Teratology Society Council Meeting II

LE CENTRE SHERATON MONTREAL, QUEBEC, CANADA
JUNE 28, 2001

The meeting was called to order by Jan Friedman at approximately

Council members present were J. Friedman, President; B. Slikker, Vice President; R. Tyl, Vice-President-Elect; B. Kavlock, Past President; J. Rogers, Treasurer; G. Dearlove, Secretary; C. Chambers, Chair of Public Affairs Committee; Councilors T. Knudsen, M. Tassinari and P. Wier; and T. Masson, Executive Director.

President's Report - J. Friedman presided and opened the meeting up for discussion of the Journal changes recommended. The position of Wiley-Liss was presented and Council requested T. Knudsen to write up the descriptions of the three Journals being suggested for Council and membership to review. These descriptions are to be mission statements and should contain information about the proposed content of the journals and potential audiences. Council will roll out all the details and fully the publisher concerning the reason for the proposed change in addition to what revision of the contract will do for the Society.

B. Slikker reported that OTIS will continue to hold a joint meeting with Teratology and Bill will be coordinating the program with R. Miller (Teratology liaison to OTIS) for next year.

J. Friedman and B. Slikker met with NBTS and reported that NBTS may consider changing their meeting format in order to permit their membership time to attend our Continuing Education Course. J. Bulke-Sam is the new Liaison contact for NBTS. The NBTS indicated they were willing to explore the possibility of having a common registration table at the next Annual Meeting. OTIS may also be interested in this arrangement in order to facilitate meeting coordination. T. Masson will explore the difficulties in tracking the different registration fees, etc.

T. Masson will search the membership database to provide a list of individuals with Medical Degrees for J. Friedman. Jan will try to ascertain which of these people would be attending the next American College of Medical Genetics (ACMG) meeting. These members will be approached about setting up the Society tabletop display at that meeting.

Future Exhibitor registrations ($750) will not include electrical connections. This is an expensive add-on that the Society is currently paying. Future meeting sites may have electrical usage surcharges instituted and Council felt this was not a benefit the Society would continue to provide.

Sponsor feedback of the restructured Sponsoring Member program was discussed. The new Sponsorship program appeared widely accepted. The suggestion was made to do more for the sponsors in addition to the invitation to the President's Reception. This idea will be discussed further at the next Council meeting.

The Nominations Committee for next year will be K-W Hew as Chair, with E. Faustman, G. Shaw, B. Hales, D. Weaver and B. Kavlock as members.

Student representation on the committees was discussed and Council concurred that we need to actively recruit student members for the various committees. Currently, only the Program Committee has a designated Student Member. A request will be placed in the Newsletter for interested students to contact J. Friedman.

R. Tyl indicated that she would like to retain the Chair of the Publications Committee to provide continuity to the committee now that it has the important task of searching for a new Editor-in-Chief. R. Tyl's term expires in 2002, K. Augustine's term expires in 2004 and B. Abbott's term expires in 2006. Shelly felt she would be able to carry out the duties of the Publication Committee in addition to her new duties as Vice President-Elect.

The next Council meeting was discussed and sometime in October at a location around Baltimore (to take advantage of the reduced airfares into BWI) was accepted. T. Masson will make arrangements and let Council know as soon as a site has been selected. Council will meet over a conference call prior to this meeting to address the proposed changes in the Journal as this issue cannot be delayed until October.

B. Slikker reported that he had received a great deal of input from the membership regarding his request for suggestions for the 2002 Annual Meeting program. Bill has assigned each of the Program Committee members to serve as a liaison with a specific symposium. The Program Committee members for this year are: Antonio Machado (postdoctoral fellow from UCLA), Donna Farmer (CE Chair), Rochelle Tyl (Vice President-elect), Phil Mirkes (NIH student travel grant PI), Judy Bulke-Sam (NBTS Liaison), Richard Miller (OTIS liaison), Michael Cunningham, Mildred Christian, Deb Hansen and Pat Wier. We will also be looking at combining the OTIS and NBTS programs with our material in hopes of creating a one page summary overview of all three meetings. Our next meeting will also have one or two joint symposia with all three Societies supporting the topic.

Bill will encourage the program committees of all three societies to work together and coordinate the programs. The Teratology Program Committee has been asked to provide a draft program by the end of July and a draft program is necessary by the end of September to serve as the basis for an NIH travel grant for the students.

The Warkany Lecture and the Wilson Award Lecture will receive more advertising next year and consideration is being given to having the two talks run sequentially. This may permit reorganization of the student presentations in order to provide them with greater visibility. The Awards Committee and the Program Committee will need to look at various options.

The reimbursement schedule for symposium and workshop speakers was mentioned. The current standards include waiver of the meeting registration fee, two nights lodging, airfare and up to $50 per diem (for meals, taxies and parking fees) for up to three days for nonmembers. Teratology Society members receive one night's lodging. No honoraria are available for symposium or workshop speakers. The faculty for the Continuing Education Course receive the same benefits as above plus a $200 honorarium to help them offset the expenses of syllabus production. The Warkany winner also receives travel expenses. These details and guidelines will be discussed and published for future symposium organizers.

Brief updates regarding the web site, student awards and the education committee were presented.

New Business
B. Kavlock suggested the Pediatric Academic Society meeting in Baltimore (May 4-7) may be a place to set up the Teratology Society tabletop display and a good place for a Teratogen Update as part of the program.

P. Wier suggested we establish a registry of the student award winners and track their careers so we can determine what became of them for future interest.

Meeting adjourned at 3:52 p.m.

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