Hilton Garden Inn-Baltimore, Maryland

October 23-24, 2003

 

The meeting was called to order by President Rochelle Tyl at 1:00 PM on Thursday, October 23, 2003

 

Council Members in attendance were: R. Tyl, President; K. Jones, Vice President; M. Tassinari, Vice President-elect; G. Dearlove, Secretary; J. Graham, R. Parker and P. Wier, Councilors; R. Miller, Chair - Publications Committee; T. Chambers, Chair - Public Affairs Committee; T. Masson, Executive  Director.    

 

Wm. Slikker, Past President attended via conference call.

 

President's Report: S Tyl

 

Minutes from the Council I and II meetings at the Annual Meeting were discussed.  No corrections were required and the minutes were approved as drafted.

 

Annual Meeting Metric:  is needed to evaluate the good and bad parts of the meeting.  We also need to be able to breakdown membership on our committees by ethnicity, etc. to receive future CDC funding.  For example, we need to have enhanced student participation to qualify for full funding on certain grants.  This effort is underway and continued efforts are needed.

 

The meeting survey was not turned in by many people and there should be additional requests for the feedback in the Newsletter and on the Web site.  The Web should have another copy of the survey to facilitate response of the members who attended the meeting.

 

Committee Appointments:  are almost complete.  Student Affairs still requires one person and the Web Site Committee needs two new members.

 

Warkany Lecturer:   Discussion followed regarding selection of an ad hoc committee consisting of Bob Brent and Shelley Tyl.  The purpose of the committee is to select the speaker for the coming year.  Various highly qualified individuals were discussed and the committee will select the winner from a short list by mid November so the winner can be identified in the meeting advertisements.

 

Journal Distribution was discussed.  Students and Emeritus Members currently pay for the Journal if they want copies.  Discussion followed on the merits of providing a free subscription to students in order to afford them the opportunity to see all three parts of the Journal.  No action taken at this time.

 

Meeting with Another Scientific Society is currently under review.  SPER is a possibility.  They currently want us to sponsor a symposium in 2005 at their Toronto meeting.  They are co-sponsoring a Symposium at our annual meeting in 2004.  We would look to expand our program in 2006 if the interest continues and then look to a joint meeting in 2007 (the first date this all could be coordinated with hotel room constraints, etc).

 

Other Societies were discussed as possibilities for conducting joint meetings (International Federation of Placenta Associations, ACOG, Maternal/Fetal Medicine, SPER, the Placental Society, Maternal/Fetal Medicine, etc).  An Ad Hoc committee was appointed (T. Chambers, Wm. Slikker, M. Tassinari, P. Wier with R. Miller as chair) to write up the objectives and plan to follow up on possible arrangements.

 

FASEB:  Council was reminded to consider possible replacements for J. DeSesso.  The individual should live in or around the Metropolitan DC area to facilitate attendance at the various FASEB committee meetings.

 

Committee Chair Orientation:  Possible ways to facilitate the annual transfer of Committee Chair functions were discussed.  Council determined that the Council Liaison with each of the various Committees would be responsible for discussing Committee SOPs with the in coming Chair and any new committee members.

 

Management Contract for AIM was reviewed and all changes were approved by unanimous vote of Council.

 

           

Vice President's Report:  Ken Jones

 

Preliminary Meeting Program was distributed and discussion followed regarding the possibility of rearranging some of the symposia and concurrent sessions.   Additionally, the presentation of the Wilson and Fraser awards, along with the student travel awards at the Banquet was discussed.  Potential topics for the Issues Forum were reviewed and a brief review of the last Public Affairs Workshop may be presented as one part of the Issues Forum.   Council will look into the possibility of arranging for a shuttle bus to transport members to the airport on the last day of the meeting as a possible method for increasing attendance right up to the conclusion of the final symposium.

 

K. Jones will take these suggestions into account before production of the final program.

 

There will be no pre-meeting workshop this year.

 

The Continuing Education Course and the feasibility of having all invited lecturers complete a "copyright release request" were discussed.  Samples of a copyright release form and an education course materials release form were reviewed.  The apparent uncertainty about one-time usage of materials for educational purposes will require AIM to check with an attorney to determine the proper interpretation of this issue.  The results of the legal opinion will be distributed to Council electronically.

 

The printing of course workbooks will again be sponsored by CTBR.

 

Annual Meeting Session Chairperson Guidelines were reviewed and minor revisions were made.  The Speaker Reimbursement policies were reviewed and the amount of the honorarium being offered by the Society was compared to the current $250 NIH rate for an invited speaker honorarium.  The travel arrangements, number of nights of housing and per diem rates for both members and non-members were reviewed.  (note of clarification - members currently receive one complimentary night at the standard hotel room rate no matter how many talks they have been invited to give)  All non-member invited speakers will receive an application for membership, sponsored by the Session Chairperson, when appropriate.

 

            Motion:  The honorarium offered by the Teratology Society to non-member invited speakers will be increased to equal the dollar amount provided by the National Institutes of Health for invited speakers.  Passed.

 

The budget projections for the Annual Meeting were discussed.  Council looked at the registration fees, expected contributions from industry, NBTS and OTIS for shared events, the hotel commission and other revenues balanced against various expenses and agreed to temporarily approve the suggested budget.  The final budget to be mailed electronically to Council when available in November for final approval.

 

Vice President-elect Report:  M. Tassinari

 

Future Annual Meeting Sites:  M. Tassinari reported that the site selected by electronic vote of Council for the 2005 annual meeting was the Trade Winds Resort in St. Pete Beach, Florida.

 

Site selection for the 2006 annual meeting was discussed.  Many of the hotels contacted by AIM had dates of availability that would require moving the annual meeting to earlier in June.  A table of room rates coupled with average airfares was presented for hotels of the appropriate size for our meeting in Boston, MA; Austin, TX; Monterey, CA; San Francisco, CA (Sheraton Palace and Hyatt Regency both provided quotations) and Washington, DC. 

 

Council requested AIM to solicit additional information from hotels in Denver, San Antonio, Santa Fe and Austin for the third or fourth weeks of June.  When the information is available, Council will vote electronically to select the site for the 2006 meeting.

 

Council also suggested AIM review hotel options in Atlanta, Charlotte, Monterey, Boston, Providence and San Francisco for consideration for the 2007 meeting location. 

 

Secretary's Report:  G. Dearlove

 

The Newsletter compiled by AIM was praised and all Council members were reminded that they were expected to contribute at least one article a year to the newsletter.

 

G. Dearlove reported that a number of members still had not paid their dues for 2002 and 2003.  The list of delinquent members (prepared by AIM) was circulated and Council members were requested to each identify those individuals whom they would contact before the next meeting.  This list was retained; the contacts selected by each Council member will be distributed to the Council electronically.  The retention results will be evaluated at the next Council meeting.

 

The recruitment costs for exhibiting the Teratology booth at the SOT meeting were discussed and P. Wier suggested that we reconsider the value added to having a booth at this meeting.  After discussion of various alternative ways to advertise the Society, Council voted to ask the Membership Committee if they wanted to continue with the booth.  G. Dearlove to contact the Committee chair and request a reply by the first of the year.

 

Revisions to the Membership Application were discussed.  Minor wording changes were suggested and the addition of both the Society Web site address and a query asking how the applicant learned of the Society will be added.  AIM will relay these requests to the Membership Committee for approval.

 

Clarification of the ten years from degree requirement for the F. Clarke Fraser Award was reviewed.  When the award was originated, the ten year stipulation was included to restrict the award to "new investigators".  However, the original limitation was placed on the last "formal training in the field of Developmental Toxicology/Teratology".  This would permit completion of postdoctoral training and/or medical specialty training to be included as the start point for the ten year calculation.  This information will be relayed to the Fraser Award Committee and they will be requested to use their own best judgment.

 

Treasurer's Report:  T. Masson for J. Rogers

 

The Treasurer's report, prepared by John Rogers, was presented by T. Masson.  The total current assets of the Society through 30 September 2003 are 9% above the total assets at the same time last year.  The total liabilities for the Society as of 30 September 2003 are also 9% above the total for the same time last year.  The overall income projected for the Society for 2004 is currently a net loss of $3,737.  However, these numbers are subject to change based on the expenses and revenues generated by the Annual Meeting.  The final numbers appear to be on track to come in under budget.

 

Total assets for September, 2003 are $495,601.12; total assets for September 2002 were $456,142.69.  The balance sheet assets are up versus last year.

 

Council will review the budget proposal and vote electronically on acceptance or revision as soon as the number projections from the annual meeting are available.

 

Executive Director's Report:  T. Masson

 

T. Masson indicated that the majority of the report topics had already been discussed.  There is currently a need for the Society to purchase an Abstract Submission Service to facilitate on line submissions from the membership.

 

Motion made and approved to authorize AIM to purchase Oxford Abstracts (or an equivalent program).  Council will test the program by sending abstracts to (http://teratology.conference-services.net/).

 

Registrations for the 2004 Annual Meeting will be accepted online.  The page is being developed.

 

The exhibitor Registration was discussed and Council determined that the Society will not change the Exhibitor Registration policy at this time.  The current policy affords the company one complimentary meeting registration with their booth space.  Any additional attendees must register at the appropriate rate.          

 

The Executive Director prepared review documents regarding online membership renewal and current membership status (including a tabular presentation of dues classifications for 2001 and 2002 to October) and a summary of new member applications. 

 

The Web Site has been upgraded.  The membership directory has been live since June and several recent improvements have been made. The Web Site Committee has requested suggestions from the membership and will continue to try to improve our visual image.

 

 

Day number two of the Interim Council Meeting was called to order by President Rochelle Tyl at 8:00 AM on Friday, October 24, 2003

 

Council Members in attendance were: R. Tyl, President; K. Jones, Vice President; M. Tassinari, Vice President-elect;- G. Dearlove, Secretary; J. Graham, R. Parker and P. Wier, Councilors; R. Miller, Chair - Publications Committee; T. Chambers, Chair - Public Affairs Committee; T. Masson, Executive  Director.   

 

Wm. Slikker, Past President again attended via telephone connection.

 

In order to accommodate the phone call and work schedule of Wm. Slikker, Council altered the agenda to discuss those items assigned to Dr. Slikker.

 

Nominations; Bill requested any suggestions Council might have for candidates be e-mailed to Bruce Kelman.  The Committee is planning on presenting the recommended slate to Council by December first.   Nominations this year are required for the office of Vice-President Elect and Treasurer, as well as the open Council seat.

 

Web Site and Bioinformatics;  Bill noted that the CBT committee (Chaired by T. Knudsen and composed of B. Abbott, M. Collins, A. Cummings, G. Daston, R. Felix, B. Hales, S. Hunter, J. Manson, W. Scott and W. Slikker) had  participated in two conference calls to date and have provided Council a written report.

 

1.     The Committee requests that Council approve three paragraphs for inclusion in the Web Site.  Council approved only the first and second paragraph. 

 

2.     The Committee would also like other sources/addresses be included in the Web Site for membership referral.  Council approved.

 

3.     The Committee request approval to plan a 1.5 day workshop to bring a focus group of 10-15 scientists together to plan a server function for the growing area of research.  Expected Society support would be in the form of travel and hotel expenses.  The outcome would be a more formal business plan for the CBT.  Council approved moving forward with the proposal and authorized the Society to provide up to $10,000 towards supporting the workshop.

 

IFTS:  Bill reported that D. Wise had formed the committees for selection of the images for the Web and for reviewing the Terminology being placed on the Web.  These events are to be coordinated with the CBT to permit cross communication between the Web sites.  Bill will determine if the Society is going to require funding to support the Web Sites.

 

Postdoctoral Fellowship in Developmental Toxicology/Epidemiology:  Bill described the material (written report provided to Council) outlining the program he was proposing.  The overall function of the Society would be as a clearing house for the candidates.  The funding for the program would come from the partnering organizations.  This will require the appointment of an Ad Hoc committee to identify sources of funding in addition to laboratories in which the fellowships could be conducted.  Ad Hoc Committee is W. Slikker, Chair with T. Chambers, R. Miller and P. Wier as members with M. Tassinari as Council Liaison.  This program will be discussed with the membership at the Issues Forum at the Annual Meeting.  The description of the program, with revisions suggested by Council, will be made available to the membership at the Annual Meeting.

 

National Children's Study Update:  Don Mattison is in charge of this program.  There are many Society members on the various committees and Council suggested that it would benefit the Society if we were able to determine who they were and get some sort of an update from them collectively to distribute internally and externally  (for the Society to use as advertising of our Society).  This would be a good Web Site entry item and should also go into the Newsletter.  T. Chambers to ask D. Mattison for a paragraph to put into the next Newsletter and to determine if someone would be able to make a poster or platform presentation at the Annual meeting.

 

Bill had to leave the Council Meeting at this point and we returned to the agenda.

 

Public Affairs Committee Report: T. Chambers

 

The text on smoking cessation (senior author J. Adams) has been submitted for publication in BDR/A (already on the Web).

 

The Public Affairs Symposium for the 2004 annual meeting will be on obesity and pregnancy outcome.  J. Mills and T. Flynn are the organizers.  This will also be the topic of the next PAC statement.  (Jim and Tom to be lead authors)

 

T. Scialli, K. Jones and M. Tassinari have drafted a summary of the PAC workshop from the last Annual meeting.  Text submitted to BDR/A and on the Web.  This article summarized the debate/workshop and should prove very helpful to participants as well as those who were unable to attend.

 

Marketing of the PAC workshop (publicity) was assisted by AIM.  Still too early to determine if advertising was beneficial.  The PAC had requested proposals from professional agencies for additional assistance and the results were similar to what AIM provided.  If we still want press releases to feature the Continuing Education program for this year to send to local Universities, etc. we should stay with AIM. 

 

Discussion followed on the goals and benefits of Press Releases and potential targets for the releases.  The Vancouver School District has been approached to determine interest in training teachers at the annual meeting.  The NIAAA, Merck and the CDC have offered materials and/or staff if such a training program were to be conducted.  The school calendar may make this difficult to organize.  However, now is the time to start looking at this sort of program for 2005.

 

J. Adams had requested $400 for reprints for the PAC statement.  Council has directed that the reprints be sent from Teratology Society Headquarters office (AIM) based on an e-mail request from Jane.  This will add to the Society ownership and reduce the obligation to mail reprints for J. Adams.  Future PAC publications are to have Teratology Society as the contact address as was done in the Vitamin A paper in 1987.

 

Teachers in the NIAAA program will be provided posters to put up in their classrooms.  The purpose would be to emphasize careers in science.  An Ad Hoc committee of R. Parker, P. Wier and D. Wise will work on this.  T. Masson to distribute the ideas generated by January 15, 2004.

           

Committee Liaison Reports:  Many covered already.           

 

Student Affairs; No report provided, K. Jones to contact B. Buehler to determine what progress has been made.  They need another member for a term to expire in 2006 - W. Harrouck to be called by R. Tyl to determine her interest. 

 

Membership Committee report presented during the Secretary's report.  R. Parker to replace G. Dearlove as Council Liaison to the Membership Committee.

 

Constitution and By-laws; Needs another member.  G. Clemens was suggested as he had worked on revision to both the MTA and the MARTA Constitution and By-laws. 

 

Publications Committee Report:  R. Miller

 

Rich reported he is already working with Deborah Hansen to take over next year.  This will assist the transition from one chair to the next.

 

The Wiley-Liss Symposium for the 2004 meeting will be published in BDR/C as Rocky has invited most of the speakers and will incorporate the program into Part C.

 

The Wilson award for the best paper will be based on Parts A and B only.

 

The Annual Meeting publication this year was printed in both Part A and Part B of the Journal.  Next year the Publication Committee would like to print the program only in Part A.  To do this, the Society will have to cover the expense of sending Part A to those members who only get Part B.  This will avoid using two publication issues for the same program.

Motion:  The annual meeting issue of Part A of BDR will be sent to all subscribers next year.  This additional expense will be put in the annual meeting budget for next year and is not to exceed $1,000.  Motion passed

 

Questions from the committee regarding electronic access to all copies of the Journal were discussed.  Currently, all members have access to all three parts, but this will end in 2005.  In the future, will an electronic only version be available for a reduced rate?  Should we open electronic access to the back issues to all after three years (e.g. historic issues as is done for Lancet)?  Note, Wiley-Liss will not favor the reduction of subscription rates for electronic only access even though they are under pressure to go to the e-journal format in order to continue the citation impact statements.  Further discussion will require input from the publisher.  They will also be requested to broadcast an electronic table of contents for each issue so readers don't have to actively go into e-mails to search.

 

Motion:  The $5.00 per issue subsidy that Council voted to apply to Journal subscription prices for a one year period will expire this year.  Council voted to eliminate the subsidy and to pass on the full increase in the price of the Journal to the membership by raising annual dues by $10.00.  This will cover the increase in Journal subscription.  Motion passed

 

 

The backlog of papers for BDR/A is below 100 and P. Mirkes feels this is too low.  Consequently, he requested three new individuals be designated Associate Editor to try to recruit more papers.  These individuals were approved by the Publication Committee.

 

Rich reminded Council that L. Holmes did not receive any written documentation of the Society appreciation for the job he did as Editor of Teratology.  M. Tassinari agreed to put something in the program for the 45^th anniversary meeting to honor all previous Editors of the Journal (H. Kalter, B. Brent, T. Sadler and L. Holmes) and all the current Editors (P. Mirkes, G. Daston, R. Tuan).

 

The impact factor of the Journal is currently calculated as 1.8.  This is too low and Council set a goal to raise the impact factor to above 2.0.  The increase in impact from the Journal change to BDR/A, B & C will take at least three years to become apparent.

 

Other/New Business

 

Primer of Teratology - M. Tassinari reported that T. Scialli and B. Hales had met and that the old chapters have been re-reviewed and new chapters have been requested.  The document will be prepared in hard and electronic copy.  A medical writer has been hired to edit the text for format and style ($8,000 has been budgeted for this function) but a graphics person is still needed to add the figures.  The current plan is to re-contact the authors to review the changes to their chapters and to bring the Primer up to date with the new chapters.  

 

Other discussions about Council follow up and annual meeting evaluation forms were reviewed.

 

Ad Hoc Council memberships for OTIS and NBTS for the purpose of increasing cooperation and participation of the other groups with Teratology were discussed.  No action was taken at this time as Council is currently composed of Councilors or Officers who are also members in these organizations.  The first step suggested would be for the Presidents of the three Societies to get into contact and possibly offer to share minutes of their respective Council meetings.

 

Meeting adjourned at approximately 2:30 PM.