Minutes of the February 10, 2000 Meeting of the GTA Board of Directors
The meeting was held at BioReliance Corporation,
Rockville, Maryland. The meeting was called
to order by Richard San, Chairman at 9:40
a.m. Richard distributed the agenda for
the meeting.
Members of the Board in attendance were
Dan Benz, Kerry Dearfield, Gerry DeVito,
Peggy Guzzie, Vijay Reddy, and Richard San.
Also in attendance were Andrea Ham (Membership
Chair) and Darlynea McCluskey (Newsletter
Editor).
Secretary's Report
Copies of the minutes from the October
21, 1999 Fall Board Meeting were distributed
along with the Agenda. Gerry DeVito reviewed
the highlights of the minutes and the Board
approved them. Dan Benz will post the approved
minutes from today's meeting on the GTA
Web site.
Treasurer's Report
In Russ DuFrain's absence, Richard San
presented the Treasurer's report, which
Russ had sent via e-mail. The Spring
Meeting has been confirmed for May 18, 2000
at the John M. Clayton Hall Conference Center
at the University of Delaware in Newark,
Delaware. The date of the Fall Meeting has
been changed and confirmed as October 19,
2000 also in Delaware.
The books are still open for 1999, as there
are two outstanding checks and three receivable.
Richard will check with Russ on these outstanding
items. The current bank balance is approximately
$23,000 in the savings account, $10,400
in the CD and $200 in the checking account.
Russ reported in his e-mail that he has
spoken with Kerry Dearfield regarding the
travel expenses for John Ashby and the basics
for the Spring meeting. He will bring the
checks for Hillary Sussman and for sponsorship
of the student session to the EMS meeting
in New Orleans, LA. He will also send a
check to Dan Benz for the printing of the
membership recruitment brochures. The Board
accepted the Treasurer's report.
Newsletter
Darlynea McCluskey, Newsletter
Editor, distributed an example of the new
format for the first page of the GTA Newsletter.
It included a Table of Contents, which the
Board agreed would be a very useful addition.
The Board had decided on a deadline for
the Spring Newsletter of April 15,
2000, but Darlynea requested that the date
be changed to April 7, 2000 to allow ample
time to mail prior to the Spring GTA Meeting.
Dan Benz will post the revised date on the
Web site. Darlynea will add a statement
to the Newsletter reminding members
to renew their membership if they have not
already done so.
Darlynea submitted a summary of the Fall
GTA Meeting in early November 1999 for the
next EMS Newsletter.
Darlynea will prepare the flyers for the
Spring meeting and send them out to the
members and friends of the GTA. She will
send the flyer to Andrea Ham, who will print
copies to give to Matt Bogdanffy. Matt will
bring them to the SOT Meeting which is being
held March 19 – 23, 2000 in Philadelphia,
PA and place them in an area for distribution.
Darlynea will also prepare a GTA Spring
meeting poster that Peggy Guzzie will deliver
to the SOT meeting as well as to the EMS
meeting. Everyone agreed with Kerry that
this was a great opportunity to publicize
the GTA to our target area. Kerry reported
that there will not be an EMS booth at SOT
this year but there are plans to have one
at next year's meeting. The possibility
of having more than 120 people at the Spring
meeting due to this added publicity was
discussed. Our scheduled room at Clayton
Hall cannot hold more than that number of
people, therefore Richard will ask Russ
to check the availability of a larger room
if needed.
Web Site
Dan Benz, Web Master, mentioned the
number of hits the GTA home page (over 900)
and the Spring meeting information page
(over 140) had received as of February 9,
2000. Dan discussed our link from the EMS
Web site; this site has had over 10,000
hits so far. Dan stated that he will complete
the minutes from the Fall GTA meeting soon
and post them along with the speakers' abstracts
from Dr. Raghu Nath on the Web site. Dan
asked that the organizers of the next meetings
look at the Web site information to see
if it is correct. Apparently the directions
to Clayton Hall need some revision and our
list of recommended hotels will need to
be updated. Dan discussed the on-line registration
form for meeting attendance and the idea
of 'Internet Specials'. These specials would
allow people to register early and then
pay the pre-registration fee at the meeting.
These on-line registrations go directly
to Russ who will then have a better estimate
of how many people plan on attending a particular
meeting. Darlynea will mention the 'Internet
Specials' in the next Newsletter
as well.
The fees for the Spring meeting for those
who pre-register were decided to be:
-$50.00 for members
-$65.00 for nonmembers
-$30.00 for students,
and for on-site registration, the fees will be:
-$60.00 for members
-$75.00 for nonmembers
-$30.00 for students.
Placing photos on the Web site was discussed
and it was decided that for now, other than
the photo of the GTA 'parents' that already
is there, no photos will be posted.
Dan discussed the on-line EMS Membership
Directory. He stated that we could use the
EMS software to create an on-line GTA Membership
Directory. Security was the only concern
of the Board, but it was decided that this
was an opportunity we should take advantage
of. Dan will get the approval from EMS and
then create the directory from the database
from Andrea. Dan will then give the password
to Andrea so she is able to update the list
as needed. Dan will also check the program's
capabilities to prepare mailing lists and
labels both on paper and on-line.
Membership
Andrea Ham, Membership Chair, reported
that the database of the membership and
friends has been updated. There are a total
of approximately 700 with approximately
200 being members. The Microsoft Access
database can be sorted by dues payment status,
meeting attendance and registration payments
as well as whether the member is from academia,
industry or government.
Andrea will speak to Russ about having a
laptop computer at the next meeting so as
to update and check the database as the
attendees arrive at the meeting. The announcement
of the upcoming meeting will be sent out
to all current members and friends via e-mail.
A reminder to members to check their membership
status will be included in this e-mail.
An additional dunning e-mail will be sent
to members who have not paid dues since
1998, in order to encourage them to bring
their membership up to date.
Kerry stated that he has four e-mail lists
plus a National Capital Area SOT membership
list that he will send to Andrea to update
the current database.
It was decided that we will have at least
one more paper GTA Membership Directory.
The revised directory will be available
by the Fall meeting. Attending members can
pick up their copy at that meeting and the
remaining copies will be mailed to the members
following the meeting. Darlynea will put
this information in the next Newsletter.
Dan had gotten the cost estimates for printing
2000 copies of the revised GTA Membership
Recruitment brochure. The cost will be $585.90.
Andrea will send Dan the final electronic
copy and Dan will have the copies printed.
The turnaround time for the printer is one
week and we will need them for distribution
at both the SOT and EMS Meetings. The colors
will be the same as the last brochure, with
the GTA logo in blue. Dan will get copies
to Richard for distribution at SOT. Dan
will bring copies to EMS.
Future GTA Meetings
Spring 2000
Kerry Dearfield updated us on the status
of the planning of the Spring 2000 meeting
program entitled Mechanisms of Toxicity/Modes
of Action. Matt Bogdanffy of Haskell
Laboratory is the co-chair of the meeting,
which will take place May 18, 2000 at Clayton
Hall. Kerry reported that all of the first
choices for speakers had agreed to speak.
Kerry gave an overview of the scheduled
speakers and their topics that sounded very
interesting. Gerry and Peggy both suggested
that Kerry add some more detail to the program
as it is currently listed on the Web site.
Specifically it was suggested that the topics
are elaborated on, especially the talk entitled
'FDA Perspectives', in order to paint a
clearer picture of the meeting's goals.
Kerry discussed the travel arrangements
for the speakers and during this discussion
the idea of having a GTA credit/debit card
came up. This would allow us to make and
pay for reservations for a meeting speaker
if necessary and avoid the Treasurer having
to be present to write checks for hotel
stays, etc. It was decided to prepay
the hotels this time and ask Russ to look
into obtaining a credit/debit card from
our bank.
A discussion took place about our choice
of the MacIntosh Motor Inn as our preferred
lodging for meetings in Delaware. Some of
the members have been displeased. Andrea
will ask Robin Leonard to look into some
of the other area hotels and pick one that
has reasonable rates and will cooperate
to reserve a block of ten rooms for our
next meeting. The Sleep Inn was suggested
as a possibility.
Kerry will send a confirmation letter to
the scheduled speakers and request copies
of their abstracts.
Fall 2000
Peggy Guzzie and Albert Li will meet
during the SOT meeting to further develop
the Fall 2000 program, to be held Thursday
October 19, 2000 at Clayton Hall. The topic
will be the use of various metabolic activation
systems in genetic toxicology testing. Possible
speakers mentioned were Gary Williams, Sid
Aaron and Charles Crespi. Possible exhibitors
for the meeting would be MolTox and/or GenTest.
Exhibitors would pay $100.00 as a set-up
fee. Richard suggested that alternatives
to Aroclor induction be discussed as a part
of the meeting in light of the fact that
disposal is becoming more difficult.
A discussion of this being our 25th
Anniversary year as well as the new millennium
year took place. It was suggested that we
have a wine and cheese reception with a
cake, which would take place following the
last speaker of the day at the Fall meeting.
Russ could check with Clayton Hall about
the cost of holding this event. The founders
would be invited and a slide show presentation
of the GTA history could possibly be put
together. This topic will be put on the
agenda of the next Board meeting for further
discussion.
Student Sponsorship
Vijay Reddy spoke about our sponsorship
of an EMS Student Award recipient to attend
the EMS Meeting in New Orleans. The Board
has selected Ms. Hillary Sussman as one
of the top student entries identified by
EMS from our region (East Coast). Ms. Sussman
is from New York state. A draft letter to
formally advise Ms. Sussman of her selection
and request an acceptance letter from her
was distributed for review. Following some
minor modifications recommended by the Board,
Richard will send the letter to Ms. Sussman.
A check for $1000 will be presented to Ms.
Sussman during the EMS Student/Young Investigator
Poster Session and Reception on Saturday
April 8, 2000. Richard will contact Jim
Felton to ask him to give a special mention
of our sponsorship of Hillary during the
student presentations. The GTA will sponsor
the reception in the amount of $500.00.
Kerry suggested that Richard give a very
brief presentation about the GTA during
this event. Richard will contact EMS concerning
this. Richard will also look into having
a ribbon/badge for the GTA student winner
to wear during the EMS meeting. The membership
recruitment brochures should also be readily
available to the students during this reception.
We will announce our sponsorship of Hillary
on our Web site, posting her abstract as
well as announcing her anticipated presentation
at the Fall GTA Meeting.
Corporate Sponsorship
At the last Board meeting it was recommended
that a person from the membership be asked
to handle Corporate Sponsorships and Exhibitors.
Kerry Dearfield has not been able to reach
Linda Bowers who handles this for EMS, but
he will keep trying. Annual sponsorships
can be at the $500-1000 level. Sponsorships
can also be based on a particular meeting's
topic of interest.
University Outreach
Vijay and Kerry will speak with contacts
at local universities to identify laboratories
that may be interested in sending an Investigator
and their student(s) to one free GTA meeting.
We will also ask EMS for a list of students
registered for the upcoming EMS meeting.
The idea of having a discussion group with
some of these students at EMS was tossed
around, possibly having the attending GTA
Board members mentor students during the
meeting.
New Business
Dan noticed that some of the GTA by-laws
might need to be amended by the directors,
specifically those regarding the length
of service of Board members. Dan will draft
the revised by-laws after checking with
the State of Delaware about our Charter
and bring them to the Summer Board meeting.
Richard led a discussion of the possible
gift selections for John DeLuca and Dave
Mallon to thank them for their years of
service to the GTA. It was decided that
they would each receive a pen and pencil
desk set with a plaque engraved with a statement
of appreciation from the GTA. Richard will
handle the purchase of the gifts, which
will be presented to them during our next
GTA meeting.
Future Board Meetings
The next GTA Board meeting will be held
following the Spring GTA Meeting on May
18, 2000 at the John M. Clayton Hall Conference
Center at the University of Delaware in
Newark, Delaware. The Summer Board meeting
will be held in Connecticut on August 4,
2000.
A motion was made, seconded, and approved to adjourn the meeting at approximately 3:30 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Geralyn L. DeVito, Secretary
Minutes of the May 18, 2000 Meeting of the GTA Board of Directors
The meeting was held at the John M. Clayton
Hall Conference Center at the University
of Delaware in Newark, Delaware. The meeting
was called to order by Richard San, Chairman,
at 4:15 p.m. Richard distributed the agenda
for the meeting.
Members of the Board in attendance were
Dan Benz, Kerry Dearfield, Gerry DeVito,
Russ DuFrain, Peggy Guzzie, Vijay Reddy,
and Richard San. Also in attendance were
Andrea Ham (Membership Chair) and Darlynea
McCluskey (Newsletter Editor).
Secretary's Report
Copies of the minutes from the February
10, 2000 Board Meeting were distributed
along with the agenda. Gerry DeVito reviewed
the highlights of the minutes and the Board
approved them. Dan will post the approved
minutes from today's meeting on the GTA
Web site and Darlynea will include them
in the next GTA Newsletter.
Treasurer's Report
Russ DuFrain presented the Treasurer's
report. Russ reported that the books for
1999 were still open but he was in the process
of taking care of that. The current bank
balance as of May 16, 2000 is approximately
$28,000. The starting balance as of January
1, 2000 was $30,889.13 with an income of
$3219.20 and an estimated expense of $6073.20.
The Board accepted the Treasurer's report.
The Fall Meeting has been confirmed for
October 19, 2000 at the John M. Clayton
Hall Conference Center at the University
of Delaware in Newark, Delaware.
A lengthy discussion took place concerning
the on-line registration form for meeting
attendance and the "Internet Specials".
These specials allowed people to register
early and then pay the pre-registration
fee at the meeting. The new process seemed
to have worked well but there was concern
that some people who had pre-registered
on-line were either no shows at today's
meeting or gave notice to Russ too late
for him to cancel the lunches for these
individuals. Russ will come up with some
wording to explain that individuals who
pre-register on-line but fail to notify
Russ in a reasonable amount of time that
they will not be attending the meeting will
be asked to pay half the registration fee.
This information will be included both on
the Web site and in the Newsletter.
Russ will look into obtaining a GTA credit/debit
card from our bank to allow us to make and
pay, if necessary, for reservations for
a meeting speaker and avoid the Treasurer
having to be present to write checks for
hotel stays, etc.
Newsletter
Darlynea McCluskey, Newsletter
Editor, stated that the deadline for submission
for the next GTA Newsletter would
be September 6, 2000 to allow ample time
to mail prior to the Fall GTA Meeting. Dan
will post the date on the Web site.
Items to be included in the next Newsletter
will be the summary of today's Spring Meeting,
the agenda for the Fall GTA Meeting and
an invitation to academic professors to
attend the next meeting with their students
free of charge. It was decided there would
be no maximum limit on the number of students
a professor could bring, with a minimum
of one.
Darlynea will submit the summary of the
Spring GTA Meeting for the next EMS Newsletter.
Kerry will forward the speakers' abstracts
from today's meeting to Darlynea.
The Board agreed that the new format of
the Newsletter was very professional
and thanked both Darlynea and Andrea for
their efforts in preparing and mailing them.
Andrea reported that she had sent out 158
Newsletters to dues paying members
from 1998 and 1999 indicating when the recipient's
dues would expire on the mailing label.
Andrea also stated that only 3 Newsletters
were returned and that was due to the difference
in the Canadian postage rates.
Darlynea prepared the GTA Spring Meeting
poster that Peggy had displayed at the SOT
meeting as well the EMS meeting. Everyone
agreed that this was a great opportunity
to publicize the GTA to our target area.
The Board thanked both Darlynea and Peggy
for their efforts.
Web Site
Dan Benz, Webmaster, completed the minutes
from the Fall GTA meeting and posted them
along with the speakers' abstracts on the
Web site. Dan had the GTA Membership
Brochures printed in time for both the
SOT and EMS meetings. The Board thanked
Dan for his efforts and was pleased with
the way the brochures turned out.
The fees for the Fall meeting for those
who pre-register will be the same as the
Spring Meeting and will be posted on the
Web site as follows:
-$50.00 for members
-$65.00 for nonmembers
-$30.00 for students,
and for on-site registration, the fees will be:
-$60.00 for members
-$75.00 for nonmembers
-$30.00 for students.
Dan also discussed the on-line EMS Membership Directory. He will be able to use the EMS software to create an on-line GTA Membership Directory. Dan will give the password to Andrea so she is able to update the list as needed. Dan will also check the program's capabilities to prepare mailing lists and labels both on paper and on-line.
Membership
Andrea Ham, Membership Chair, reported
that she had sent out more than 1000 announcements
to members and friends of the GTA concerning
the Spring meeting and had only 30 non-responsive
e-mail messages. She included a reminder
to members who had last paid dues in 1997
or 1998 in this e-mail encouraging them
to renew their membership this year so that
their current information could be included
in the upcoming GTA Membership Directory.
Andrea indicated that she had sent out 600
meeting flyers and that only 160 of those
recipients were members of the GTA. Andrea
will sort the list of names by dues paying
membership within the past four years only
and Kerry will then review the list in an
attempt to purge it of individuals who are
no longer in a related field, moved out
of the area, etc.
Dan will have the paper GTA Membership
Directory printed. The revised directory
will be available by the Fall meeting. Attending
members can pick up their copy at that meeting
and the remaining copies will be mailed
to the members following the meeting. Darlynea
will again put this information in the next
Newsletter.
Spring 2000 Meeting
All members of the Board agreed that
today's meeting was a success and thanks
Kerry and Matt Bogdanffy for all of their
planning and also for their excellent talks.
Kerry will send a thank you letter to each
of the speakers.
The Board agreed that Robin Leonard had
done a super job finding some newly recommended
hotels in the Newark area for our meeting
speakers and attendees. The consensus of
those Board members who stayed at the Embassy
Suites was that it was a great improvement
over the MacIntosh Inn. The Board thanks
Robin for her efforts.
Future GTA Meetings
Fall 2000
Peggy Guzzie said that Albert Li had
been traveling a great deal and she had
not had an opportunity to meet with him
to further develop the Fall 2000 program,
to be held Thursday October 19, 2000 at
Clayton Hall. The topic will be the use
of various metabolic activation systems
in genetic toxicology testing. Possible
speakers mentioned were Fred Gengrich, Glen
Sipes from Arizona, Larry Marnet, Alan Conney
at Rutgers, John Rundell and/or Charles
Crespi. It was noted that for GTA members
who speak at meetings the registration fee
is waived for that meeting but travel expenses
are not covered. Possible exhibitors for
the meeting are MolTox and/or GenTest. Exhibitors
pay $100.00 as a set-up fee.
Spring and Fall 2001
Since we will be celebrating our 25th
Anniversary year in 2001 it was suggested
that commemorative mugs be given out at
one of the two meetings during the year.
It was also suggested that we could possibly
have a wine and cheese reception with a
cake, which would take place following the
last speaker of the day at the Fall meeting.
Russ will check with Clayton Hall about
the cost of holding this event. The tentative
date for the Spring Meeting is May 3, 2001
at Clayton Hall. Potential topics for the
Spring Meeting are Bioinformatics and Lead
Chemical Selection using SAR. Possible organizers
for the Spring Meeting are Gerry and Dan.
Apoptosis is a possible topic for the Fall
Meeting.
Student Sponsorship
Vijay and Kerry spoke about Ms. Hillary
Sussman, the EMS Student Award recipient
whom the GTA sponsored to attend the EMS
Meeting in New Orleans. Ms. Sussman presented
her poster at the EMS Student/Young Investigator
Poster Session and Reception on Saturday
April 8, 2000. The GTA sponsored the reception
in the amount of $500.00. The check for
$1000 was presented to Ms. Sussman at the
EMS Awards and Reception on Sunday April
9, 2000. Kerry reported that Jim Felton
had given a special mention of our sponsorship
of Hillary during the student presentations
at the EMS Meeting and that Richard had
given a well-received brief introduction
to the GTA. Dan has posted the announcement
of our sponsorship of Hillary on our Web
site, along with a photo of her in front
of her poster at the EMS Meeting. Hillary
will be presenting her work at the Fall
GTA Meeting this year either as a 15 - 20
minute presentation or a poster presentation.
Richard will contact her to find out which
she would prefer and let Russ know so that
he can contact Clayton Hall for local set-up.
Corporate Sponsorship
It was again discussed at this meeting
that a person from the membership be asked
to handle Corporate Sponsorships and Exhibitors.
Richard has someone in mind to ask and it
will also be mentioned in the next Newsletter.
Annual sponsorships can be at the $500-1000
level. Sponsorships can also be based on
a particular meeting's topic of interest.
University Outreach
Vijay had sent notices to contacts at
local universities to identify laboratories
that may be interested in sending an Investigator
and their student(s) to one free GTA meeting.
Four students attended today's GTA meeting
and one became a member. It was suggested
that the attending students at future meetings
be introduced during the business meeting.
The idea of having a student representative
attend the Board Meetings was also discussed.
Old Business
Dan had noticed that some of the GTA
By-laws might need to be amended by the
directors, specifically those regarding
the length of service of Board members.
Dan will draft the revised by-laws after
checking with the State of Delaware about
our Charter and bring them to the Summer
Board meeting.
At today's business meeting, Richard presented
the pen and pencil desk sets from the GTA
to John DeLuca and Dave Mallon to thank
them for their years of service to the GTA.
The Board thanked Richard for his gift selections
and a very nice presentation.
Future Board Meetings
The next GTA Board meeting will be held
on July 28, 2000 in Connecticut, possibly
at the Inn at Mystic. Pfizer will be sponsoring
this meeting. Peggy will notify everyone
as soon as the date and location are confirmed.
A motion was made, seconded, and approved to adjourn the meeting at approximately 6:01 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Geralyn L. DeVito, Secretary
Minutes of the July 28, 2000 Meeting of the GTA Board of Directors
The Genetic Toxicology Association thanks
Pfizer Inc. for their generosity in hosting
the GTA Summer 2000 Board of Directors Meeting
at their facility in Groton, Connecticut.
A special thanks goes to Peggy Guzzie and
Darlynea McCluskey for their time in arranging
the meeting and for their gracious hospitality.
The meeting was called to order by Richard
San, Chairman, at approximately 9:30 a.m.
Richard distributed the agenda for the meeting.
Members of the Board in attendance were
Dan Benz, Gerry DeVito, Peggy Guzzie, Vijay
Reddy, and Richard San. Also in attendance
were Andrea Ham (Membership Chair) and Darlynea
McCluskey (Newsletter Editor). Kerry
Dearfield was in communication by phone.
Secretary's Report
Copies of the minutes from the May 18,
2000 Board Meeting were distributed. Gerry
DeVito reviewed the highlights of the minutes
and the Board approved them. Gerry made
a suggestion that the minutes from the Business
Meetings (held during the GTA Spring and
Fall Meetings) be incorporated into the
Board Meeting minutes for those days. A
separate section could be added to include
them. The Board members approved the idea
unanimously. Dan will post the approved
minutes from today's meeting on the GTA
Web site and Darlynea will include them
in the next GTA Newsletter.
Treasurer's Report
Russ DuFrain could not attend the meeting.
No formal Treasurer's report was available
at the time of the meeting. Richard and
Darlynea did receive an e-mail from Russ
stating that the Treasury was in good shape
and we have adequate funds to move forward
with our usual expenses. Russ had asked
that someone else be the contact for the
Fall Meeting registrations since he will
be in the process of moving to Pennsylvania
around that time. Richard volunteered. Dan
and Darlynea will list Richard as the contact
for registration on the Web site and in
the Newsletter, respectively. Richard
will also work with Bob Young to prepare
the badges for the meeting. Bob still has
a copy of the software to prepare the labels.
Vijay volunteered to take over Russ' monetary
duties temporarily while Russ is relocating.
Richard subsequently received a second e-mail
message from Russ on August 3, 2000 with
the following information included. Russ
will be depositing the outstanding checks
(membership dues and meeting registrations)
in August, as he will be in Easton, MD on
the 18th to the 21st
of the month. All of the checks received
before the end of 1999 have been deposited
and the ones from the Spring meeting will
be deposited soon. He has not checked into
a GTA debit/credit card as yet. He will
see if they have a Bank of America in Pennsylvania
since he will be moving there in the near
future.
The Fall Meeting has been confirmed for
October 19, 2000 at the John M. Clayton
Hall Conference Center at the University
of Delaware in Newark, Delaware and the
hall has been reserved. Andrea will contact
the site to discuss meals and the estimated
number of attendees.
Robin Leonard will reserve the block of
rooms at the Embassy Suites for the meeting.
Newsletter
Darlynea McCluskey, Newsletter
Editor, stated that the deadline for submission
for the next GTA Newsletter was September
6, 2000 to allow ample time to mail approximately
one month prior to the Fall GTA Meeting.
Items to be included in the next Newsletter
will be the summary of the Spring Meeting,
the Board Meeting Minutes from May 18, 2000
and today's meeting, and the agenda for
the Fall Meeting.
Darlynea will send out the paper meeting
notice flyers approximately two months prior
to the Fall Meeting. Andrea will also send
a meeting notice via e-mail.
Andrea handed out individual diskettes to
the Board members with the member information
from their organizations. She asked that
they be updated and returned to her in approximately
two weeks. Kerry will review the entire
mailing list to try to narrow it down to
active members and friends.
Web Site
Dan Benz, Webmaster, will update the
announcement of the Fall Meeting on the
site. The wording of the statements describing
the "College Special" and the "Internet
Registration Special" on the Web page announcing
the upcoming Fall Meeting were reviewed
and approved by the Board.
Dan reported that over the past year the
Web site has gotten over 1000 hits.
Dan also discussed the on-line Membership
Directory. He has full permission to use
the EMS software to create an on-line GTA
Membership Directory. Dan asked Andrea for
the member information format and field
structure. Andrea noted that he could see
examples on the disk that she had given
him to review, but that she would also send
him the format information.
Membership
Andrea Ham, Membership Chair, reported
that there are currently 161 full members,
295 former members and 246 friends of GTA
on the mailing list. The list has been cut
down from about 1000 to approximately 700
at the present time. Andrea will ask Russ
for a list of the attendees for meetings
over the last three years. This list would
be useful as a source for possible Board
member candidates.
Andrea had received a request to possibly
sell our membership list to other meeting
planners but it was decided that we would
only post the announcements for meetings
of interest on our Web site (and/or the
EMS Web site) and in our Newsletter
instead.
Dan will have the paper GTA Membership
Directory printed. The revised Directory
will be available by the Fall meeting. Attending
members can pick up their copy at that meeting
and the remaining copies will be mailed
to the members following the meeting. Darlynea
will again put this information in the next
Newsletter. Dan presented a sample
of a directory, which everyone approved.
Dan stated that it would cost approximately
$500.00 for 200 directories. We agreed to
pay the extra $90.00 to have two colors
used in the printing process, blue and black.
The Directory will list members who
have paid dues during 1998 to 2000.
Andrea discussed the contents of the Directory.
The Web site information will be added to
the first page of the Directory.
Past Chairpersons, current Board members
and their years of service, the original
charter members and members emeritus will
all be listed. The write-up about the GTA
will be modified slightly and updated.
It was agreed that Dave Mallon and John
DeLuca would be made lifetime members in
acknowledgment of their years of service
to the organization.
Future GTA Meetings
Fall 2000
Peggy Guzzie and Albert Li have worked
together to plan the Fall 2000 program,
to be held Thursday October 19, 2000 at
Clayton Hall. Copies of the Agenda were
distributed to the members. The meeting
title is Alternative Metabolic Activation
Systems for Genetic Toxicology Safety Assessment.
Speakers will include David Waxman, Al Li,
John Rundell, Warren Ku and William Lijinski.
Ms. Hillary Sussman, the EMS Student Award
recipient whom the GTA sponsored to attend
the EMS Meeting in New Orleans, will present
a 15-minute talk on her Genetox work with
AZT and ENU. We discussed the ramifications
of her not presenting the same information
she had given at EMS. It was decided that
Richard would discuss this with her and
as long as the information was somehow related
to that same work, it would be acceptable.
We agreed that we would be paying Hillary's
travel expenses for this meeting.
Peggy will send out the letters to the speakers
and request their abstracts ahead of time.
Richard will forward the template of the
letter to Peggy. Peggy will also check with
John and Al to see if they would like to
exhibit at the meeting. Andrea will contact
the hall to check on an available exhibit
area.
Spring and Fall 2001
The date for the Spring Meeting is May
17, 2001 at Clayton Hall. The topic for
the Spring Meeting will be Computational
Toxicology, Informatics and SAR. The organizers
will be Gerry and Dan. Possible speakers
could be Ed Matthews, Giles Klopman, Nigel
Green, and Philip Judson. This could possibly
be a workshop type of meeting with cosponsorship
of the AGT.
Apoptosis and Cell Cycle Control is a possible
topic for the Fall Meeting. Peggy suggested
that during the Fall Meeting we could ask
members to suggest topics for future meetings
and workshops on their ballots when the
vote is taken for the new Board members.
We will be celebrating our 25th
Anniversary year in 2001. It was suggested
that we could possibly have a wine and cheese
reception with a cake, which would take
place following the last speaker of the
day at the Fall meeting.
Corporate Sponsorship
It was again discussed at this meeting
that a person from the membership be asked
to handle Corporate Sponsorships and Exhibitors.
Richard still has someone in mind to ask
and it will also be mentioned in the next
Newsletter.
University Outreach
Vijay Reddy will continue to contact
local universities to identify laboratories
that may be interested in sending an Investigator
and their student(s) to one free GTA meeting.
Andrea will give Vijay her list of contacts
at the University of Delaware. He will also
check the EMS Membership Directory
and local University Web sites.
Old Business
Dan had noticed that some of the GTA
by-laws might need to be amended by the
Directors, specifically those regarding
the length of service of Board members.
Dan distributed a copy of the GTA Certificate
of Incorporation and the GTA By-Laws.
The members agreed in a unanimous vote that
Article 5.03 should be modified to say that
Directors shall serve a term of three years
rather than the stated one year. This has
been the policy for many years now.
New Business
The list of possible candidates for
election to the Board at the next meeting
was discussed. The members came up with
seven possible nominees. Board members will
contact the possible candidates to see if
they are interested in running.
Future Board Meetings
The next GTA Board meeting will be held
on October 19, 2000 following the Fall Meeting
in Delaware. Topics to discuss at that meeting
will include the GTA Survey of Genetic
Toxicology Laboratories, Categories
of Membership in the GTA and future workshops.
A motion was made, seconded, and approved to adjourn the meeting at approximately 3:30 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Geralyn L. DeVito, Secretary
Minutes of the October 19, 2000 Meeting of the GTA Board of Directors
The meeting was held at the John M. Clayton
Hall Conference Center at the University
of Delaware in Newark, Delaware. The meeting
was called to order following the Fall GTA
Meeting at approximately 4:15 p.m.
As Chairman Richard San was rotating off
the Board, Peggy Guzzie was elected the
new Chairman. Treasurer Russ DuFrain was
also rotating off the Board but agreed,
at the request of the members, to remain
as Treasurer for another year. Kerry Dearfield
also rotated off the Board at this time.
The current Board members thank them for
their years of contributions.
Members of the Board in attendance were
Dan Benz, Gerry DeVito, Peggy Guzzie and
Vijay Reddy. Also in attendance were Andrea
Ham (Membership Chair) and Darlynea McCluskey
(Newsletter Editor). The newly elected
Board members, Anita Bigger, Greg Erexson
and Leon Stankowski were welcomed.
Secretary's Report
Copies of the minutes from the July
28, 2000 Board Meeting were distributed.
Gerry DeVito reviewed the highlights of
the minutes and the Board approved them.
Dan will post the approved minutes from
today’s meeting on the GTA Web site
and Darlynea will include them in the next
GTA Newsletter.
Treasurer's Report
Russ DuFrain gave his Treasurer’s
report during the business meeting. He explained
that there was approximately $28,000 in
the various accounts with one outstanding
bill.
He had not checked into a GTA debit/credit
card as yet. He will see if they have a
Bank of America in Pennsylvania where he
is now living or in Delaware.
The Spring Meeting has been confirmed for
May 17, 2001 at the John M. Clayton Hall
Conference Center at the University of Delaware
in Newark, Delaware and the hall has been
reserved.
Newsletter
Darlynea McCluskey, Newsletter
Editor, stated that she would be on maternity
leave during the next year so a temporary
replacement, Jennifer Sasaki, will be filling
in for her during that time.
Items to be included in the next Newsletter
will be the summary of the Fall Meeting
with the presenter’s Abstracts, the
Board Meeting Minutes from today’s
meeting, and the agenda for the Spring Meeting.
Darlynea and Andrea reported that approximately
600 flyers went out for the Fall Meeting
but they will try and cut that number down
for the next mailing by just including only
members who have paid dues at some time
since 1997.
Jennifer will send out the paper meeting
notice flyers approximately two months prior
to the Spring Meeting. Andrea will also
send a meeting notice via e-mail
a couple of weeks prior to the meeting.
The address for the membership application
in the Newsletter will be changed
back to Russ both in the Newsletter
and on the Web site.
Darlynea asked if anyone had any ideas for
new items for the Newsletter. Greg
suggested that we might include a section
called member profiles in the Newsletter,
spotlighting a particular member and their
accomplishments/contributions in the field
of Genetic Toxicology.
Web Site
Dan Benz, Web Master, talked about the
on-line registration and membership forms.
Both Darlynea and Gerry said that they had
used them and they worked very well. The
address for each of these forms will also
be changed to Russ.
Dan will create a form on the Web site so
that people can send ideas for topics for
future meetings to Gerry’s attention.
Dan discussed the on-line Membership Directory.
As he had stated at the last meeting he
has full permission to use the EMS software
to create an on-line GTA Membership Directory.
Dan will be setting it up shortly. Dan will
talk with Andrea about the member information
format and field structure.
Membership
Andrea Ham, Membership Chair, reported
that there are currently approximately 170
full members of GTA on the mailing list.
The list had been cut down from about 1000
to approximately 700 but Andrea would like
to pare the list down even further. Andrea
will ask Russ for a list of the attendees
for meetings over the last three years.
Dan had the paper GTA Membership Directory
printed and the revised directory was distributed
to attending members at today’s meeting.
Andrea will mail the remaining copies to
the members not in attendance. Everyone
seemed pleased at the quality and appearance
of the brochures and thanked Dan and Andrea
for their efforts.
Future GTA Meetings
Fall 2000
Everyone agreed that Peggy Guzzie and
Albert Li did a great job planning and chairing
the Fall 2000 program. The meeting title
was Alternative Metabolic Activation
Systems for Genetic Toxicology Safety Assessment.
Speakers included David Waxman, Al Li, John
Rundell, Warren Ku and William Lijinski.
Ms. Hillary Sussman, the EMS Student Award
recipient whom the GTA sponsored to attend
the EMS Meeting in New Orleans gave her
presentation.
John Rundell and Al Li’s companies
each had exhibits at the meeting.
Spring and Fall 2001
The date for the Spring Meeting is May
17, 2001 at Clayton Hall. The topic for
the Spring Meeting will be Computational
Toxicology, Informatics and SAR. The organizers
are Gerry and Dan. Dan presented a draft
agenda but it was decided that some major
changes need to be done so as to gear the
meeting more towards the core needs of our
membership. Dan will revise the agenda in
consultation with Gerry and distribute it
for Board review.
The date for the Fall Meeting is October
18, 2001. DNA Damage and Repair, Apoptosis
and Cell Cycle Control are possible topics.
The organizers will be Vijay and Anita.
We will be celebrating our 25th
Anniversary year in 2001. We will plan to
have a wine and cheese reception with a
cake following the last speaker of the day
at the Fall meeting. Russ will check on
the availability of a larger room(s) at
Clayton Hall for this event.
Corporate Sponsorship
It was again discussed at this meeting
that a person from the membership be asked
to handle Corporate Sponsorships and Exhibitors.
We decided that this is not necessary at
this time.
University Outreach
Vijay Reddy is continuing to contact
local universities to identify laboratories
that may be interested in sending an Investigator
and their student(s) to one free GTA meeting.
The Board decided to lower the registration
fee for students to $20.00 for all future
meetings.
New Business
The deadline for application for the
EMS Student Awards is November. It was agreed
that we would again sponsor a selected student
from our geographical area to attend the
EMS Meeting in San Diego, CA. The award
amount will be $1000. Peggy will contact
Bob Young about sponsoring the Student Reception
at that meeting as well.
Future Board Meetings
The next GTA Board meeting will be held
on February 2, 2001 in the Washington, D.C.
area. Covance (Greg Erexson) will sponsor
this meeting.
A motion was made, seconded, and approved to adjourn the meeting at approximately 6:15 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Geralyn L. DeVito, Secretary