Memorial Service for La Montagne, Nov. 30

A memorial service for Dr. John La Montagne, NIAID deputy director, will be held at the Natcher auditorium on Tuesday, Nov. 30 at 3 p.m. All are invited to attend. La Montagne died suddenly in Mexico City on Nov. 2, at age 61.

eRA Symposium Set, Dec. 2

All NIH'ers are invited to attend the 4th annual electronic Research Administration (eRA) Symposium on Thursday, Dec. 2 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Natcher Conference Center auditorium. The symposium, titled "The eRA eXchange: Making the Electronic Connection," will focus on eRA's progress toward achieving end-to-end electronic grants administration. Keynote speaker will be Kenneth Forstmeier, director of the Office of Research Information Systems at Pennsylvania State University. He will address electronic research administration from the perspective of the grantee institution.

Guests will have the opportunity to see demonstrations by eRA's six authorized grants service providers who help research institutions communicate electronically with NIH. There also will be live demos of two eRA query and reporting tools — Query/View/Report (QVR)/Electronic Council Book (ECB) and Web Query Tool (Web QT).

For more information and to register online, visit http://era.nih.gov/eraworkshop4/. Sign language interpretation will be available. Individuals with disabilities who need other reasonable accommodation to participate should contact Gina Sanderson at sandersg@mail.nih.gov. The symposium is offered for ESA credit.

NIH's Asian/Pacific American Organization Awards Ceremony Set, Dec. 3

On Friday, Dec. 3, the NIH Asian/Pacific American Organization (APAO) will hold its annual awards ceremony from noon to 1:30 p.m in Bldg. 1's Wilson Hall. Each year APAO seeks nominations from NIH employees for its outstanding achievement awards. Traditionally, awards are given for significant accomplishments in advancing EEO goals, performing scientific research and for administrative work.

This year's award recipients include Dr. Hammed Khan, for scientific research; and Tony Gavino and Ihsia Hu, for administrative work. Also this year APAO president Dr. Dar-Ning Kung of NLM will present an award for support of diversity management to NIH director Dr. Elias Zerhouni.

APAO will also install new officers for 2005: Prahlad Mathur of OD, president; Dr. Bill Bunnag of CSR, vice president; Tony Gavino of CIT, treasurer; Dr. Zoe Huang of NHLBI, executive secretary; and Dr. Alex Wang of CIT, co-executive secretary.

Examples of various ethnic foods will be served. A $10 donation is requested at the door. For more information, contact Donna Wells of NEI at (301) 435-8846.

Sing Along with Handel's 'Messiah,' Dec. 5

The 8th annual Handel Messiah sing-along will take place Sunday, Dec. 5 at 3 p.m. at Figge Theater on the campus of Georgetown Prep, presented by the NIH Community Orchestra and the Bethesda Little Theater. Tickets are available at the door; proceeds benefit the NIH charities. Suggested donations are $10 for adults, $5 for students and seniors. Children under 12 and patients admitted free. For information call (301) 987-8184.

Holiday Auction Set, Dec. 6

The Clinical Center's department of laboratory medicine will hold its 32nd annual Holiday Auction fundraiser on Friday, Dec. 3 in Bldg. 10, Rm. 2C310, which is the department's conference room and library. All proceeds benefit the Patient Emergency Fund and Friends of the Clinical Center.

Organizers welcome volunteers and donations of items; contributions are tax-deductible. A bake sale, with coffee and tea and other goodies, begins at 9 a.m., followed by the silent auction and white elephant sale at 10. Pizza will be served at 11:30 a.m. and the silent auction ends at 2 p.m.

To make donations or volunteer call Sheila Barrett, (301) 496-5668, Norma Ruschell, (301) 496-4475, or Meshaun Payne, (301) 496-3386.

Wednesday Afternoon Lectures

The Wednesday Afternoon Lecture series — usually held on its namesake day at 3 p.m. in Masur Auditorium, Bldg. 10 — takes the day off on Dec. 1, but returns on Dec. 8 with a talk by Dr. Eduardo D. Bruera, professor of medicine, F.T. McGraw chair in the treatment of cancer, and chair, department of palliative care and rehabilitation medicine, University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. His lecture is titled, "New Developments in Palliative Care Research."

For more information or for reasonable accommodation, call Hilda Madine, (301) 594-5595.

Be a Super Hero. Give to the CFC.

FAES Announces Spring Courses

The FAES Graduate School at NIH announces the schedule of courses for the spring semester. The evening classes sponsored by the Foundation for Advanced Education in the Sciences will be given on the NIH campus.

Courses are offered in biochemistry, biology, biotechnology (daytime courses), chemistry, immunology, languages, medicine, microbiology, pharmacology, statistics, toxicology, alternative medicine and courses of general interest.

It is often possible to transfer credits earned to other institutions for degree work, and many courses are approved for category 1 credit toward the AMA Physician's Recognition Award.

Classes will begin Jan. 24; mail registration ends Dec. 31 and walk-in registration will be held Jan. 5-11. Tuition is $115 per credit hour, and courses may be taken for credit or audit. Courses that qualify for institute support as training should be cleared with supervisors and administrative officers as soon as possible. Both the vendor's copy of the training form and the FAES registration form must be submitted at the time of registration. Note that FAES cannot access training forms entered in the NIHTS system; a signed hard copy (vendors' copy of SF 182 form) is needed in order to process registrations for classes. Asking your institute to pay your tuition does not constitute registration with the FAES Graduate School.

Catalogs are available in the graduate school office in Bldg. 60, Suite 230; the foundation bookstore in Bldg. 10, Rm. B1L101; and the business office in Bldg. 10, Rm. B1C18. To have a catalog sent, call (301) 496-7976 or visit http://www.faes.org.

NIH-Duke Training in Clinical Research

Applications for the 2005-2006 NIH-Duke Training Program in Clinical Research are available in the Clinical Center, Office of Clinical Research Training and Medical Education, Bldg. 10, Rm. B1L403.

The program is designed primarily for physicians and dentists who desire formal training in the quantitative and methodological principles of clinical research. It is offered via videoconference at the CC. Academic credit earned by participating in this program may be applied toward satisfying the degree requirement for a master of health sciences in clinical research from Duke School of Medicine.

For more information about course work and tuition costs, visit http://tpcr.mc.duke.edu. Email queries about the program may be addressed to tpcr@mc.duke.edu.

Attention Female Baseball Players, Wannabes

The R&W Association is considering starting a Women's Baseball Club to support baseball-playing opportunities for women of all ages. The new club would field a team in the Eastern Women's Baseball Conference, which currently has five teams within Northern Va., Montgomery County and Baltimore. They play umpired games on full-sized fields, and everyone has fun. EWBC players range in age from 15-55 with most of the players in their 20s to 40s. Many players previously played slow-pitch softball and have made the transition to baseball very successfully.

Each EWBC team plays one game per weekend, early May through mid/late September. All teams have pre-season practices and friendly scrimmages in the spring, and some continue to practice once a week during the season. The league also assembles a select "tournament team" for occasional competition against other leagues.

The EWBC is committed to helping a new R&W team get up and running with introductory workouts and practices this fall. We are looking for 15-20 players to field a team; coaches/managers (of either gender) are also needed. If you are interested in learning more about the club or can't wait to oil your baseball glove and polish your baseball shoes, contact Susan McCarthy at (301) 594-8785 or mccarths@mail.nih.gov.

Plain Language Online Training

The plain language coordinating committee, representing all parts of NIH, invites you to explore the other plain language resources as well at http://execsec.od.nih.gov/plainlang/index.html.

The committee meets quarterly and sponsors the annual Plain Language Awards.

The Plain Language Initiative was introduced at NIH in 2000, and the first plain language awards were presented in March 2001. The initiative requires the use of plain language in all new documents written for the public, other government entities and fellow workers.

The online introduction states, "Writing that is clear and to the point helps improve communication between the government and the public since clear material takes less time to read and understand." It also points out that HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson urges that all government documents use plain English and avoid both jargon and highly technical language.