Dr Howard Alper has been appointed co-chair of the InterAcademy Panel (IAP) on International Issues, the first Canadian to chair a global, science-based organization. Alper was elected earlier this month at the IAP's conference and general assembly in Alexandria Egypt. Alper will share the chair duties with Dr Chen Zhu (Chinese Academy of Sciences) who was elected to a second three-year term. Alper will serve as co-chair in his capacity of foreign secretary and past president of RSC: The Academies of Arts, Humanities and Sciences of Canada. The IAP represents Academies of Science from 90 countries and is focused on capacity building. It runs programs and activities in areas such as natural disaster mitigation, water management and research, women's health and education, science education, access to scientific information and biosecurity. In addition to his RSC duties, Alper is a visiting executive at the International Development Research Centre. He is past VP at the Univ of Ottawa and a researcher of organic and inorganic chemistry....