Doug Theriaque - President-Elect:

I write to thank you all for nominating me for President and providing me the opportunity to submit this introductory/vision statement.

First, a bit about me for those of you who don't personally know me. I came to the GCRC at the University of Florida in late 1997, with an educational background in psychology and statistics, and a moderately strong experiential background in IT. In the seven years that I've been here, I've grown a great deal personally and professionally. Through the generosity of many others (including the AGSM) and my own hard work our IC core has prospered. My resume and other personal info is available online at http://www.gcrc.ufl.edu/~theriaqu/ for those interested. Enjoy.

Like Will and Paul, I too feel that collaborative efforts between GCRC informatics cores are a desirable and worthwhile endeavor, and will pursue this if elected. There. That should make it easy for you all to distinguish between us. :-)

All kidding aside, while the notion of collaboration is commendable, I think it has been difficult to accomplish thus far due to a number of factors, not the least of which is funding, especially as it relates to FTE. Parochial interests will always take precedence over remote ones when I have a pile of work on my desk.

As President, then, I will give higher visibility to the issue of funding of ICs. Having said this, I have no illusions. I understand that the NIH has asked many GCRCs to reduce their budgets and, at best, some are able to retain a flat budget from last year. This is unlikely to change anytime soon.

Finally, I should speak to my qualifications. I was nominated for Treasurer last year but lost. (Grrrr.) I have not held any office within the AGSM (AGITP) - I have only participated in various local committees and groups here at UF. Ideally, I think candidates that have formally served as Secretary or Treasurer will be better prepared to serve as President, but I'm honored by the nomination and will try to serve well if elected.

Hapchang,
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-Doug