Articles

As you can see from the title, I spoke about the definition of a society. While I don't have the entire definition here, I copied what I feel are the points specific to SQA. In general, a society is: "A voluntary association of individuals for common ends."

Everyone who signed the membership application or registered to attend the Annual Meeting was an automatic volunteer. And what could be a more common end than the assurance that all research is conducted to the applicable regulations, guidelines and industry standards?

A society is also an "organized group ... periodically meeting because of common ... profession or a broad grouping of people having common ... institutions, and collective interests." SQA hosts the Annual Meeting as well as Quarterly Meetings and Fall Training and SQA does represent a broad grouping of people having common institutions and collective interests. At this meeting alone we had 100 representatives from 17 foreign countries. And there is that final aspect of a society that I hope we never lose sight of: “a society is a social circle or a group of social circles having a clearly marked identity." This sounds like Committees and Specialty Sections! Some of my best friends have come from my involvement in SQA and each year's meeting is similar to a family reunion. We might not be able to see each other during the year but there is always the SQA meeting to which we look forward. I can't emphasize enough the value of these relationships, both on a personal and professional level. We have chosen a challenging, stressful and frequently thankless profession in which to make our careers and often our professional friends are the only ones to whom we can talk. No one can underestimate the value of a friend who truly understands, and I met most of my professional friends by volunteering on SQA Committees and Specialty Sections.

When my term as President began, my challenge to SQA was to find ways to encourage volunteerism among members. While membership is one key to our strength as a society, we are nothing without our volunteers. Now I can imagine some of you are mentally shaking your heads, saying, "Oh great here she goes again, trying to get me to volunteer," and those are just my friends. Rest assured I do understand that everyone has a different level of volunteering to which they can commit. What I want to talk about is what those different levels are so that each of you can hopefully find your own comfort zone.

There are ways to volunteer of which you might not have thought. SQA has instituted a new listserv as a resource for members to network, ask questions and seek advice. There are also the GLP and GCP forums available for discipline-specific questions and the Regulatory Forum for more general questions. You can volunteer by responding to someone else's question.

The MR&DC is organizing an initiative to lend a personal touch to the process of joining SQA. Starting in January 2009, all new members of SQA will receive a phone call from a current member welcoming them to the Society and introducing them to the benefits of membership. The MR&DC is organizing this, but they need your help to execute it. Another chance to volunteer!

There is a new program that will require volunteering on a little grander scale, the Mentoring Program. The Society has recognized that it is often difficult for a new QA employee to find the resources available to conduct their jobs effectively. The Mentoring program will help create partnerships between the mentors, experienced QA professionals and these mentees. Mentees do not have to be new to Quality; they could also be those of us who have chosen to change from GLP to GCP, for instance.

And SQA has not been quiet when it comes to a global presence. In just the past five years we have actively participated in the Japanese, Scandinavian, Swiss, Italian and British QA meetings, hosted the first Global QA conference, established an outreach program with low-and middle-income countries, attended the SOT meeting in Korea, and facilitated the organization of a regional chapter in India. There was a joint working group meeting in Memphis to discuss a Global Clinical QA Guideline for GCP auditing. There are also initiatives underway for training in China and the United Arab Emirates and attendance at the first Korean SQA meeting. None of these would have happened without you guessed it -volunteers.

In addition, some of our members are handling global issues on a daily basis without ever leaving home and the Society is trying to keep pace. Our International Relations Committee has been very busy identifying organizations around the globe for liaison activities. The Education Committee is involved in creating an electronic training program to send to Nigeria to help train scientific professionals in Africa. The volunteers on these committees would welcome assistance from other members with applicable contacts or expertise. See, you can volunteer just by sending an e-mail with a name and affiliation.

And last but certainly not least are the elected positions in the Society. The regional chapters (and they are not just in the US!) offer a great opportunity for members to first get involved on a local level. Of course, with a smaller member base it becomes more important to have as much participation as possible; but it's a great way to get your feet wet.

The Nominating Committee will be busy over the next few months recruiting the best candidates for the positions that will be open in 2009. HQ is able to provide the Committee with a list of members who have been active in the Society but we also look to the members themselves to volunteer for the ballot. The committee members are listed on the website and you can contact anyone of them if you are interested. Only you can keep SQA fresh.

The question most people ask themselves when considering whether or not to volunteer is, "What's In It for Me?" It is understandable and that is actually the title of the presentation that I give at the Leadership Training. For me, it was the opportunity to validate what I thought I knew by sharing it with others. Over time, the more I shared the more I gained, again personally and professionally. We are in this profession because we care about the safety of products and the well-being of those who use them; that make us pretty special from the start. I encourage all of you to let others see how special you are. Find your own way to volunteer; you and SQA will not fail to benefit.

I would like take a little time to welcome our new Board members: Jeff Cummings, Vice-President, Nicki Iacono, RQAP-GLP Director and John Yergler, RQAP-GLP Director. Jeff and John have previously served on the Board and Nicki was former President of MARSQA. I know the Society will benefit from their experience. I would also like to express my sincere thanks to our outgoing Directors: Joseph Couch and Trisha Franz, RQAP-GLP. (Any other year I would have included John Yergler as Past-President but we are lucky enough to be keeping John for another term). Their participation on the Board the past two years has been invaluable and we will miss them.

In other election results, Joyce Henry, Treasurer and Jim Ault, RQAP-GLP Director, were re-elected to their positions. The Board is completed by Moira Bandoli, RQAP-GLP Secretary and Directors Catherine Bens, Debra Green, RQAP-GLP and James McCormack, PhD. With the continued support of Elliott Graham, RQAP-GLP Executive Director and all the Headquarters (HQ) staff, we are coming into 2008 with stable leadership and a Board that has proven their dedication to the Society.

I have now been on the Board of Directors for five years and actively involved in SQA for many more. During those years, I have seen many leaders come and go but there has always been a core group who volunteers over and over again. We are no longer a small society (2300 and growing) of GLP-focused members; our disciplines have grown to include GCP, GMP, Medical Devices and Scientific Archiving, to name just a few. And yet, cultivating new leaders has always been a challenge. All of our members are volunteers with "day jobs," families and other commitments that can make the idea of taking on yet another task overwhelming. During my tenure on the Board, we have discussed many ways to promote more volunteerism to bring fresh blood into the Society leadership roles. I would like to tell you of a few initiatives that are now reaching fruition.

At the Fall Quarterly meeting in Las Vegas, the Board offered a leadership training session designed to aid members in understanding just what is involved in being a Committee/Specialty Section (C/SS) chair. Topics included Volunteerism (What's In It For Me), Keeping Volunteers Involved, Tools to help Volunteers and Transitioning Leadership. Attendees included C/SS chairs, vice-chairs and others interested in taking on these roles. The overwhelming response to the session was very positive and there are plans underway to offer the training at the annual meeting in Memphis.