ASSFN/JSSFN Executive Council Meeting,
Tuesday April 25 1:00 – 2:30

Draft of minutes

AANS San Francisco CA

In attendance: Drs. Cosgrove, Lozano, Schulder, Starr, Roberts, Maciunas, Gross, Alterman, Baltuch, Slavin, Rezai, Eskandar, Rosenow, and Ron Engelbreit

1. Presidents report – Dr. Lozano
   
   Dr. Lozano confirmed that the location of the 2008 meeting will be Vancouver, BC, with Chris Honey as the local host. He asked Dr. Schulder to start considering locations for the 2010 meeting. He suggested that scientific program chairs have a “four year term” so that after planning a meeting, they have overlap with the next program chair(s) so that meeting themes are coordinated.
   
   Discussion of merging with the Pain section. Dr. Rosenow expressed some potential interest. However Dr. Rosenow noted that a number of leaders of the pain section would like to remain separate. We will find out how many persons are jointly members of the pain section AND the ASSFN, versus pain section only.
   
   Discussion of changing the name of our section to “joint section for functional neurosurgery” since stereotaxis is now a part of almost all of neurosurgery.
   
   Discussion of need to change our bylaws to reflect our current procedures (such as electing new executive council members at ASSFN rather than AANS). Dr. Starr will draft a change in bylaws for review at ASSFN 2006.
   
   
2. Membership report –Starr, Ron Englebreit
   
   Number of paying members –There are currently 217 full members of the ASSFN, 4 associate, 31 senior, and 25 resident members. In 2006 19 new paying members have joined the society; of these 11 are regular active members, 2 are associate members, and 6 are resident members. 14 prior members dropped their membership. As of April 06, 67 members had not yet paid 2006 dues.
   
   
3. Secretary-Treasurer’s report- Dr. Starr
   
   Cash reserves – we continue to have $180K in the bank, minus a $30 K advance to Reese Cosgrove for the Boston meeting.
   
   Update on our Tax ID: We will work with Ron Engelbreit to have AANS file our tax return and invest our income.
   
   Election of new officers and executive council members.
   There will be 4 positions on the executive council to fill. Nominations were taken and they are: Brian Kopell, Josh Rosenow, Kelly Foote, Ash Sharan, Mike Kaplitt, Kathryn Holloway, Jeff Arle, Paul Larson. All of these individuals have communicated to at least one of the current exec council that they would serve if elected. Two of the nominated individuals are not members of the ASSFN and they have been notified. As per our current bylaws, the exec council nominates a proposed slate of candidates, the general membership of the ASSFN must be informed of the nominations at least 5 days before the vote, and the members may add new nominations. A vote by closed ballot for new exec council members and new officers will be held by closed ballot at the ASSFN. Drs. Roberts and Cosgrove strongly recommended that current exec council members NOT be nominated for another term except under unusual circumstances, as encouraging new faces in the leadership is an important goal.
   
   
4. Webmaster Report – Dr. Eskandar
   
   The bill for web services has been paid. Dr. Eskandar will update the membership roster on the website.
   
   
5. Journal report – Dr. Roberts
   
   Volume 83 (last of four from 2005) was recently mailed.
   
   Submissions have increased 17% over same time period of last year.
   
   The rejection rate is 30%. This is an easier number to quantify than the acceptance rate since accepted papers may fall into one of several years.
   
   The journal impact factor is 0.906, an increase from prior factor of 0.425. The immediacy index is 0.1. The cited half-life is 7.4 years.
   
   Dr. Roberts suggested that the “niche” for the journal is evolving, and should evolve, from an “archival” niche (mainly meeting proceedings) to a rapid communication of pilot data.
   
   The journal can now accept video (or will shortly be able to do so).
   
   Advertising has been challenging and not as successful as other aspects of the journal.
   
   
   
6. Newsletter report – Dr. Slavin
   
   The most recent newsletter was 4 pages. It was generally agreed to have 2 newsletters/year rather than one. This will facilitate communication of information to members in a timely way
   
   
7. Upcoming joint section symposia at upcoming CNS/AANS
   
   The topics for CNS 2006 were confirmed to be “to frame or not to frame”, and “neuroprostheses”.
   
   The top choice topics for 2007 AANS (Washington DC) was advanced in neuroimaging, or update on the biology of depression.
   
   
8. Upcoming ASSFN meeting – Drs. Cosgrove/Eskandar/Maciunas/Alterman
   
   There are 100 registrants thus far for ASSFN which is as good or better than prior meetings for this time period.
   
   
9. Miscellaneous items
   
   Fellowships certification –Dr. Henderson was not able to be present at the meeting, but provided a letter from the senior society in response to the application he submitted for fellowship certification in stereotactic and functional neurosurgery. The Senior Society requested several changes in the application and, in communication with Dr. Henderson after the executive council, it was decided that he will make the necessary changes and have the new draft of the fellowship guidelines available at the ASSFN Boston meeting.