Ronald T. Borchardt, Ph.D., Solon Summerfield distinguished professor of pharmaceutical chemistry at the University of Kansas, recently began his term as president of the 9,500-member American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS). During a speech at the 15th Annual AAPS Meeting held October 29-November 2 in Indianapolis, Borchardt laid out his goals for his term as president.

First, he hopes to maximize the use of electronic media to facilitate informational exchange among individuals in the pharmaceutical sciences. The AAPS e-subscriber program, an electronic-only form of membership, provides the perfect means of communicating information to scientists in other disciplines as well. Borchardt predicts that the electronic portal, AAPS Pharmaceutica, will provide the organization a way to make scientific knowledge available to the public as well as provide a forum for AAPS to influence public policy.

Borchardt also wants to foster strategic alliances with other scientific organizations. He plans to expand AAPS members’ ability to access websites and journals of sister organizations by strengthening partnerships and affiliations with these organizations. He promotes the use of the new portal as a venue for co-publishing news articles, reviews, scientific commentaries and research articles with other organizations.

Another of Borchardt’s goals is to globalize AAPS activities. "We need to reach out to scientists all over the world, particularly those who may not have the financial resources to attend our annual meetings and workshops in person," Borchardt said.

Borchardt wants to increase the participation of drug discovery and clinical discovery/development scientists in the organization.

To accomplish this goal, he is encouraging sections and focus groups to develop scientific programs that include topics in the boundary areas between drug discovery and drug development. "At the same time," Borchardt said, "we can develop new marketing strategies designed to familiarize drug discovery and clinical discovery/development scientists with the scientific contributions of AAPS members."

Another key goal of Borchardt’s presidency is to use the expertise of AAPS’ industrial scientists to educate graduate students in the pharmaceutical sciences. He believes the organization needs to provide student chapters with the resources necessary to increase the involvement of industrial scientists. He wants to see expanded offerings at annual meetings, including technical writing, ethics and interviewing skills.