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ASSFN Board of Directors Meeting Minutes
Tuesday September 23, 2008
12:30-2:00 PM
Windermere Room, Peabody Hotel, Orlando
Present: Phil Starr, Konstantin Slavin , Emad Eskandar, Kelly Foote, Kathryn Halloway, Michael Kaplitt, Brian Kopell, Paul Larson, Josh Rosenow, Katie Orrico (ex-officio)
Regrets: Ali Rezai, Michael Schulder, Alon Mogilner, Aviva Abosch, Chris Honey, David Roberts
Meeting started at 12:36 pm.
Dr. Starr welcomed newly elected members of the Board and presented the presidential report and the meeting agenda.
The meeting minutes from Vancouver were reviewed and approved unanimously.
2012 ASSFN meeting (Starr) the best available choice is Fairmont Nob Hill San Francisco, June 3-6, 2012 (Sunday Wednesday), proposed room rate is $299-$329, can accommodate up to 1000 people meaning that most likely there will be another meeting in parallel to ours. The contract negotiations are underway and we will have to put initial deposit soon.
Washington Committee update (Orrico) multiple developments in the committee and subcommittees. One of the aspects that will affect this section elimination of SRS code (61793) and replacement it with multiple new codes. Other aspect will be ongoing decrease in residents working hours. Imaging appropriateness criteria issued by Am. Coll. of Radiology do not reflect reality; some changes were introduced by our board members.
Guideline committee (Slavin, Halloway, Rosenow) there are no new guidelines from this section. The possible project for our society to work on is the spinal cord stimulation perhaps together with Pain section and the North American Neuromodulation Society.
Dr. Starr is on the MDS Dystonia Guidelines Committee and is now working with Elena Moro of MDS to see if those guidelines can appear in an AANS acceptable format.
The SFN resident and fellow social will take place tonight at 6:30-8:30 pm in Peabody Hotel. We will announce this event at IML session this afternoon.
The JSSFN session was very full yesterday we have to ask program committee for future meetings to arrange a larger room for us. Dr. Rosenow contacted CNS personnel regarding the need for a larger room for this event next year. (Action point to follow up on this in order confirm CNS understanding if our issue.)
Financial report (Slavin) the section has little over $227K presently with outstanding invoices of about $3K for the Chicago meeting, website maintenance, SFN award, and social reception. We currently receive about $2.3K in interest income per year and a steady stream of revenue from annual membership fees. The Vancouver meeting was less profitable than expected due to unfavorable currency exchange rate and lower than expected exhibitor / sponsorship turnout.
Additional information the last three meetings of ASSFN had the following statistics: Cleveland, 04 260 participants, $74,865 profit; Boston, 06 261 participants, $69,761 profit; Vancouver, 08 273 participants, $11,000 profit (estimated as some expenses are not processed yet).
Membership report (Foote) the membership is growing steadily. Current total number of members is 346, up from 308 last year. The new membership invitation letter has been drafted and will be mailed to (1) all neurosurgeons who listed stereotactic and functional neurosurgery as their scientific interest but are not members of our section and (2) all neurosurgery residents. We should also revisit the idea of increasing our associate membership through sending invitation to executive council and then to all society members.
AANS 2009 topic (Starr) surgery fro dementia with Mark Tuczinski on gene transfer, Silverberg on shunting and Benabid on DBS for Alzheimers. Topics for 2009 CNS meeting in New Orleans: temporal lobectomy vs. selective resections, with reference to cognitive functions and seizure control (for IML session), other suggestions (1) New targets for DBS in movement disorders, (2) cortical stimulation applications, (3) DBS in private practice (perhaps as a lunch seminar), (4) socioeconomic aspects of DBS.
The board voted on the topics and the following were chosen: Surgery for the temporal lobe epilepsy: temporal lobectomy vs. selective resection for IML session; Socioeconomic aspects of DBS for the other (non-IML) seminar.
Newsletter update (Eskandar) the new editor will be contacting members for topics and contributions.
Website update (Larson) new features are on already, more are to come within next few weeks. Tumor section has a nice list of trials we will have similar feature by Ash Sharani.
Journal update David Roberts sent his regrets, he informed that the journal is in good shape, and since our last meeting in Vancouver has enjoyed yet another increase in its Impact Factor. He encouraged everyone to submit their (and their colleagues' and their residents') manuscripts!
2010 meeting SP committee has been appointed (Kaplitt, Henderson), local arrangements Mogilner. Dr. Kaplitt informed about ongoing work of SP committee there will be many local presenters.
New business:
Rosenow: Epilepsy interest group may be a special entity to work on epilepsy scientific program, represent epilepsy surgery community. Debate ensued on whether this is worth establishing and defining.
Slavin: AANS education committee inquired about possibility of having an educational course on functional neurosurgery either as a stand alone event, or in conjunction with annual meetings. It was recommended to forward this info to all board members.
The meeting adjourned at 1:45 pm.
Respectfully submitted by Konstantin Slavin, ASSFN Secretary