At the annual EFMC Council Meeting, held on occasion of the XXIst International Symposium on Medicinal Chemistry (Brussels, September 5-9, 2010), the Council elected 6 positions for the Executive Committee, chaired by the EFMC President, Prof Gerhard Ecker (University of Vienna, Austria). Dr Ulrich Stilz (Sanofi Aventis, Germany) has been voted President –elect, Prof Koen Augustyns (University of Antwerp) and Prof Rasmus P. Clausen (University of Copenhagen, Denmark) have been re-elected Secretary and Treasurer and Dr Javier Fernandez (Janssen R&D, Spain), Dr Hein Coolen (Solvay Pharmaceuticals, The Netherlands) and Prof Gabriele Costantino (University of Parma, Italy) have been voted EC members. Their term will start on Jan 1st, 2011 and last for two years. The president-elect will automatically become president on Jan 1st, 2012.
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The Medicinal Chemistry Section of the Croatian Chemical Society and the Finnish Pharmaceutical Society applied for EFMC membership. At the latest Council meeting, Dr Ivica Malnar (Galapagos, Croatia) and Dr Erik Wallèn (University of Helsinki, Finland) gave a presentation on the means and objectives of their society. Both applications were unanimously approved by the Council.
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At the Council meeting in Brussels, it has been decided that in 2014 the International Symposium on Medicinal Chemistry (EFMC-ISMC) will be held in Lisbon and organized by the Group of Medicinal Chemistry of the Portuguese Chemical Society on behalf of EFMC. The 2012 edition will take place in Berlin on September 16-20.
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The new compositions of the 3 EFMC Committees, devoted to Education and Training, Industry Liaison and Information&Communication have been announced. As of Jan 1st, 2011, the Industry Liaison Committee will be chaired by Graeme Robertson (Formerly with Siena Biotech, Italy) and composed of Mark Andrews (Pfizer, UK), Christophe Genicot (UCB, Belgium), Ana Gradillas (CEU University, Spain), Rob Leurs (VU University, The Netherlands), Liz Pease (AstraZeneca, UK) and Leandros Skaltsounis (University of Athens, Greece). Members of the Education and Training Committee, chaired by Javier Fernandez (Janssen R&D, Spain), will be Armin Buschauer (University of Regensburg, Germany), Norbert Haider (University of Vienna, Austria), Peter Mohr (Hoffman La Roche, Switzerland), Silvia Ortega (Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain), Maurizio Recanatini (Univerity of Bologna, Italy) and Alan Stobie (Pfizer, UK). The Information and Communication Committee will be chaired by Koen Augustyns (University of Antwerp, Belgium) and consist of Terence Beghyn (Université de Lille, France), Gabriele Costantino (Editor of MedChemWatch, Italy), Laszlo Molnar (Gedeon Richter, Hungary), Christa Müller (Pharmaceutical Institute, Germany), Rino Ragno (Università di Roma, Italy), David Rees (Astex Therapeutics, UK). The EFMC Committees strengthen the links between Council and EC and help to define the mission, vision and goals of EFMC.
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To acknowledge and recognize an outstanding young medicinal chemist (< 35 years old) working in academia or in industry within Europe, EFMC is conferring every year the EFMC Prize for a Young Medicinal Chemist in Academia and the EFMC Prize for a Young Medicinal Chemist in Industry. The prizes consist of a diploma, a cash prize and an invitation to give a presentation at an EFMC symposium. More information on the submission process is available on the EFMC website. Deadline for nominations is January 31, 2011.
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EFMC is funding grants for EFMC organised events with the aim to support the participation of young academic scientists. Upon application, up to 50% of the registration fee for EFMC-ISMC, EFMC-ASMC, Frontiers in Medicinal Chemistry, EFMC Short Courses or the EFMC Accredited School will be covered by EFMC. Applications should reach the Administrative Secretariat (administration@efmc.info ) at least six weeks prior to the event and should consist of a CV and a short motivation letter.
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The EFMC website offers links to the job portals of EFMC corporate members as well as information on current vacant positions. The posting of job offers is free and is available for any medchem related jobs, in industry as well as academic positions. To have your job offer published on the website, please fill in the application form available on the site.
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We also invite you to have a look at the renewed meeting calendar, aimed to become a one stop shop for all medicinal chemists. Monthly tabs and a search function give you the possibility to navigate easily through the list of worldwide organized medchem events. The calendar is updated and completed on a regularly basis.
