ASSFN/JSSFN Executive Council Meeting, Tuesday Oct 11
Congress of Neurological Surgery, Boston, MA

In attendance: Ron Engelbreit, Bob Maciunis, Andres Lozano, Mike Schulder, Nick Boulis, Josh Rosenow, Emad Eskandar, Bob Gross, Ron Alterman, Konstantin Slavin, Ali Rezai, Rees Cosgrove, Philip Starr, Jaimie Henderson, David Roberts.

I. Presidents report - Dr. Lozano

Dr. Lozano opened the meeting by noting the high attendance at the first Joint section session on Monday.

1. future ASSFN meetings. The location of the 2008 ASSFN meeting will be Vancouver BC, with Chris Honey assisting with local arrangements. In general, the meeting location will be the choice of the person who will be past president during the two year period that precedes the meeting.
   
   Budget planning for future ASSFN meetings will be done according the following formula: We anticipate 300 attendees with a registration fee of $600, which will generate $180,000. Corporate fund raising should provide $120,000 for a total meeting budget of 300K. Typical meeting costs are approximately $200K
2. Tax ID for the ASSFN. The tax free status of the ASSFN was discussed. The society was incorporated as a nonprofit entity decades ago, but at that time such organizations did not require a tax ID. Drs. Schulder and Ron Engelbreit attempted to confirm our tax ID with the IRS in 2004 but were not successful. Having a Tax ID number has become important in soliciting corporate donations for meetings. To address this, a "business committee" was formed consisting of Drs. Starr, Alterman, Maciunis, and Slavin. With the assistance of a lawyer and accountant, the society will obtain a valid tax ID (re-incorporating if that is necessary), and begin to send a tax return to the IRS annually. We will thus maintain and document our tax exempt status, and incur legal and accounting expenses that we did not previously have.

1. Dr. Alterman located evidence of the original incorporation on the Pennsylvania Dept of State. The society was incorporated as a Pennsylvania non-stock, nonprofit corporation called the International Society for Research in Stereoencephalotomy, and given entity #173556. The address is that of Temple University. No tax ID is given.
2. Dr. Lozano contacted Dr. Gildenberg, who notes that any paper documentation of the society was lost with the death of Dr. Wycis in 1971.
3. Ron Engelbreit reached the IRS and confirmed that they have a tax ID for the ASSFN, with the address listed as that of AANS. The ID is # 76-0265104. The IRS is sending an "official notice" of this ID #. The relationship, if any, between the ASSFN tax ID and the original incorporation of the society in Pennsylvania, under its old name, is unclear.

1. Number of paying members. Now one year after the change of secretariat to the AANS, we have for the first time a precise list of our paying members. There are 205 full members who paid 2005 dues. There are 173 suspended members (nonpayers in 2005). Dr. Boulis will attempt to determine the reason for the dues nonpayment and report back to us at the next meeting
2. On-line applications. Ron Engelbreit noted that the online membership application, and online renewal of membership, should be operational in one month. Reminders for annual dues payments will be done by mail as this has a higher yield than email.
3. Membership renewal and policy for member suspension. The committee decided that renewal invoices will be sent in December, with one reminder sent 3 months later. After 6 months of nonpayment, the member will receive a letter of suspension, and at one year the individual is dropped from the membership list.

1. Cash reserves: we have $180,000 in the bank. At recommendation of Dr. Lozano it was decided that the society should maintain a cash reserve equal to 2 years operating expenses and one meeting, to cover the possibility that a meeting is cancelled at the last minute by unforeseen circumstances, which leaves the society liable for all meeting expenses without adequate revenue from registration. Insurance for sudden meeting cancellations is expensive (at approximately 25K per meeting); therefore our strategy will be to maintain sufficient cash reserve to cover it ourselves, and not obtain meeting cancellation insurance.
2. Earning interest on our cash reserves: Pending confirmation of a tax ID #, the funds of the society will be placed into a low risk tax free bond account to yield 2-3% interest, Dr. Alterman will assist in the selection of the account.
3. Election of new officers and executive council members. Dr. Starr noted that the cycle for election of new officers and exec council members is changing to a 2 year cycle to occur at each ASSFN meeting, and thus will next occur June 2006 at ASSFN. Those whose terms were to expire in 2005 (Drs. Gross and Maciunis) will remain until June 2006. The terms for Drs. Alterman and Hassenbusch will end in 2006; thus there will be 4 positions on the executive council to fill; nominations should be sent to Dr. Starr.

Now that we have an exact list of paying members, Dr. Eskandar will the update membership list on the website. He will make sure the website has links to the meeting registration site for the ASSFN 2006.

V. Journal report - Dr. Roberts

1. Circulation. Dr. Roberts noted subscriptions to Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery actually peaked 10 years ago, but this pattern is consistent with most other medical journals, as institutional subscriptions to medical journals have been declining.
2. Status of 2005 issues. Two issues for volume 83 (2005 volume) are in print, the third quarterly issue is on its way to press.
3. Material submitted to journal. Material submitted is up by double in the last 5 years. In 2004, approximately 60 original papers were submitted, and there was space to publish 39. In that year, 10% accepted outright, 2/3 send for revision and most of these were accepted, 25 of submitted manuscripts were not accepted. In 2004, 0f 39 published articles, there were 19 clinical studies, 6 case reports, 3 topic reviews, 2 papers arising from ASSFN proceedings. 28 were from north America. The time from submission to completion of review has been reduced to 2-3 months.
4. Electronic submission. In January, the journal will switch to electronic submission and review. This will improve accountability in the review process, and will faciliate international submissions.
5. Proceedings of meetings - Dr. Roberts proposed that in the future, ASSFN meeting proceedings be published as a supplement rather than one of the quarterly issues. This will cost 40-50K, which could be supported by advertising and industry donations.

The next newsletter deadline for submission of material is in December. This will include the preliminary program for ASSFN 2006. Dr. Lozano requested that we increase the frequency of newsletter to 2 a year, and that we may include meeting abstracts.

VII. Upcoming joint section symposia at upcoming CNS/AANS

1. AANS symposium theme is NPH, speakers arranged by Dr. Starr: The speakers will be Theresa Thomas, Neuropsychologist; Chad Christine, Neurologist; Marvin Bergsneider, Neurosurgeon
2. Topics for CNS 2006 were discussed. Possibilities: "To frame or not to frame" (including discussion of frame based stereotaxy, frameless stereotaxy assisted by neuronavigation, and interventional MRI-guided approaches). Other possibilities: gene transfer for neurologic disorders.

The meeting will take place Thursday June 1 thru Sunday June 4 at the Fairmount Copley plaza. 150 rooms have been reserved; it was note that this is also graduation weekend in Boston for many colleges, so rooms will be very tight.

CME is being granted through the AANS, not Harvard.
Dr. Cosgrove has hired a company to handle online registration. Abstract submission will be handled by Joel Macdonald. The deadline for abstract submission will be probably be March 1.

The Honored Guest will be Ron Tasker
The Poster sessions will include wine and cheese.
The opening reception will be in the Venetian room. One evening there will be a social event at the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum; the other evening will be free.

IX. Miscellaneous items

1. DBS Guidelines/Consensus statement project - Dr. Rezai Working over the past 2 years, Dr. Rezai and others have produced a document summarizing evidence based criteria for DBS in PD The CNS will not endorsing these as guidelines, but the Movement Disorders Society is endorsing them. They will be published in the January 2006 issue of Movement Disorders. Dr. Rezai asked for ASSFN exec councel members to review the document, and Ron alterman, Bob Maciunis, and Konstanin Slavin volunteered.
2. Fellowships certification -Dr. Henderson The committee again discussed the proposal to submit guidelines for fellowship training to the Senior Society. Dr. Henderson noted that the purpose is for recognition of a fellowship program, and is not an attempt to provide accreditation for individual fellows. The committee recommended that Dr. Henderson go ahead with finalizing these recommendations. Dr. Lozano expressed concern that programs outside the USA would be unable to be certified by the Senior Society and requested that Dr. Henderson raise this issue with the Senior Society.
3. Radiosurgery update - Dr. Schulder

ASTRO has yet to formally agree on an exact definition of SRS or on the neurosurgeon's role. However, they have agreed that any coding changes that they have recently sought will be used to redefine the radiation oncology share of SRS treatments, rather than to redefine the overall coding concept for SRS.

The Section has and will continue to support these efforts to maintain the neurosrugeon's role in SRS.