ZDMS Strategic Review

ZDMS was established in 2014 and has grown from strength to strength. The ZDMS Society aims to advance zebrafish disease model research worldwide by fostering inclusive collaboration, education, and public engagement. To support these activities, a major goal was to ensure financial stability, which was reached in 2019, at ZDM12 (Boston). This allowed us to keep ZDMS healthy during the pandemic, through free membership and webinars for that year, and support access to virtual and in-person conferences every year since. A Strategic Review was envisaged since 2019 to ensure that our Society’s goals meet our members' needs through delivering quality science and crucial networks. Below are the most recent updates on the implementation of the strategic plan.

 

About:

The Strategic Review process was announced by a letter from our President to the Board of Directors in Feb 2021, and soon after a message to all members called for volunteers to work on 7 main topics. Workgroups formed (see below for a list of participating members) and by the end of 2021, reports from the workgroups were returned to the Executive Committee, who decided how to address the several points raised by the workgroups.

Main topics:

  1. Global Zebrafish Research Community: Frequency of meetings and interactions with other zebrafish societies

  2. ZDMS and Mentorship: Career development

  3. ZDMS and Diversity: Defining ZDMS goals for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

  4. ZDMS Advocacy and Brand/Identity: How to promote zebrafish as a disease model. What do we stand for, and how can we communicate this effectively

  5. ZDMS RIGs: Overall Aims for the RIGs and RIG leaders

  6. ZDMS Membership: How do we engage with members, how many are we aiming for, member benefits

  7. ZDMS Governance: Frequency of Board meeting, engagement from Board, and governance structure

Addressed points (till January 2026):

  1. Formal interactions with other zebrafish societies were established by ZDMS presidents. Started in 2022 by Rich White and continued by Marina Mione and Teresa Bowman during their tenure as ZDMS presidents. The original topics of the interactions were the planning of future zebrafish meetings and the establishment of new initiatives and guidelines for sustainability in zebrafish research. During 2025, several strides were made on both fronts. A joint IZFS/EZS/ZDMS sustainability initiative was put in motion and is now the Zebrafish Sustainability Network [Connect with the ZSN on LinkedIn]. A major goal is to disseminate best practices and other strategic information for increasing environmental sustainability in zebrafish research. Regarding conference and webinar coordination, ZDMS is working with IZFS to co-host an overlapping conference in 2028. Additionally, the early career investigator committees across IZFS/EZS/ZDMS are building a new webinar series focused on early career scientists.

  2. A mentorship program was initially developed by Rich White in 2022. In 2023, we established the Early Career Investigator committee, which has now revamped the mentorship program. There are over 100 mentors and mentees that participated in the program yearly.

  3. The ZDMS DEI committee was established in 2021, and their activities and contacts are listed here.

  4. In 2025, Marina Mione and Rita Fior established an Advocacy committee and Rich White and Sofia de Oliveira started a Public Outreach/Communication committee. Through coordinated and complementary efforts, the goal of these initiatives is to help disseminate the value of zebrafish research on human health to members of the scientific community as well as the general public.

  5. The initial re-organization of the RIGs was guided by the “Best Practice for RIGs”, an important document crafted by Genevieve Kendall and David Tobin and subsequently updated by Chris Hall and Kimble Frazer, which is available here (link to the pdf document). This led to the creation of a RIG Coordination Committee to help unify the RIG activities and interactions.

  6. In 2025, ZDMS formed a membership committee to run membership drives. The goal is to sustain or grow our member numbers. The main task is to ensure the community understands the benefits of their membership through website updates, email blasts, and social media posting.

  7. In 2024, ZDMS bylaws were updated with new guidelines for executive and board membership and term lengths, as well as election cycles. In 2025, Teresa Bowman wrote guidelines to spell out the specific roles for each executive member and expectations for board member participation. Executive and BOD Guidelines

Credits for initial Strategic Review and Implementation:

Structure of the Strategic Review: E. Patton, then M. Mione with inputs from J. Berman and the Executive Board.
Workgroup participation: C. Mosimann, K. Frazer, A. Laird, H. Feng, S. de Oliveira, M. Ignatius, C. Donaldson, K. Edepli, J. Rawls, R. Montero, R. White, D. Langenau, E. Hoffman, K. Barthelson, S. Bergeron, R. Fior, J. Yoder, P. Moura Alves, M. Estrada, J. Berman, G. Lieschke.
Mentorship program: T. Bowman, K. Frazer, E. Trompouki, R. White.