Hopkins Toastmasters -- Toastmasters is a nonprofit organization whose purpose is developing leadership and communication skills with special emphasis on public speaking. The group has a proven program for preparing people to give formal speeches, improving their ability to talk on their feet in impromptu situations and honing their abilities to run meetings with proper parliamentary procedure, deliver a seminar or journal paper, and make a scientific presentation.

All 2001 meetings will be held in the School of Public Health, room W2508, from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Meetings are conducted the second Monday and fourth Tuesday of each month. The schedule is as follows: Sept. 25, Oct. 8 and 23, Nov. 12 and 27, and Dec. 10.

On Sept. 25, the meeting will include an educational seminar on Powerpoint presentation skills. Toastmasters will hold a demonstration meeting, open to all, on Oct. 8.

Toastmasters is open to everyone in the Hopkins community, though participation will be limited to dues-paying members. For more information, contact Katie Lucas at klucas@jhsph.edu.

Requests for Applications for Funds in Complementary and Alternative Medicine -- The JHMI Center in Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Cancer has announced the availability of funds for developmental and feasibility studies in the clinical and basic sciences investigating the use of complementary and alternative medical therapies for primary or adjuvant use in cancer. The primary purpose of this funding is to identify innovative CAM projects with the potential to lead to externally funded research that would assess the efficacy of CAM therapy, to improve the treatment of cancer and to identify approaches to relieve the pain and disability due to malignant diseases. The program will consider unusual projects that might otherwise be difficult to fund.

Principal investigators must be full- or part-time faculty members of the schools of Medicine, Nursing and Public Health. All full- or part-time faculty are eligible for these awards; $20,000 to $50,000 will be available per project per year. Typically, awards will be for one year only. Funds will be awarded only for the conduct of the proposed research.

Interested investigators are invited to submit a proposal via e-mail attachment to rschwart@welch.jhu.edu. Proposals cannot exceed 10 single-spaced pages, not including references, biosketches, budget and appended data collection instruments where applicable. For more information, call 410-614-5678.

Support Groups and Workshops -- The Counseling Center is offering several opportunies for discussion and support:

Career workshop: An interactive three-session workshop designed to help identify career options by clarifying interests, strengths, skills and work values.

Graduate women support group: Intended for graduate women from Arts & Sciences, Engineering, Peabody and the School of Nursing, this group provides an opportunity for graduate women to share perspectives, discuss struggles of grad school, and receive and offer support.

Surviving loss: This small support group will explore the impact of the illness or death of a close relative, parent, sibling, grandparent or other relative.

For information on any of these groups, call the Counseling Center at 410-516-8278.