Foundation conference funds primarily support the International Medical Advisory Group (IMAG) conference. The IMAG is an annual meeting that presents various topics in current alcohol research and brings together scientists and industry representatives from around the world.

The Foundation also supports the Research Society on Alcoholism (RSA) Annual Scientific Meeting, which provides an opportunity for researchers, clinicians and students to interact and present their latest findings. Foundation funding to the RSA goes toward Student Merit and Junior Investigator Awards, so that the newest members of the research community are able to attend the meeting.

In addition, ABMRF/The Foundation for Alcohol Research Advisory Councils gather twice yearly to review grant applications.  Board of Trustees meetings are held concurrent to these grant review meetings.

In October 2011, the Advisory Councils and Board of Trustees met in conjunction with the 37th IMAG conference at the Hotel Nelligan, located in Montréal, Québec, Canada. Advisory Council members met to review grant applications on Saturday, October 15; the Board of Trustees assembled on Sunday, October 16.  The IMAG conference which followed was hosted by the Brewers Association of Canada with scientific programming prepared by ABMRF. An opening reception on Sunday evening, October 16 was followed by the scientific conference on the 17th and 18th of October.

The Foundation's Board and Councils will gather again April 29 through May 1 in Alexandria, Virginia for the 2012 spring Board meeting and the semiannual scientific grant review.

The mission of ABMRF/The Foundation for Alcohol Research combines support for innovative research with a commitment to communicating scientific advances on alcohol and health to interested parties at conferences. The International Medical Advisory Group (IMAG) conference provides an opportunity for preeminent alcohol investigators, many affiliated with ABMRF, to present innovative research to scientific experts and the brewing industry.

Montréal, Québec – October 16-18, 2011

The 37th IMAG, organized by ABMRF/The European Foundation for Alcohol Research, was held October 16 through 18 in Montréal, Québec, Canada. One hundred participants, representing top universities, medical centers and brewing trade associations, attended the conference. Sixteen countries were represented in all. 

The primary thrust of the conference were the research presentations featuring topics including fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD), alcohol and the liver, biology and neurobiology of drinking, and underage drinking prevention. Expert ABMRF Advisory Council scientists and accomplished former ABMRF grantees shared the latest, most relevant findings in these areas of academic discovery. Following the IMAG, ABMRF President, Mack C. Mitchell, Jr., M.D., Phillipe De Witte M.D., Chairman of ABMRF's sister organization in Europe, ERAB: The Foundation for Alcohol Research, co-presented a lay synopsis of the proceedings to the Worldwide Brewing Alliance, providing the most recent science on the effects of alcohol to the brewing industry.

Please return soon for a complete summary of the scientific findings presented in Montréal.
 

Learn more about previous IMAG conferences or other meetings by way of the links below:

36th International Medical Advisory Group Conference

2009 World Brewing Alliance and Global Brewers Forum Briefing Session

35th International Medical Advisory Group Conference

34th International Medical Advisory Group Conference

33rd International Medical Advisory Group Conference

32nd International Medical Advisory Group Conference

31st International Medical Advisory Group Conference

30th International Medical Advisory Group Conference

29th International Medical Advisory Group Conference

Alcohol Consumption and Indigenous People: An International Research Symposium

The 34th Annual Scientific Meeting of the Research Society on Alcoholism (RSA) was held June 25-29 in Atlanta, Georgia at the Hyatt Regency Hotel.  ABMRF/The Foundation for Alcohol Research proudly provides conference support for the RSA, the principal scientific society promoting those involved in understanding the causes of and potential cures for alcohol-related problems and alcoholism.

The conference was officially opened by Robert O. Messing, M.D., RSA president and former grantee and chair of the ABMRF Medical Advisory Council. Following his remarks and memorials, he introduced the second annual Dr. Ting-Kai Li Lectureship, named for the former director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and current ABMRF Board of Trustees member, Ting-Kai Li, M.D. The 2011 lectureship was presented to Ulrike Heberlein, Ph.D., former ABMRF grantee, for her distinguished alcohol research on genes, social experience and behavior using the fruit fly Drosophila as a model system. She presented a plenary session on new data demonstrating that social experience affects ethanol intoxication and consumption.

Symposia and project posters were presented throughout the conference by preeminent alcohol researchers, many of whom were former and current grantees, Advisory Council and Board members of the Foundation. RSA encouraged symposia bridging research fields to provide the opportunity for broader discussions on translational research.

The honored recipient of the 24th annual Research Society on Alcoholism Sexias Award for Service was Edward Riley, Ph.D., a distinguished professor of psychology and director of the Center for Behavioral Teratology at San Diego State University and longtime member of the ABMRF Behavioral and Social Advisory Council. The RSA Board of Directors selects the recipient of this award. The Sexias Award is one RSA's most prestigious honors, and it is presented at the meeting's closing ceremony with a plaque and watch. Dr. Riley is a pioneering expert in fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD), who has served as president of RSA and was previously awarded the RSA Distinguished Researcher Award in 2005.

This year's RSA featured a symposium in tribute to the impressive research of the late Muriel D. Vogel-Sprott, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Waterloo and a former ABMRF grantee. Her research focus was on basic learning and cognitive processes related to alcohol-related risks of accidents and drug abuse. Former grantees Mark Fillmore, Ph.D. and Harriet de Wit, Ph.D. led the symposium in honor of Dr. Vogel-Sprott's accomplished research career. Studies on the learning and conditioning of alcohol behaviors were presented by researchers she had mentored and experts in the field. Her innovative research was explored in the topics of cognitive function, tolerance, working memory and caffeine.

A touching tribute to G. Alan Marlatt, Ph.D., professor and director of the Addictive Behaviors Research Center at the University of Washington, was presented to honor his memory and groundbreaking work following his passing earier this year. Spanning nearly four decades, his career as a research and clinical psychologist pioneered work in addictive behaviors. Former friends, students and colleagues shared the importance of his work and his friendship. Those attending the tribute were welcomed to share their memories of Dr. Marlatt, highlighting the many lives and careers he had touched throughout the research community. A member of RSA since 1987, Dr. Marlatt was a recipient of the Jellinek Memorial Award for outstanding contributions to knowledge in the field of alcohol studies. Dr. Marlatt was a former ABMRF grantee and former member of the Behavioral and Social Advisory Council.

The meeting concluded as the 2009-2010 RSA President, Dr. Messing, transferred the leadership of RSA to the incoming president, Mark Goldman, M.D., a former chair of the ABMRF Medical Advisory Council.