ASBMB Annual Meeting
at EB2020 canceled

The ASBMB annual meeting has been canceled. The following letter was emailed to all Experimental Biology 2020 attendees today. More information, including answers to frequently asked questions, can be found on the EB website.

Subject line: Experimental Biology 2020 Canceled

After thoughtful deliberations, the leaders of the Experimental Biology host societies have made the difficult but necessary decision to cancel Experimental Biology (EB) 2020 set to take place April 4–7 in San Diego, California. We know how much EB means to everyone, and we did not make this decision in haste. The health and safety of our members, attendees, their students, our staff, partners and our communities are our top priority.

As we have previously communicated via email, on experimentalbiology.org and elsewhere, EB leadership has been closely monitoring the spread of COVID-19 (coronavirus disease). Based on the latest guidance from public health officials, the travel bans implemented by different institutions and the state of emergency declared in California less than 48 hours ago, it became clear to us that canceling was the right course of action.

We thank you and the entire EB community for understanding the extreme difficulty of this decision and for your commitment to the success of this conference — from the thousands of attendees to the presenters, exhibitors and sponsors who shared their time, expertise, collaboration and leadership. We deeply appreciate your contributions to this community.

What happens next?

Everyone who has registered to attend the meeting will receive a full registration refund within the next 45 days. Once your registration cancellation is processed, you will receive confirmation in a separate email. You do not need to contact anyone at EB or your host society to initiate the process. Despite the cancellation of the meeting, we are pleased to tell you that we will publish abstracts in the April 2020 issue of the FASEB Journal as originally planned. Please remember to cancel any personal arrangements you’ve made, such as travel and housing reservations.

We ask for patience as we evaluate our next steps, and we will alert you as additional information becomes available.

Sincerely,

Barbara Gordon
Chair, Experimental Biology Executive Committee
Executive Director, American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
 
Shawn Boynes, FASAE, CAE
Executive Director, American Association for Anatomy

Scott Steen, CAE, FASAE
Executive Director, American Physiological Society
 
William B. Coleman, Ph.D.
Executive Officer, American Society for Investigative Pathology

Judy Siuciak, Ph.D., CAE
Executive Officer, American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics