Summary of Discussion from RPS BOD Meeting, Philadelphia, 11/6/08
1. Helen Liapis summarized the results of the vote of the membership on proposed changes to the Bylaws that were voted on by the BOD at the previous meeting in Denver (3/1/08). All of the changes were unanimously approved by the membership except for the issue of awards criteria that passed by a vote of 76-2. Accordingly, the proposed changes will all be incorporated into the Bylaws. The report of Samy Iskandar, Society Historian, was distributed to the BOD members. As Samy was not able to attend the BOD meeting his review of the report was postponed until the Business meeting on 11/7. A proposal was made for an amendment to the current RPS Bylaws (Article V) that would add the Society Historian to the BOD, and this was passed unanimously by the BOD. The proposal will now be submitted to the full membership, and a 2/3 vote will be required for its incorporation into the Bylaws. There was an extended discussion of scheduled and proposed RPS-sponsored international meetings. These can be summarized as follows: - A day-long renal pathology course in April, 2009, to be held in conjunction with the Latin American Society of Nephrology and Hypertension (SLANH) meeting in Mexico City, co-organized by Laura Barisoni-Thomas and Ricardo Correa-Rotter. - The official RPS Satellite Meeting for 2009, to be held in Mexico City on 4/16/09, following the above course. The Satellite Meeting has been organized by Guillermo Herrera and the program is now complete – the focus will be on renal transplant pathology. Efforts at obtaining financial support for this meeting are ongoing and a number of companies have been contacted including Wyeth and Aperio. Novartis and Astellas were mentioned as other possibilities. Registration fees will be $100 for the course and $50 for the Satellite meeting, although the possibility of reduced fees for trainees (e.g., $50 and $25, respectively) were discussed. These fees will be collected by Ricardo (since many will be paid in pesos rather than US dollars); receipts from the course will be used for a future RPS-SLANH meeting and receipts from the Satellite Meeting will by sent by Ricardo to the RPS. - There will be a renal pathology course and/or scientific session at the WCN meeting, May 22-26 in Milan, Italy. Charlie Alpers is involved in the organization of these sessions. - A joint satellite meeting of the RPS and European Nephropathology Working Group will be held in conjunction with the European Congress of Pathology in Florence, Italy, Sept. 4-9, 2009. This meeting is being organized by Michael Mihatch, who earlier this year submitted a list of possible topics to Helen Liapis for consideration. The BOD voted on these topics and those receiving the most votes were returned to Michael. A preliminary program for this meeting should be available within the next 2-3 months after potential speakers are contacted. - The possibility of a free-standing, 3-day renal pathology course/meeting in La Coruna, Spain in the Spring or Summer of 2010 was discussed. Extensive preliminary discussion of this meeting has been held between the organizer, Eduardo VasquezMartul, and members of the RPS BOD, primarily Helen Liapis and Surya Seshan. The main obstacle to such a meeting remains money – it is estimated that because of the rather remote location at least $20,000 would be needed for travel and lodging costs for speakers, with additional costs required to stage the meeting itself. Eduardo is being made aware of this. It will also be important to hold the meeting at a time that does not conflict with another major pathology or nephrology meeting in Europe or North America. - The official RPS Satellite Meeting for 2010 will be held in conjunction with the IAP meeting in Sao Paolo, Brazil, in October. Maria Picken (RPS President for 2010) will
2.
3.
-
need to appoint a Chair for the 2010 Education and Scientific Committee to begin organization of this meeting sometime in 2009. The possibility of holding the 2012 Satellite Meeting in conjunction with the IAP meeting in South Africa was briefly discussed. One concern raised was that this would disrupt the current pattern of having the Satellite Meeting outside of North America every third year, and the 2010 meeting is currently scheduled for Brazil. However, the latter policy is not etched in stone (or even the RPS Bylaws), and presumably an exception can be made in the interest of further international growth of the RPS.
4.
Surya Seshan (representing the International Committee) presented two important items pertaining to the increasing international involvement of the RPS: - A set of criteria for RPS sponsorship of international meetings. We have been receiving an increasing number of such requests, and it is important that we assure that certain standards are meet before we allow the RPS name to be attached to a meeting. These criteria will be posted on the RPS website. Requests for RPS sponsorship of meetings shall be directed to the RPS president, who will have the option of declining those requests that clearly do not meet the posted criteria. Remaining requests will then be submitted to the BOD for a vote on possible approval. - A list of benefits of RPS membership, specifically directed at members and prospective members from outside of North America. This will also be posted on the RPS website. It was elected not to pursue a “members only” access area on the RPS website at the present time, although this may be done in the future as additional materials (e.g., image collections) are posted on the website. Surya also reviewed KUFA-related activities over the past year. KUFA provided funding for the Satellite Meeting in Denver, although we have not yet received their check. Surya indicated that Carol Brower has been ill and this has delayed payment, although we should be receiving it soon. Two KUFA-RPS research grants of $5000 each have been awarded. A proposal has been made, still in very early stages, to establish a joint KUFA-RPS award in honor of Gloria Gallo, to be awarded annually to an investigator under the age of 40. Finally, there have been some administrative delays regarding access to the Tree of Life prints; hopefully this fundraising venture will be moving forward in the near future. The issue of whether to pay Bing He $2750 for his work on the RPS website from January – July, 2008 was voted on. Dr. He was paid $875, at an agreed-upon rate of $50/hr, for his work on the website from 11/12/07 - 1/18/08 (17.5 hours over a period of 9 weeks). He continued to maintain and update the website from January – July, 2008 under the supervision of Suzanne Meleg-Smith at Cornell, prior to the website moving to St. Louis. He submitted to the RPS a bill for 55 hours of work (or ~2 hours/week) at $50/hour, coming to a total of $2750. This amount was discussed as Helen Liapis thought that the number of billed ours may be excessive, although Suzanne, his direct supervisor during the period, felt that the number of billed hours accurately reflected the amount of work performed by Dr. He. A vote was taken as to whether to pay Dr. He the full $2750 or a reduced amount (either $875 or $2300, the latter reflecting the same number of hours/week worked during the interval from 11/12/07 - 1/18/08). A majority of BOD members voted to pay Dr. He the full $2750, with a suggestion that future work of this magnitude on the website be pre-approved by the BOD. In accordance with the requirement for the Society's tax-exempt status, Dr. He will be asked to submit an itemized bill to the RPS. When such a bill is received, payment can be made.
5.
6.
7. -
-
-
Franco Ferrario (Research Committee chair) discussed a number of ongoing research initiatives: A vasculitis questionnaire with images has been posted as the start of an initiative to develop a standardized set of criteria for defining vessels involved in renal vasculitis. This was discussed further at the business meeting and it was suggested that the Research Committee work together with Charles Jennette to ensure that effort not be duplicated and that the ultimate aim is a consensus classification rather than an alternative to the current Chapel Hill classification. The international consensus (Oxford) classification for IgA nephropathy has been developed and two manuscripts detailing this work are almost ready for submission (to Kidney International). This effort has been a model for collaboration between renal pathologists and nephrologists on multiple continents for developing an evidence-based, clinically applicable pathologic classification for a glomerular disease, and the RPS should be proud of its active involvement in this process, led by Ian Roberts and Terry Cook. The process of verification of the classification still remains, and it has been suggested that the RPS contribute some funds ($2500?) toward this effort, although it was decided that the commitment of funds at this time would be premature, and that this issue should be taken up again when the manuscripts have been accepted for publication. Franco and Surya Seshan are leading an international study of repeat biopsies in lupus nephritis. A number of centers, most from outside of the U.S., are contributing cases for this study. RPS members from the U.S. were asked to consider contributing cases for the study, and information pertinent to this is posted on the RPS website. Ingeborg Bajema (Membership Committee chair) reported that since the last RPS meeting at the USCAP, the Membership Committee has approved 27 new applications for membership (22 regular, 5 junior), with members coming from 13 different countries. Kudos to Ingeborg and her committee!! There are, however, some members who remain delinquent in their dues payments. Helen and Ingeborg have agreed to send me a list of those members who have not paid dues for at least 2 consecutive years, and I will be sending these persons a “pay or have your membership terminated” letter. There was continuing discussion of the issues of interesting pathology residents in the field of renal pathology, and ensuring that all pathology residents receive sufficient training in renal pathology so as to allow them to competently report on biopsies of donor kidneys taken for transplantation, and on changes present in non-neoplastic portions of tumor nephrectomies. The latter were the focus of a survey of RPS members taken by Serena Bagansco and Tony Chang of the Training Programs Committee. The following summarizes ongoing work in this area: - Several RPS members have reported a positive experience in having residents rotate through renal pathology during their first year of training, rather than later (and after they have committed to another area of pathology). - To date, we have received no response from PRODs regarding Steve Bonsib’s inquiries into optimizing renal pathology training for pathology residents in North America. - Steve Bonsib will present a talk focusing on findings in non-neoplastic portions of tumor nephectomy specimens at the upcoming companion meeting of the International Society of Urologic Pathology at the 2009 USCAP meeting in Boston. Hopefully this will raise awareness of the need for evaluation of non-neoplastic kidney in such specimens, including the potential value of taking tissue for IF and EM in the event that this is needed, and consulting with a renal pathologist where appropriate. There is much more to be addressed in this area, including the issue of pro-fee billing for the work done by a renal pathologist in evaluating such specimens, but hopefully this will be a start.
8.
9.
10.
Steve Bonsib briefly discussed the collection of Jay Bernstein’s consult cases that he currently has in Shreveport and has been offered to the RPS by Mrs. Bernstein. The collection contains many cases of unusual hereditary renal abnormalities. Steve is currently sorting through and cataloging the collection, and when he is finished with this we can best discuss what role the RPS might play in making this material accessible to renal pathologists around the world. The final items addressed at the meeting were the proposed change to the RPS logo and the proposed change in the name of the Society to include the word “International”. It was agreed among the BOD members that a revised logo containing the image of a globe in the background was appropriate. At present Helen Liapis and Maria Picken continue to work on developing this logo, and possibilities will be circulated to the BOD before a final version is adopted. As the logo is not specified in the Bylaws, it will not be necessary to submit the new logo for a vote of the full membership unless members of the BOD feel this should be done. With respect to the name change, on a non-binding poll of the membership (i.e., not taken in response to a formal majority vote by the BOD), close to 2/3 of the members responding favored the inclusion of the word “International” in the Society’s name, although a specific name change was not agreed upon. However, several BOD members have noted that the RPS is already an international society with members from 35 different countries and >30% of members from countries other than the U.S. and Canada, and expressed concern that including “International” in our name might offend members of other renal pathology organizations such as the European Nephropathology Working Group. As such, a poll of BOD members in attendance was taken regarding whether to ask the membership for a binding vote on a specific name change (which would require a 2/3 majority). The results of the poll were 4 for, 8 against. Therefore, at least for the present we remain the Renal Pathology Society.
11.
I thank all members of the BOD for their service and active participation during 2008, and trust that we will all do the same during Surya’s term as RPS president in 2009. It has been an honor and privilege serving as RPS president for 2008. Thanks again, Mark Haas 2008 RPS President 11/12/08