Bibliography of Favorite and Classic Articles in Quality of Life Research

Several years ago, members of ISOQOL assembled a great resource: 

An Annotated Bibliography of Favorite and Classic Articles in Quality of Life Research. 

The annotation for each article notes the reason why it was nominated and the person who nominated it. Note: There was a rule that someone could not nominate their own article. This list is not exhaustive, but it may be very helpful. Thanks to Albert Wu who led this effort. If you have trouble accessing the document (it is posted on Google Docs), let me know at bennetta@mskcc.org and I can email it to you. -Antonia

ISOQOL - Denver

As the final day (August 1st) for early bird registration approaches for presenters and everyone starts to think about their ISOQOL budgets we would like to help everyone to find suitable accommodation.


The executive office has informed us that there are quadruple rooms available at the Sheraton Denver Downtown. The rate for this room is $204 a night. For those traveling without colleagues please feel free to leave a message here with your contact details so that other single travelers can contact you and perhaps you can all arrange to share a room for $51 a night rather than the $174 for single occupancy.


We look forward to seeing familiar faces and new ones too in Denver!

Elsevier - Reviewers' website

Reviewing is an important task that we will all be invited to do at some point in our careers. Elsevier has a great website with lots of information and tips on reviewing and you can sign up for their quarterly e-update.

For more information go to http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/reviewershome.reviewers/ru_most

Denver - Workshops

We'd like to announce that our workshop submission was successful, we are in the afternoon session and hope to see many of you there.

For the panel, we currently have confirmed Dr. Lena Ring who works for AstraZeneca and Dr. Dennis Revicki who works for United BioSource Corporation and is also co-editor of Quality of Life Research.

Please let us know if there is something specific you would like to see discussed and we'll do our best to incorporate it.

Workshop 11 (WK11)
Career Development: Strategies for Landing a Great Job in Quality-of-Life Research

Instructors: 

Bellinda King-Kallimanis, MS, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; 

Roxanne Jensen, PhD, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, United States; 

Carolyn Gotay, PhD, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada and

Antonia Bennett, PhD, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, United States

This workshop is geared towards new researchers entering the field of quality-of-life and looking for an exciting job. Based on feedback from the New Investigators Special Interest Group, participants will learn about (1) strategies and tips for networking, (2) how to prepare effective CVs and cover letters, (3) the opportunities available for working in academia, industry, and consulting, and (4) what employers are looking for when hiring recent graduates. Outline of Workshop: The workshop is designed to be responsive by adapting to the needs of the participants. It will begin with a 20 minute networking exercise, in a "speed dating" format, where pairs of participants spend 3 minutes each describing their research interests and background, then switching to new partners. Next, a 45 minute presentation will be given on the fundamentals of career development: how to get a job (CV dos and don't, interviewing tips, and job talk essentials), and important issues when beginning your career (grant funding, work-life balance, faculty mentorship). The presentation will end with a question and answer session. After a break, participants will participate in a 40 minute exercise on CV and Resume development, which will include individualized critiques from workshop leaders, models and examples from different fields, and feedback from other participants. At the end of this exercise participants will be ready to finalize their CV and submit it to prospective employers. The workshop will conclude with a 45 minute question-and-answer session with 3 ISOQOL panelists from around the world who work in different areas: academia, industry, and consulting. Panelists will discuss the type of work and projects typical in each setting, and the characteristics of strong job applicants.

Level: Basic

Goals for 2011

We would like to share with you guys what our goals our for the year: 


1.      Hold our annual SIG meeting at the annual conference in Denver.


2.     Increased communication and involvement with the conference planning committee.  We would like to ensure that events developed for students and new investigators are advertised and promoted effectively to this group of people.  We have been in communication with Cindy Gross and Karen Sousa and have volunteered to be on the conference planning committee.


Update - Roxanne and Bellinda are on the Local Arrangements sub-committee for Denver


3.      Submit a workshop proposal focusing on career development.  Based on the feedback we received from SIG members at the London ISOQOL conference we are developing a workshop submission for Denver that will focus on professional development.  The workshop will address basic skills that every good academic needs to get a job--putting together a CV, giving a good job talk (or, more generically, a good presentation), and interviewing well.  Carolyn Gotay has offered to lead this workshop; Representatives from academia, industry and consulting have also offered to provide additional information on job opportunities.  We have put together a group of SIG volunteers to draft our proposal and are on track to submit it by the end of February.

           
Update - Workshop proposal was submitted and we are waiting to hear if it has been accepted.


4.      Submit a proposal for a symposium panel at this years conference, highlighting career paths and opportunities in quality-of-life research. The panel will consist of 4 ISOQOL leaders to talk about how they first got involved in QOL research, what the future holds for QOL research, and advice they have for people getting into the field today. We are submitting a proposal that the panel be included as part of the conference schedule, rather than hosting it during our SIG meeting, because we think that it would appeal to a broader group than just new investigators.  We currently have a group of SIG volunteers helping to develop our proposal, and Albert Wu, Mirjam Sprangers, Cindy Lam and Madeline King have agreed to be panel members.


Update - we're almost ready to submit and will keep you posted on it's success


5.      Hold SIG Elections.  We will work with Rebecca Brandt to run our first online election of a new Co-Chair this summer. (Roxanne Jensen’s 2-year term is up at the end of this year.)


6.      Hold a meet-and-great for new investigators.  This will be done outside the hotel at a local, nearby location.  We will hold it the same day as the SIG meeting, and will use this type of event to encourage people to get to know each other and talk about their research and quality-of-life research in general. ISOQOL has been gracious enough to earmark funds toward this event.


If you have suggestions for goals for 2012 we'd love to hear them!