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Minutes from the MASCC/ISOO General Assembly Toronto, Canada - June 22, 2006 Dr. Paul Hesketh, President, called to order the MASCC/ISOO General Assembly Thursday June 22, 2006 in Toronto Canada at the Sheraton Centre Hotel at 11:45. He welcomed everyone to the 18th annual MASCC/ISOO Symposium. Minutes of the previous symposium, as posted on the web, were approved. Dr Hesketh announced the election by the Board of Directors of new officers: President-Elect, Jorn Herrstedt, Denmark; Treasurer. Ronald Feld, Canada, and Secretary, Petra Feyer, Germany. M Aapro now assumes the position of Immediate Past President. Dr. Hesketh acknowledged three departing board members, Andrea Bezjak, Eoin Tiernan and Mark Schubert, presented each with a certificate, and thanked them for their contributions. Dr. Hesketh also personally acknowledged Matti Aapro for his extraordinary contributions over the past two years serving in the role as President of the organization and presented him with a gift and certificate in thanks of the outstanding job he has done for the organization. Additionally, Dr. Hesketh thanked the Executive Committee, Board, and members of MASCC for their combined efforts during the past year. President's report: Dr. Hesketh updated the group on the new six year contract (retroactive to January 1, 2006-through December 31, 2011) that has negotiated with Springer, the publisher of MASCC's journal, Supportive Care in Cancer. Dr. Hesketh noted that this contract is supportive and favorable for MASCC and he is extremely pleased that the contract is in process of signature by both MASCC and Springer. Dr. Hesketh also updated the group on the MASCC website indicating that both Judi Johnson and Beth Hollen have put a tremendous amount of work into the website which has been extensively revamped. An exciting new feature of this re-design is the Education and Resource Centers. Currently thirteen educational and resource centers are on the website; they are updated with new content and presentations from the 2005 Geneva Meeting. Dr. Hesketh noted that there are approximately 10,000 visits to the website each month. New initiatives include listing of studies, job posting, and book reviews. Dr. Hesketh also discussed the importance of the study groups noting that it is the work of the study groups that make MASCC unique. He announced new initiatives to encourage further study group activity. Finally, Dr. Hesketh acknowledged the generous support from the three Corporate Advisory Council Members, Helsinn, Amgen and GSK and thanked all of the supporters of MASCC and this symposium. Executive Director Report: Cindy Rittenberg welcomed everyone and reinforced MASCC's mission. She briefly updated the group on MASCC's finances and noted that MASCC is now stable financially, thus allowing expansion of MASCC programs. She reported that as of June 9th there are 721 active members (of whom 33 are scholarship members) from 6 continents and 60 countries. Ms. Rittenberg also acknowledged the generous support from the sponsors. Standing Committees: Nominating Committee: Dr. Douglas Peterson reported that an election for 9 Board Member positions took place Feb 20- April 8. There were 22 candidates. 32.3% of membership voted. Results were posted immediately on the web site. D Peterson said the committee sees no need to convene over the next twelve months. The nomination process for 2008 elections will begin after the adjournment of the St. Gallen meeting. Professional Liaison: Dr. Peterson gave an update on the professional liaison committee. Dr. Peterson noted the goal of the professional liaison committee is to expand relationships and communications with other similar cancer care associations and to maintain an ongoing inventory of these professional liaisons. He noted that over the past twelve months, MASCC/ISOO has participated in some fashion in eight multidisciplinary/multi-organizational programs with other professional organizations from three continents, North America, South America and Europe. He also indicated that from June 06 - July 07 there presently are formal plans for participation in seven multidisciplinary/multi-organizational programs. ISOO Report: Dr. Judith Raber-Durlacher gave the group an update on ISOO. She stated that ISOO recently conducted elections. The results: - President - Deborah McGuire, PhD, RN, FAAN
- Vice-President - Inger von Bultzingslowen, DDS, PhD
- Vice-President for Communications - Monique Stokman, PhD, RDH
- They join Secretary Sharon Elad, DMD, MSc and Treasurer Michael Brennan, DDS, MHS on the ISOO Board.
Dr. Raber-Durlacher noted several scientific achievements of ISOO, and its related study group, Oral Care. She indicated that the oral care study group has submitted two grant applications to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the United States and both have received favorable reviews and are currently going through a second review. The oral care group is working on a R-13 conference grant application – again with the NIH of the United States. ISOO representatives will be presenting a session at the International Oral Oncology meeting in The Netherlands in 2008. Dr. Raber-Durlacher also recognized the contribution of a number of ISOO members have made to the mucositis guidelines. Old Business: 2007 Meeting Update Dr. Agnes Glaus presented the group with an update on the 2007 meeting to be held in St. Gallen, Switzerland June 28-30 (workshops June 27). Dr. Glaus briefly reviewed the preliminary symposium, which will start with an educational symposium. There will be four plenary sessions, seven satellite sessions and twelve parallel sessions. New Business: Announcements: Dr. Hesketh announced all of the recipients of the Young Investigator Awards. These include: Young Investigator of the Year: - Joanne Bowen, BHSC, Australia
Other Young Investigator recipients: - Christopher Booth, MD, Canada
- Katherine Hauser, MD, United States
- Pascal Jean-Pierre, PhD, United States
- Nicole Kuderer, MD, United States
- Anya Murphy, MD, Ireland
- Anrea Stringer, Australia
- Sukirtha Tharmalingam, Canada
- Thuan Tran, MD, Canada
- Janette Vardy, MD, Canada
Dr. Hesketh then announced recipients of Travel Scholarships as: - Natalia Carafizi, MD, Moldova
- Monica Castro, MD, Argentina
- Aline Lauda Chaves Freitas, MD, Brazil
- Pimkhuan Kamnerdsupaphone, MD, Thailand
- Vladyslav Myhalskyy, MD, Argentina
- Maxim Petrov, MD, Turkey
- Oxana Pihut, MD, Moldova
- Janice Kagendo Riungu, RN, Kenya
- Vijay Roy, Mpharm, India
- Paulo Sergio d Silva Santos, DDS, Brazil
- Jolanta Toliusiene, RN, Lithuania
- Stefanel Cornel Vlad, MD, Romania
Dr. Hesketh congratulated all of the recipients on their achievements. Dr. Hesketh also announced the recipient of the MASCC Distinguished Service Award: Richard Gralla. Dr. Gralla has been a member of MASCC since its inception, the meeting in New Orleans in 1992; and served as President from 2000-2004. One of his major initiatives was to implement a comprehensive strategic planning process. With his help, MASCC has become a modern society with a professional infrastructure and financial stability. Dr. Gralla continues to play a key leadership role in the organization and serves on the Executive Committee. Dr. Hesketh thanked Dr. Gralla for all of his contributions to the organization. Future Meetings: The 2008 meeting will be in Houston Texas, June 24-26. Co-chairs Linda Elting, DrPH and Eduardo Bruera, MD have begun plans for the symposium Re 2009: There were three excellent applications to host the 2009 Symposium. Dr. Hesketh announced the Board of Directors selected Rome, Italy with Dr. Fausto Roila as chair as the host of the 2009 MASCC/ISOO Symposium. The meeting was adjourned at 12:30. Respectfully submitted,
Cynthia Rittenberg for Petra Feyer
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