On February 19, 2011, we held the first 2011 CAPA Executive Council meeting at my house. Overall, it was a very productive meeting. Not only did we enjoy lively discussions, but we also witnessed a diverse group of EC and Advisors who are both passionate about CAPA and are willing to work together for the betterment of the organization. Indeed, we had a good first working session for FY 2011.

The attendees of the meeting include the following:

• Executive Councils – Edward Wan, Charles Fan, Cheng-tyng Chen, Chin-sung Chin, Sam Luk

• Advisors – James Meng, Cheng-I Wei, Julia Liu, Thomas Wu, Sie-Ling Chiang, Apollo Teng, George Chang

Before the detailed meeting minutes are finalized by our Secretary, Cheng-tyng Chen, I just want to share with you some of the meeting highlights and important discussion points that we have made.

To begin with, we spent a considerable amount of time in articulating and defining the purpose of CAPA. Basically, CAPA fulfills two important functions: (1) providing fellowship and intellectual exchanges among our members and (2) playing advisory roles to the Taiwan Government. It was generally agreed that we should continue both functions. We should honor our tradition by organizing annual conferences to stimulate the intellectual interests of members and inviting Taiwan representatives to participate in our conference. In terms of defining our roles in the second function, we need to carve out our own niche by continuing our leadership role in intellectual exchanges and emphasizing our role as a bridge for promoting scientific and research cooperation between Washington, DC and Taiwan.

In addition, there were suggestions that we should expand our outreach and networking effort. Specifically, we should take advantage of many scientific and research conferences held each year in Washington, DC and increase our networking with other professional organizations. A case in point is the upcoming “Bio International Conference” to be held in Washington, DC at the end of June. A high-level delegation from Taiwan led by Minister Chang will provide a unique opportunity for CAPA to connect with Taiwan’s bio-related industry and research community. It was suggested that Cheng-I Wei and George Chang follow up with this potential opportunity.

Furthermore, there was another discussion regarding whether we can carry our advisory function even further by developing a “think tank” approach to provide concrete advice to Taiwan. The “think tank” idea was not new, as it was discussed at the 2004 EC meetings and Sie-ling Chiang was instrumental in pushing this idea. Another recent incentive was that during the 2011 energy session discussion, Dr. S.H. Chan mentioned that the Taiwan government is in need of soliciting a “think tank” service in the sustainable energy policy area. Several other suggestions were made along this line. First, we need to know precisely what expertise CAPA can offer and what are the needs from Taiwan. In order to know our expertise, we must organize our membership database and develop a skills and experiences matrix. We can organize special committees to group people based on specific scientific skills and knowledge. Once we have this matrix and understand our strengths, we then can publicize to various organizations in Taiwan about our capabilities. It was agreed that the development of an adequate”think tank” service to Taiwan may require a long-term strategic plan. Since the current structure of CAPA EC does not allow member continuity for more than 2 years, it does not provide a sufficient time horizon to implement “think tank” services on a permanent, sustainable basis. More careful planning and thinking are needed before we can formally launch “think tank” services.

Another new initiative that I suggested was the completion of a CAPA history document project. It was unanimously agreed that this would be a very meaningful project for CAPA to undertake this year. However, in order to keep the project in a manageable fashion, it was suggested that the main part of the document would consist of summary articles composed by the President (or alternatively, Vice President) of each year for the past 35 years. We would also like to list all conference proceedings and important event summaries as references. It was suggested that each year’s article should be limited to 1- 2 pages including some group photos. The collection of each year’s summary article will form the basis of this historical CAPA document to be published at the 2011 Annual Conference.

In terms of the 2011 Annual Conference program, it was agreed that we would hold the conference at the TECRO Center on Saturday, September 24, 2011. Tentatively, we would organize three sessions, including a morning technical session involving stem cell research and applications (organized by Jullian Kiang) and an afternoon session involving leadership training and mentoring (organized by James Meng). The leadership training and mentoring session addresses not only the needs of many CAPA members but also can target a non-member, younger generation of scientists and researchers who are in need of learning personal skills for career advancement. In the evening session, we will have a dinner/entertainment party to celebrate the 35th anniversary of CAPA. The highlight of the evening will be the announcement of the CAPA history document to jointly commemorate the past 35 years of CAPA accomplishments and the 100th anniversary of the Republic of China.