Houston skyline at night

ABOUT : Charter of the Weinstein Cardiovascular Development Conference

Scope of the conference

The Weinstein Cardiovascular Development Conference is an annual meeting for scientists investigating normal and abnormal development of the heart and vasculature as it may ultimately relate to human disease. It is a freestanding meeting unaffiliated with any society or parent organization. Interested individuals or groups from host institutions organize it on a rotating basis. The intent of the meeting is to advance the overall field of cardiovascular development through the sharing of information and the facilitation of collaborative investigations. True to the vision of Dr. Constance Weinstein, who first organized this conference, the meeting is intended to include as many perspectives as possible. Investigators in any relevant area that can provide contributions to our understanding of heart and vascular development are welcome to contribute.

Organization of the conference

In order to provide a corporate memory and to maintain quality the conference, the participants of the 1998 meeting voted to form an organizing committee called the "Weinstein Committee". The makeup of the committee is comprised of representatives from each of the three previous local organizing committees, representatives from the next two proposed meeting sites, and two "At Large" members voted upon by the conference participants. The "At Large" members will serve a three-year term. The charge to the Committee is to assist the local organizing committee with meeting arrangements and organization and to help secure funding.

In addition, the Committee is charged with soliciting nominations for future meeting sites and hosts. Such nominations will then be brought up for a vote by the attendees during the business meeting. Meeting sites will be selected by vote such that the local organizing committee will have a two-year lead-time. In the event that multi-year funding is sought from the National Institutes of Health or other national sources, the Weinstein Committee will participate in this process.

Local Organizing Committees

To provide a varied flavor and the opportunity for new approaches, each host institution will form a local organizing committee to select a meeting venue and format. The site should be selected for its potential to optimize informal communication and interaction. As a way to emphasize new and topical information, organizers from the host institution should select speakers from among the submitted abstracts. Scheduling should include opportunities for new voices and encourage the development of students, fellows and younger faculty. Ample time for discussion is to be provided.

Obligations of the participants

One of the most important aspects of the Weinstein Conference has been the willingness of the participants to share new and unpublished information. This has provided opportunities for the participants to devise new experiments and develop new hypotheses in a collaborative manner. It is expected that all participants will participate in a collegial and ethical manner with respect to information obtained at the Weinstein Conference. Permission should be obtained before disclosure of another investigator's unpublished data.

Similarly, investigators pursuing similar experiments should inform a presenter if the divulged information has a bearing on their own work. All participants in the conference should be willing to share their expertise and reagents in the collective advancement of the area of cardiovascular development.

Annual business meeting

Each Weinstein Conference will include time set aside for a business meeting. At this time participants will vote on future host and meeting site selection and may consider changes in the direction of the conference or its organization. At the 1999 meeting in Tucson, Arizona this Charter was distributed to the participants and ratified. Its provisions commenced at the business meeting of the 1999 Tucson, Arizona Conference. The Charter will remain in effect until modified by a vote of participants at an annual business meeting.

The 2009 Weinstein Conference | May 7-10, 2009 | Hyatt Embarcadero Hotel

Hosted by: Cardiovascular Research Institute | Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease | Univeristy of California, San Francisco