The Microcirculatory Society, Inc.
Newsletter

Volume 27, Number 1

Summer, 1999

Call To Order:

The Business meeting was called to order at 4:10 P.M. in Room 38 of the Washington Convention Center by Dr. Bruce Klitzman.

Approval of Minutes:

The minutes of the 1998 Annual Business Meeting published previously in the June (Summer, 1998) Newsletter were approved.

Special Announcement:

Information was provided on the status of the Society Web Site being managed expertly by Bob Gore. He is to be commended for his efforts. Bruce informed the membership that there will be a searchable directory on the Web site in late June or early July, and he requested that all members check it to assure that it is correct. Included with this database will be a field to indicate dues status and that needs to be checked as well. It is vital to the future of the Society that the eroded database of members be recompiled and it will take the efforts of the entire membership to accomplish this in a timely fashion.

Bob Gore will continue to Chair the Communications Committee and will also take on the responsibility as Chair of the Membership Committee to hopefully aid the database reconstruction.

Treasurer's Report:

The Treasurer's Report was given by Dr. Paul F. McDonagh.

Secretary's Report:

Mary Ellsworth informed the membership that as of June 30, 1999, when our relationship with Associated Management ends, the Society will return to self-management. She reaffirmed the need for the Society membership to assist the officers as much as possible. She also indicated that within the next year or so it would be desirable for the Newsletter to be dispersed electronically, although any member who wishes to receive a paper version would be able to do so.

Recognition of New Members:

The addition of new members was announced: 12 regular, 1 associate, 1 student.

Development Committee Report:

Bruce reported on the efforts of the Development Committee. It is clear that they need to work diligently at obtaining Corporate sponsorship for awards etc.

Historical Committee Report: 

Bruce suggested that we make an effort to update the history of the Society. He also indicated that there are available in the Academy of Medicine a number of microcirculation films, many of which were donated by the Society, although the Academy would not let us borrow them for even a day for this meeting.

Nomination Committee Report: 

The new officers of the Society are: President-Elect, Walter Durán; Secretary, Mary Ellsworth; Councilors, Jeff Falcone and William Mayhan.

Awards Committee Report:

The Awards Committee results were announced as follows:

Landis Award: Dr. Marcos Intaglietta,
University of California, San Diego.
August Krogh Young Investigator Award: Dr. Travis W. Hein with a second place award given to Dr. Jefferson Frisbee.

There were no nominations for either the Travel Award or for the Crone Award.

Future Meetings:

2000 with FASEB Experimental Biology in San Diego, California.

2001 with FASEB Experimental Biology in Orlando, Florida. In addition, the World Congress will be held in Sydney Australia in August of 2001. The membership approved the 2001 meeting in Orlando unanimously.

2002 - The Long Range Planning Committee will explore options

2005 - MCS is hosting the World Congress to be held in conjunction with the next IUPS meeting in Washington, D.C. Proposals for hosting this need to be made as soon as possible. They should be sent to the Chairman of the Long Range Planning Committee who is the current Past President, Bruce Klitzman. It will be important to coordinate with IUPS to minimize overlap.

Revision of the By-Laws: 

Amendments to the By-Laws that were published in the Winter, 1998/99 Newsletter were voted upon and approved unanimously.

Publications Committee Report:

Dr. Ingrid Sarelius reported that the new editor, Neil Granger, is in place and has put together a very efficient editorial office. She thanked Mary Gerritsen for her efforts in the start up of the Journal. Two awards have been made this year in conjunction with the Journal, the Gerritsen award for the most cited review article went to Dr. Paul Kubes with the Curt A. Wiederhielm Award for the most cited paper going to Drs. Samina Kanwar and Paul Kubes. Bruce indicated that there has been discussion of increasing the number of issues published per year from 4 to 6. This would decrease turn-around time, and increase acceptance by libraries. The final decision lies with the Publisher although Chris Rawlins from Stockton indicated that it was really a joint decision rather than at the Publisher's discretion. In order for the Journal to publish 6 issues rather than 4, more funds need to be made available which will require an increase in the cost for the members of $20.00 per year. Thus, full members would pay $90.00 a year instead of the current $70.00. A motion was made to approve the increase. It was seconded. There was some discussion as to the necessity to increase the number of issues. Neil Granger indicated that it would decrease the time following acceptance to publication. Gabor Kaley questioned if there were a sufficient number of high quality papers to warrant an additional issue. Neil Granger indicated that there were and that he had not gone out soliciting manuscripts because of the lack of space. The motion to increase the dues by $20.00 if the decision is made to increase the number of issues from 4 to 6 is made was approved unanimously.

 Liaison Committee Report:

The Liaison Committee reported that the IUPS meeting in St. Petersburg, Russia, was a financial disaster due to the absconding of funds by the organizers. One million dollars disappeared. Since IUPS has no funds of its own, the member Societies have been asked to help make up the deficit. Bruce reported that Council approved the requested $6,000 contribution to the fund with the stipulation that a listing be made of who paid, and who did not among world member Societies.

New Business:  

Carol Gervin sent a letter indicating that the North American Society of Lymphology has been dissolved. According to their By-Laws, the remaining in the Society Assets need to be allocated. They have proposed that these funds ($3,599.42) be donated to the Microcirculatory Society, Inc., for the purpose of funding an award for Excellence in Research to a single junior investigator to recognize outstanding lymphatic research. Conditions associated with this transfer of funds are spelled out in a formal proposal. One of the conditions is that a manuscript reporting this research be published in the Society Journal, Microcirculation. Council agreed to accept the money with a single change to the proposal, that being that the manuscript need only be submitted for publication, thus leaving accepatnce in the hands of the editorial office.

Wendy Chaite, President of the Lymphatic Research Foundation made a presentation describing lymphedema and other lymphatic pathologies with the goal of encouraging research efforts into this devastating condition. She provided a handout to the membership for all those interested.

Adjournment:

The meeting was adjourned at 5:15 PM by Dr. Klitzman.