The 2018 SCBA DC-Baltimore Chapter Annual Christmas Symposium was held at the New Fortune Chinese Restaurant located in Gaithersburg, Maryland on Dec. 8th, 2018. Dr. Li Yang, the chapter President, organized this event, with support from the chapter’s President-Elect Dr. Ji Luo and the Secretary Dr. Yufei Jiang, as well as many volunteers

Dr. Ji Luo delivered the welcome remarks and introduced the sister societies including NIH CSSA (Chinese Student Scholar Association), CBA (Chinese Biopharmaceutical Association), as well as the NIH Taiwanese association. Dr. Li Yang gave the 2018 local chapter annual activity report. In her report, she outlined SCBA focused effort in 2018 which is to reach out and to promote a culture of inclusiveness and engagement in SCBA community. She highlighted the local chapter leadership structure, SCBA Board of Presidents, SCBA Advisory Committee that consists of 2-3 faculty members from each local universities and research institutes. Three addition social events were held to facilitate the communication and collaboration among the leadership members, and to foster the further interaction between Bethesda and Baltimore areas members. Dr. Yang welcomed collaboration from NIH Taiwanese association and thanked Drs. Chi-ping Day and Emily Tai for their effort. As a new outreach effort, starting from this year (2018), the SCBA local chapter will invite new faculties in the DC-Baltimore area to attend the annual Christmas Symposium free of charge.

Dr. Yang emphasized the success of the annual Scientific Symposium sponsored by the SCBA DC Baltimore Chapter. The symposium brings local scientists together to promote scientific communication and collaborations, as well as to provide a networking platform for our local SCBA members. She announced the 2019 Scientific Symposium will be held on March 16, 2019 in University of Maryland at College Park. Dr. Li Yang also summarized the success of many of the local chapter’s scientific and social activities in 2018. These include the Kuan-Teh Jeang Memorial Lecture, the SCBA-NIH CSSA summer picnic, and a scientific session in CBA’s 2018 Annual Conference. Dr. Luo reported in place for Dr. Chunzhang Yang, the Treasurer-elect of the local chapter, the financial summary of SCBA local chapter. There was a 24% growth in chapter fund in 2018. Dr. Yang then highlighted high impact publications and awards for our local chapter members.

Dr. Li Yang would like to thank the President-Elect Dr. Ji Luo, the Secretary Dr. Yufei Jiang, and the Treasurer Dr. Chunzhang Yang for their service and support. Dr. Yang thanks the local chapter board of Presidents and Advisory Committee for their collaboration as well as leadership. Dr. Yang is grateful to Dr. Mitchel Ho for organizing the successful annual scientific symposium, and Dr. Ying Zhang for maintaining local chapter web site. Dr. Yang’s great appreciation also goes to Drs. Ziyi Liu and Ling Hao (the past and current President of NIH-CSSA), Drs. Dong Sheng and Frank Li (the past and current President of CBA), Drs. Chi-ping Day and Emily Tai (the NIH Taiwanese Association), and Mr. Mike Jing (Founder and EVP, Cyberdata Inc.) for his generous financial support of our local chapter activities. Dr. Yang thanks the many special volunteers and photographers for their hard work throughout the event.

Dr. Li Yang finished her report quoting “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts” by Aristotle to encourage SCBA community come together to achieve its goals.

For the event entertainment, Ziyi Liu played 古筝: 渔舟唱晚和女儿情; Hong Sang Wang sang 意大利文歌《我亲爱的爸爸》 or 《O Mio Babbino Caro 》and 哈萨克民歌《燕子》; and Hao Ling sang 乎伦贝儿大草原, where she is from!

The highlight of 2018 Christmas symposium is the outstanding talk “From follower to leader: navigating the American science” delivered by Dr. Edison Liu, president and CEO of The Jackson Laboratory. Dr. Liu is well known for his leadership roles and achievements. He was the Director of the Division of Clinical Science at the NCI in 1996, and Executive Director of the Genomic Institute of Singapore from 2001 to 2012. Thereafter he took on the CEO position at The Jackson Laboratory. In many of these leadership roles, Dr. Liu is responsible for building the institute infrastructure, overseeing budget, managing talent recruitment and directing scientific mission strategic plan. His success in the US and in Singapore, two very distinct culture environments, is remarkable and is very inspiring to members of the SCBA. Dr. Liu’s presentation was insightful and well-received, and generated much interest and discussion. After the event, Dr. Liu met with the SCBA chapter senior members and gave advice on leadership opportunities and challenges.

Dr. Yang Liu was elected as the President –Elect for the SCBA DC Baltimore Chapter, who will serve in the year 2020. Dr. Yang Liu is the Director, Division of Immunotherapy, and Professor of Surgery, Institute of Human Virology, University of Maryland School of Medicine. He has been showing the strong commitment to SCBA DC-Baltimore Chapter.

Dr. Li Yang received an award in recognition of her outstanding leadership and service to the Chapter. A total of 85 scientists from local universities, NIH, FDA as well as CBA attended this year’s Christmas symposium.

Acknowledgement: We thank Dr. Jack Zhu of NCI, NIH for providing all pictures used in this report.

Slides from Dr. Ed Liu's presentation:
“From follower to leader: navigating the American science”