delicious) sweet potato beer being served up by FullSteam at the spring tweetup at Bronto, and have popped in to your blog on occasion ever since. I probably see more of you on twitter than on this blog. I have enjoyed your tweets on many topics and came across the book Killing Bono because of your coverage of the U2 conference. I love in particular your local social justice connections. Best wishes with the new mission- I hope to find ways to contribute to its success.
cheers,
Mary

Hi Abel,
I found Terra Sig about a year ago through science blogs and science-based medicine. I grew up in northern Arizona and developed an interest in edible and medicinal herbs under the influence of parents and friends who were foresters, botanists and biologists. Living on the border of the Navajo and Hopi reservations also helped. I will keep my eyes and ears open in relation to your mission, and if you need anything from this area investigated, let me know.

Hi Abel,

I'm not a new reader here but I haven't visited you blog in the last year except for the post about squalene which did help me craft a good answer on vaccination on a forum so I wish to thanks you for that.

Happy blogiversary :)

Congratulations!

Who am I? A Canadian university student. (Arts, not Sciences.) Irregular reader and mostly a lurker.

Why do I read? Usually it's 'cause I clicked on an interesting-looking link to one of your articles. Or I just check in to see what's new.

What else do I want to see here? Can't think of anything offhand, sorry.

...More congratulations! Four years is pretty darn good for a blog, no? Especially a science- and news-based sort of blog, as opposed to your basic what's-going-on-in-my-life-right-now sort of blog. Keep up the good work!

Hi,
I've been lurking for about a year and a half. I teach English at two community colleges in California, and I often point my students toward your blog and those of your sciblings.
Science blogs in general and Terra Sigilata are excellent examples of well-written essays, and a good source of information to rebut some of the nonsense floating around college campuses.

/delurks
[Ouch! Quit it Orac!]

An electrical engineer working in IT (I really wanted to build trains - welcome to the job market).

Why pharmacy? I've always loved the progression from inorganic to organic chemistry, and then on to biochem and the effects of 'stuff' on animals then to the effects on humans. Where is the disctinction between a poison and a drug? So how do they work anyway?

I dunno. I think all the pharms out there do (or ought to) know.

Can I ask for a few more, um, technically-oriented posts?

Bring back the Phriday Phermentable!

/relurks

I don't read the blog daily, but I read everything on it. Usually I drop by once or twice a week, but sometimes less.

Now, as for your questions:

1) your general background
Danish/Australian IT consultant living in Copenhagen. Pro-science in all aspects.

2) why you read
I like your take on, especially, medical issues, and your good fight against pseudo-science and pseudo-medicine.

3) what other stuff you'd like to hear from us
Your mission statement sounds interesting, but I would definitely like you to continue fighting against homeopathy and other woo.

Congratulations on your anniversary.

I am a low-level college administrator, responsible for emerging technologies software development. I read your blog to gather ammunition to use in my own tiny campaign against pseudo-science. You do a fine job, providing that ammunition. Thank you and keep up the good work!

I refuse to cease lurking, ever!

...oh, crap. This is how I ended posting on a messageboard for 5 years...

Never again!

I'm a first time reader to this blog, coming via link from Orac. While pharmacology is not a big interest, I have had contact with the NIH efforts to promote scientific careers for minorities.

I worked at a small women's HBCU for a year at the beginning of the decade putting together a database of MARC graduates for tracking purposes. The program director mailed a survey to the MARC alumni asking about where they have gone on to train and what they have accomplished since finishing the MARC program. Aside from those students who went on to successfully complete medical school, only one graduate actually went on to earn a Ph.D. The rest dropped out of school somewhere between the first year of graduate school and post master's degree. Aside from monetary issues, which were compelling, the most common complaint was social isolation. Whether this arose from the culture of scientific graduate work or from being a minority in science work was not clear. The immediate response of the faculty at the college was to discount social isolation as a reason for attrition. "If they can't take it, they don't belong!" A significant reason for the failure of their program (they were in serious danger of losing funding) was staring them in the face and all they could say was, "That's not important!" Clearly it was important enough to several very promising scholars that they chose not to pursue full academic training. My point is this: Social support is important for the success of some minority students. The tendency to overlook this need may contribute to the dismal number of minority Ph.Dâs.

Congratulations! Here's to four more!

I am a dedicated lurker for about two years now, scientist/management in biotech. Why I read: you're a good writer, and I like your rational take on the topics on which you post. I particularly like your posts on drugs of abuse, having worked on the research side of the field many years ago.

Who: lurker, social science PhD working in higher ed admin, with a family member who has non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (I think I found you through one of Anjou's links).
Why: Good writing, excellent information that helps me better understand pharmacology and research (which has directly impacted us, since my family member's current remission is due to recent innovations in radiolabeled immunotherapy) and explain it to friends and relatives who are pushing all kinds of pseudoscience woo at us. Oh, and I like wine, too :-)
What: What you've been doing is terrific; I applaud the new direction you propose as well.

I follow you on twitter and read your blog occasionally. I am just a regular person who is interested in getting reliable information about drugs and natural cures. It gives me the facts I need to combat woo and misinformation.

I work as a medical technologist in a hospital based clinical laboratory. I'm interested in many science and medical topics and I'd like to see you expand to any topic you wish to expound upon.

More thank-you!

#5 k8 - Way to go! Congratulations on sticking it out and making lemonade out of lemons. Even if you don't go back to finish the master's, it sounds as though you have a very enriching life. I know that recovery can be hell; not sure if you've read my eulogy to my Dad but alcoholism runs strong and deep in my family. Also, as you know, many natural products are among are most frequently abused drugs. So, while I'm not a neuropharmacologist, I like to write about psychoactive substances and substance abuse and dependence as honest-to-goodness pathophysiology. I really love your spirit and blog tagline, "I used to be drunk all the time. Now, there's really no excuse for the crazy." And thank you so much for the nice comments on the writing style. We try our best to make it personal and real.

#6 Dr. Brain - Many thanks and keep coming back to comment.

#7 Katherine Sharpe - THE Katherine Sharpe! Thank you, thank you, thank you for inviting me here on my birthday in 2006. While I have technical mentors for the blog, you were the first person in real journalism who gave me a shot. I am so happy for you with all of your new projects and employment and I will be sure to follow your new blog.

#8 Liz Ditz - Hi Liz, I see you so much on Twitter that it seems odd to talk to you here. Thank you for all the great referrals and for all of your support in vaccination education. I particularly appreciated your exhaustive blog round-up of dialogue on Amy Wallace's Paul Offit article in Wired. And thank you for sharing in the effort to enhance opportunities for women and people of color in our respective fields.

#9 Pascale - Always great to see you, Dr. Lane. I am also a huge fan of the kidney and am always blown away each time I teach renal excretion in my intro to drug action lectures. And yes, even though it's not Thanksgiving, I am still thankful that I can pee!

#10 Marco Valussi - Thank you for checking in across the ocean. I'm delighted to learn of your ethnobotany interests. You raise a good point about an area I know very little: urban pharmacognosy. Yes, while the rainforests are romantic, there has to be intense biological competition aongst plants and microorganisms in urban areas. That's a really good suggestion for future investigation and education!

#11 Biochem Belle - It's great to learn of you as well and your excellent blog on being a postdoc. I think I learned of you via comments at DrugMonkey or nearby. I originally trained in toxicology and look forward both to reading more of your blog and getting you involved in discussions here.

#12 Barn Owl - Ah yes, my dear Barn Owl; it has indeed been a long time. Thank you for reminding me of our mutual love for Colorado. I sometimes hesitate to talk about local stuff or fondness for places I've lived but many of us train in so many different places that there's always bound to be more interest in hyperlocal things than one might think. Thank you for your endorsement and for jumping in to discuss so often.

#13 Sheril - Hey neighbor - you need to come to my office and go through my plethora of pharmacology texts for your book. I'm here, sadly, through the holidays.

#14 Dr Aust - Great to see you, sir - I also follow you on Twitter. Yes, we will continue with science-y posts
but feel free to rant any time you wish.

#15 - Stephanie Z - Great to meet you last year at ScienceOnline, albeit briefly. Yup, I'll continue to pull topics out of thin air - thanks for being unique yourself.

#16 Peggy - Hello, Peggy, and thank you so much for your kind and generous comments both here and on Twitter. I am honored and hope I can keep up with your expectations. Thank you for mentioning STEMM and making it easier to me to talk about "STEM, and medicine, and allied health professions." Yours is indeed a typical story but I am glad that your science background has put you into an environment where you are making huge contributions! What a fabulous way to make a great impact at your institution and wherever your trainees end up - I love "stealth professional development."

GOATS ON FIRE

Congratulations! I too am a (rather infrequent) lurker, albeit my visits here have become more frequent since I started twittering and came across many a worthwhile RT with your twitter name attached. And I also write a small blog (or two) when I have time in between teaching and research. Coming up soon on the third anniversary of my blog Reconciliation Ecology shortly!

Oh, and might I add that I am a non-white (male) science blogger? One who wouldn't mind being asked to join this collective if you folks at SB are serious about adding some color and perhaps a perspective from the global south too! :-)

I am a documentary filmmaker from Canada with no science background whatsoever, but a double dose of curiousity about a lot of science-y subjects. I came across your blog while spellunking around the 'net for a project concept, and was very impressed with your writing style and you've had a several posts that have piqued my interest - not necessarily about what I was originally looking for, either. I've been lurking away every so often ever since.

Just keep writing about what interests you. And congratulations on your anniversary!

Congrats!

1. Former Christian, discovered the joys of science and skepticism just over a year ago and haven't looked back! I have a modest blog where I write about skeptical things that interest me, and try to broaden my knowledge by doing that.

2. I read your blog and other scienceblogs to learn, obviously, but also to try to make up for all of the lost time I spent thinking that science was boring and of no interest or consequence to me. I learn so much from blogs like yours, not only information, but also about the experience of being a scientist and the scientific method (which is in reality so much more exciting than the way I learned the method in school).

3. Keep doing what you're doing!

Congrats Abel!

I just started reading your blog--not always as regularly as I'd like, but I enjoy it. You've probably surmised most of this from my tweets, but I'm a postdoc at Columbia University in New York. I specialize in using NMR to study protein dynamics. I spent several years doing vaccine research/development as well.

I applaud you on your expanded focus. I have made it a goal to mentor minority students and have found it to be incredibly rewarding.

I'm also female, from rural Nebraska, and am a bit of a sports nut. :)

Hoping to get my own blog going in the new year. Until then, catch you in the twitterverse!

Cheers,
Michelle

Undergraduate student studying neurobiology. Frequently a curmudgeon. Am an atheist. Frequently fascinated by pharmacology.

I have not found a better place on the internet to read about the latest science.

I have a B.A. Anthropology and I've been a Science geek all my life. I'm interested in Ethnomedicine and the "alternative" medicine scene as a cultural phenomenon. I'm 46 and over the years my Alternative friends have subjected me to everything from Bach Flower remedies to herbal concoctions pounded into beeswax paste, but I'm still here and healthy anyhow.

I've been reading your blog for about three years. I very much enjoy your informed voice and your ability to speak clearly on subjects that seem to make a lot of people incapable of rational thought (like vaccinations).

My dad was Eastern Shoshone and I very much approve of your expanded mission statement. I do hope you'll also keep fighting the good fight against the modern versions of Patent Medicines and other dubious things.

Thanks for all that you write here!

Congrats on the 'versary. Looking forward to sharing a beer with you at SciO10!

I have a business admin degree and work as a software developer on a open source project. Always been fascinated by science. I'm disturbed by pseudoscience and the harm it can cause people who rely on it instead of evidence based medicine. As a minority female in a male dominated profession, I appreciate your expanded scope.

Junior TT faculty in physiology as well as being a rather bitter and sarcastic blogger. I am a regular reader but don't tend to comment often because your stuff is always right on the money. I thought the guy wearing the funny hat and playing the guitar was pretty cool, too.

I suppose I'm a semi-lurker though I have commented on a couple of things in the past.

I first came to find your blog when I read on Pharyngula about your live-blogging experiment during your Vasectomy. I thought that such a brave, brave man would be worth following and I subsequently subscribed to your RSS feed.

I read most of your posts via Bloglines but do come and read the odd one or two that take my particular fancy on your website. I'm not a scientist (I'm a software tester for a telecomms firm) but I enjoy reading about the sciences. Also wine.

I've learned a lot about pharmacologically-related stuff here and I hope to continue to learn new things for a while to come now. I love Scienceblogs for this - it's humanising the presentation of scientific ideas.

Congrats on 4 years!

Dave

Hello. I am delurking late because I'm an irregular reader. Merry Thingummy and all that.

I'm a lurker and erratic reader, too, but then, I was only recently introduced to your blog. I'm not a scientist, nor do I have any scientific or medical training. My interest in scientific subjects was ignited by watching the "Mr. Wizard" television show (this gives you an idea that I ain't young...) and my interest in science has never waned since. Congratulations on your fourth year of writing this interesting blog and may your interest never wane, either!

greetings Abel and happy 4th blogoversary!

for the sake of adding another comment to your excellent blog, here i am! you already know that i'm a fellow pharmacologist, interested in toxicology and natural products pharm/tox but looking at some different applications. just wanted to leave a note of encouragement and say keep up the good work, friend!

Still getting back to all of y'all. Thank you very much for continuing to write in!

#17 Melissa/BotanicalGirl - Wow! If you look back at my first post, you will indeed see that I am your blog spawn! So great to hear from you and, yes, lovely to follow you on Twitter. Congratulations on your marriage and job. You must get back to blogging. While I don't think you do botany any longer, you always had a great voice and I know several people who'd be happy to see you back.

#18 smaller - Thank you for reading and congratulations on finishing the semester. You probably already know that microbes (bacteria and fungi) have given rise to many natural product therapeutics, including the statins and a great many antibiotics and anticancer drugs. Good luck in your decision in what to do and be sure to read other blogs here and elsewhere. I had a pharmacy students who was also a paramedic so firefighting sounds cool. But if your grades aren't that good and you want to do vet school or grad school, try and get some research experience while you are an undergrad.

#19 Greg - Thanks for the kind words and thank you for linking to me throughout the year. All the best to you and Amanda on her master's and your new baby!

#20 Coturnix - Thank you, Bora, for being among the first big name bloggers to link to me in the lean days. You continue to be a mentor, wonderful friend, and are always generous with praise and links. You're a good egg, brother. Happy Hanukkah!

#21 C.E. - You are too kind; I'm glad that you seized upon that line. For others in this thread, you really should do yourself a favor and bookmark Candid Engineer. She does a terrific job day in and day out of capturing the postdoc life with great straight-up advice, a great attitude, takes no crap from asshats, and is most deserving of an tenure-track faculty position very soon. She rocks.

#22 Paul Browne - Hey! Great to learn that you are a reader - what a nice surprise. Paul runs Speaking of Research, a campus-oriented blog that supports the lifesaving research conducted by researchers whose work requires the use of laboratory animals. Paul's site is designed to combat the animal rights extremism and terrorism against researchers whose lives are dedicated to improving human health and relieving human suffering by the most responsible and humane use of laboratory animal models.

#23 Thank you, ana!

#24 ambivalent academic - Great to see you, Dr. AA! Yes, Doctor AA - congratulations on your defense!

#25 Marilyn Mann - Thanks, Marilyn!

#26 Chris - WOW! Reading since Jan 2006? That's basically my entire blog life. Haven't scared you away yet? Good luck with the grad school applications - hope we haven't scarred you or led you astray. I'll definitely do some more peer-reviewed papers; I've slacked off lately.

#27 BigHeathenMike - A beloved Canadian! Thank you for all you do to fight the antivaccination death march. Doesn't matter when you started reading; I'm glad you still do. You know, for some reason I was just thinking I was in need of a good, deep-tissue massage.

#28 NoAstronomer - Thanks for the brief delurk!

#29 PharmacistScott - No, Scott, thank *you* for being a vocal pharmacist and taking so much effort to support your profession with science-based information. I don't see as many pharmacists in the blogosphere as, say, physicians. So, as a former pharmacy prof, I'm so glad that you started Science-Based Pharmacy. Keep up the great work, beloved Canadian!

I'm not a scientist. I have an undergrad degree in Anthropology and am interested in the intersection of science and culture--especially the way that culture influences epidemiology.

Thanks for your blog!

Happy Blogiversary, Abel.

1) you already know who I am, anyone else can figure it out from my blog if they want to

2) I come here for the physiology/pharmacology and diversity related content

3) just keep up the good work!

I have a couple of friends with more melanin and less testosterone than the scientific promotion process seems to prefer, so I'll be sure to point 'em here in light of your renewed focus on diversity.

#30 Alejandro - We are very fortunate to have readers like you from the Mexican medical community. I'm so glad that you enjoyed the HeLa post and I encourage you to get Rebecca Skloot's book on Henrietta Lacks when it is released on 2 febrero. I'm sure you know that while amazon.mx does not exist, amazon.com will ship the book to Mexico.

#31/32 Chris - Hey, it's been a pleasure to work with you behind the scenes on other projects. You might also be very interested in my recent post on Dr. Nora Volkow.

#33 antipodean - I will certainly continue to write about naturally-derived drugs - I'm glad you enjoy those posts. A new facet on diversity, I hope, will not make us too US-centric as issues of race and diversity exist in the scientific community in other countries as well. For example, I spoke recently of Guadeloupe-French footballer Lilian Thurman's fight against racism from the Sarkozy administration. If you know of such issues internationally, please do send them to me. This is a world blog!

#34 DLC - Well, I hope you are not uttering "Lafayette, we are here," at my tomb. But yes, I truly appreciate the gesture, your continued reading, and active commenting. btw, I just learned that while the quote is oft attributed for Gen. John Pershing, he noted in his autobiography that the words were spoken instead by Col. Charles Stanton.

Hi Abel,

I only occasionally visit, esp. now I have my own blog to babysit...

I'm interested in the disabilities side of what you're proposing. I wrote a post about some parts of this about a month ago, prompted by a post Isis wrote (see link on my name).

One point I mention in it is that disabilities are less often raised, as most people writing seem focused on ethnic background or gender.

It doesn't seem right to be offering a caution seeing as you've been blogging for a while now, but just a thought: be careful about how issues span international borders.

As a very silly example, apparently people from the USA complained about the to them racial tone of an TV advertisement in Australia, featuring a well-known (white) Australian cricketer looking awkward and glum surrounded by cheering West African supporters. It seems that some from the USA took it to mean that the guy was awkward and glum because he was surrounded by "blacks". Any Australian (the intended audience of the advert) or New Zealander would instantly know the actual subtext: he was awkward and glum because he was faced with watching the Australian team losing to the West Indian team while being surrounded by their supporters innocently rubbing it in by cheering madly... nothing to do with "race" at all...

This example is a silly one, I know, but I wanted to give an overly light example that's off-topic as such to avoid kicking up a fuss in the wrong place.

(FWIW, I've had a nearly identical experience involving watching NZ lose to Pakistan at the 50-over World Cup many years ago. It's a great story, but this isn't the place for it.)

No need to reply to this, I'm guessing you're might have to take back the idea of replying to each and every person judging by how the list is growing faster than your responses... :-)

Now I wish my own readers would kindly delurk...

Grant (also sometimes 'BioinfoTools')