Community & Learning: Central Pillars of Our Mission

We at APS have recently been discussing the important role that community plays in our personal and professional lives. Throughout the past 16 months of the pandemic, the human need to feel connected with others became very real for all of us. Whether through shared interest or inspiration, learning or laughter, the experience of belonging to a community has sustained us—like so many others around the country and world—through many dark days.

As APS staff members, we maintain a consistent focus on a fundamental question: How can we better serve our members and advance both the Society’s mission and the discipline of physiology? However, our recent conversations about community are challenging us to think more broadly and open ourselves to fresh questions, including:

• Who considers themselves to be part of the APS community?
• What is our community’s purpose?
• How can we work together to nurture our community?
• What is this community capable of achieving when its full potential is recognized?
• How can we center our community around a vibrant commitment to learning?

We know our APS community is rooted in a deep love of science, driven by an insatiable curiosity to understand life and solve some of its biggest questions, and committed to the overarching aspiration to improve health for all. The full breadth of the APS community is broad and includes students and trainees, researchers and educators, funders, authors, librarians, sponsors, partnering organizations, and the 80-person APS staff who have the privilege to collaborate with members and leaders to accomplish our shared goals.

APS is also a part of the larger scientific community, which—at this very moment—is providing invaluable benefit to humanity through unprecedented cooperation and collaboration that has yielded multiple COVID-19 vaccines. We are so proud of the role we play in connecting the physiology community and supporting discovery through our portfolio of journals and scientific meetings and conferences.

We also understand that learning from your colleagues in the larger biomedical research community, having the opportunity to share your research and expertise, and acquiring new skills are central to your professional growth. So, we’ve partnered with organizations such as The Obesity Society, Alliance for Aging Research and the American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association to bring world-class content from highly respected scientists to a global audience through our scientific webinar series.

As we prepare to launch our new annual meeting in 2023, the Career Gateway and the Center for Physiology Education, we will continue to pursue excellence in education, cross-collaboration and community in support of compelling learning. We also continue to evaluate, challenge and tweak our offerings and staff structures to provide the most efficient, frictionless service possible.

Community is both an endeavor and an outcome. We see a future where the APS community continues to thrive and grow in our commitment to innovation; transformation; discovery; diversity, equity and inclusion; and progress. We invite you to work with us 
as we pursue this endeavor and to become a unique contributor in achieving these most meaningful outcomes.

Meeghan De Cagna, MSc, CAE, is the chief community and learning officer at APS and serves as associate publisher of The Physiologist Magazine. You can reach her at meg@physiology.org.

This article was originally published in the July 2021 issue of The Physiologist Magazine.