In 2014, ASPET announced its BIG IDEAS initiative, a unique opportunity for members to propose a project that would directly benefit ASPET’s membership. Three projects were selected for the initial round of funding and each one addresses an educational need that will ultimately serve the broader community of ASPET members as well as the discipline of pharmacology. An additional BIG IDEA was approved in 2016 that addresses real-world case studies in drug discovery and development.

Surmounting the Insurmountable – Obstacles in Drug Discovery and Development: Real-World Case Studies

Submitted by Kan He, Paul F. Hollenberg, Michael Holinstat, A. David Rodrigues, Hequn Yin, W. Griffiths Humphreys, Thomas F. Woolf, Emily E. Scott, Wen Chyi Shyu, and Darrell R. Abernethy 

The goal of this BIG IDEA is to organize a session at the ASPET Annual Meeting to provide a forum for pharmacological experts to present "real world" stories recounting when, in their own experience, insurmountable problems arose and explaining how critical thinking and problem-solving skills were used for the drug development process to continue. 

Enhancing Undergraduate Engagement in ASPET at EB Meetings

Submitted by Carol L. Beck, Catherine M. Davis, and the Division for Pharmacology Education 

The goal of this project is to increase undergraduate engagement in ASPET in general, and specifically at the ASPET Annual Meeting at Experimental Biology.

Examples of this project can be found in the Undergraduate Events from EB 2016.

Pharmacology Industry Internships for PhD Students (PIIPS)

Submitted by ASPET members Kathryn Meier, Joan Heller Brown, Mike Jarvis, Jim Barrett, Jeff Herz, and Jeff Jasper, with advice from Glenn Prestwich 

This program provides a unique funding opportunity for PhD students to obtain internship experiences in industrial settings by encouraging partnerships between academia and industry.

From Senior Mentor to Highly Skilled Career Coach: A Novel Approach to Breaking the Diversity Roadblock

Submitted by Lynn Wecker, the Mentoring and Career Development Committee, and the Division for Pharmacology Education 

The ASPET Mentoring Network proposed by this project follows a mentoring model that will match mid- to late-career scientists with cohorts of young scientists to help guide them in their development and career advancement.