Mission & Activities

The mission of the Minority Affairs Committee (MAC) is to generate and promote programs that assure equal treatment of all professional immunologists on the basis of merit. The MAC focuses on activities that advance the scientific development and career opportunities for minority scientists, in order to make them “full-fledged” members of the scientific community. Minority scientists are as defined by the National Institute of Health guidelines to represent individuals from racial and ethnic groups that have been shown to be underrepresented in health-related research nationally. These groups include African Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, Alaskan Natives, and Pacific Islanders. To achieve these goals the MAC maintains a Web page that will include a list of minority immunologists, categorized by scientific specialty, and a list of “Potential Speakers and Chairs”. Among the criteria for inclusion on the Potential Speakers and Chairs List: being an AAI member who is an independent investigator with an active publication record. Immunologists and scientists in other disciplines may use this resource when considering individuals for selection as speakers at meetings or seminar series, to participate in review panels, to serve on editorial boards and to participate in other professional activities. The MAC realizes the importance of having successful role models and of networking in attracting minority scientists into immunology. While a list of the nature described would go a long way in attracting young scientists into immunology, the MAC also realizes some individual might not wish to be listed, and as such inclusion on this list will be completely voluntary.

The AAI is the recipient of a grant from the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) ^*1  which supports MAC annual meeting activities.  These activities include the Minority Scientist Travel Awards, an AAI MAC Minority Scientist Guest Lecture, and the AAI MAC Breakfast Speaker program.

The Minority Scientist Travel Awards enhance minority student and faculty participation at the AAI annual meeting. It also sponsors programs that feature successful minority immunologists as major speakers at annual AAI meetings. Considering that the issue of minority representation in science is of pressing nature, cutting across all scientific disciplines, the MAC is dedicated to liaising with other societies within the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB), in developing programs aimed at ameliorating the dire condition of representation of minority scientist in biomedical sciences. The MAC sets up subcommittees as needed to develop goals and to select potential minority guest speakers at AAI meetings.

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*1 – The 2008 AAI Minority Scientist Travel Awards are funded by a grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, National Institutes of Health [FASEB MARC Program: T36-GM08059-25].
 

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Updated 03/17/2008