The following are the nominees for PNIRS President in the 2008 elections. Votes will be collected by email from the PNIRS Treasurer. The candidates are listed in alphabetical order of their surname.

William Banks

My first encounter with the world of psychoneuroimmunology was in 1989 when we published work on the ability of cytokines to cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB). My main interest has been whether peptides and regulatory proteins circulating in blood provide a mechanism of communication between brain and peripheral tissues in an endocrine-like fashion, just as they do among peripheral tissues. The major difference with brain is the presence of the BBB, and so I have dedicated my career to the study of this structure.

Naturally, I was attracted to cytokines in relatively early days. My data indicated that some cytokines can cross the BBB and that such passage can be important in disease and normal physiology. These ideas were originally very controversial and, to some degree, still are. What I found unusual is that PNIRS members did not dismiss my work out of hand as often happens when controversial ideas are proposed. Instead, I was challenged in a collegial way that helped me to grow and refine my science.

I realized that PNIRS contains an incredible number of pioneers, many with diverse interests that include psychoneuroimmunology. I believe that the most precious resource that the PNIRS possesses is this intellectual atmosphere that gives due process to new ideas, weighing them with an appropriate skepticism that is free of personal attack and rancor.

The major challenge I see to PNIRS members and leadership is to preserve this rational crucible while our field expands beyond boundaries that even our founders could not have foreseen. This challenge has two aspects: how to transfer our core concepts to the wider scientific community and how to convey the intellectual and pioneering spirt of PNIRS to the next generation. As president or member, I will work with my PNIRS colleagues to meet these challenges.

Rainer Straub

It is well known that psychological stress influences chronic diseases. However, the details of intercon-necting pathways between the central nervous system and peripheral tissue need to be studied in more detail. This is particularly true for human chronic inflammatory diseases, which affect worldwide more than 200 million people. As Professor in Experimental Medicine at the University Hospital Regensburg, Germany, I devoted my work to these interconnecting pathways in chronic inflammatory human diseases. As such our focus lies in the research area of the sympathetic nervous system, the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis, and the hypothalamus-pituitary-gonadal axis in rheumatic, gastroenterological, and dermatological diseases. It is my personal interest to support research of the PsychoNeuroImmunology Research Society to better understand the links between psyche and the provocation and perpetuation of chronic diseases, particularly, with respect to chronic inflammatory diseases of autoimmune origin.

Jeffrey A. Woods

I am proud to be a PNIRS member which makes this nomination a real honor. I have been an active member of the Society since 1996 and have fond memories of being awarded the New Investigator Award in 1999 by one of our founding fathers Dr. George Solomon.

My research interests focus on the influence of exercise on immunological outcomes in populations that exhibit dysregulated immunity and in defining a role for exercise in treating conditions associated with exaggerated or chronic inflammation. I am a member of the Integrative Immunology and Behavior Group at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; a group with a long history of contributions to the PNIRS.

Having served as the President of the International Society for Exercise Immunology and on the Program Committee for the American College of Sports Medicine, I have gained experience in organizing and hosting society meetings and look forward to working with the PNIRS board and fellow members in hosting a future meeting in Chicago. I serve on the editorial board of our society's journal Brain, Behavior and Immunity. In 2005, I guest edited an important special edition entitled "Physical Activity, Behavior, Immunity and Health" that introduced researchers in the exercise field to the PNIRS and vice-versa.

One goal of my candidacy will be to actively recruit researchers in the field to join the PNIRS and contribute to its mission. The strength of our Society is the diversity of our international membership. In this time of the NIH Roadmap and tight pay lines, our Society should continue to foster and recognize excellent basic and clinical research, provide a framework for member interactions and student mentorship, and speak to important constituencies with a unified voice. I have a vested interest in the PNIRS and I look forward to the opportunity to serve as president.