Minutes of the February 21, 2003 Meeting of the GTA Board of Directors
The Board of Directors of the Genetic Toxicology
Association held their Winter Board meeting
at BioReliance in Rockville, Maryland on
February 21, 2003. The Board wishes to thank
Skip Wagner and everyone at BioReliance
for their gracious hospitality in hosting
the meeting.
Members of the Board in attendance at the
meeting were Anita Bigger (Chairperson),
Devaraya Jagannath, Greg Erexson, Laura
Schild, Leon Stankowski and Skip Wagner.
Dan Benz (Webmaster) and Gerry DeVito (Secretary)
were also in attendance. Krista Dobo (Board
member), Russ DuFrain (Treasurer), Andrea
Ham (Membership Chair) and Darlynea McCluskey
(Newsletter Editor) were unable to
attend. The meeting came to order at approximately
9:30 a.m. Anita Bigger had provided the
agenda for the meeting.
Secretary's Report
Gerry DeVito reviewed the highlights
of the minutes from the previous meeting
and the action items for today's meeting.
The major items for today's meeting were
to elect a new Treasurer, select a student
travel award recipient to the 2003 EMS meeting
and finalize the agenda for the spring meeting.
The minutes were approved on the motion
of Anita, seconded by Jag. Dan will post
the approved minutes from today's meeting
on the GTA Website, and Darlynea will include
them in the next GTA Newsletter.
Treasurer's Report
Russ DuFrain stated in an e-mail to
Anita that our 2 CDs totaling ~$27,000 will
be coming due in April of this year. He
also had indicated by phone that he was
in the process of making payments to the
Speakers from the Fall Meeting for their
expenses. Russ had recently indicated that
he would like to retire from the position
he has held for the past 5 years.
The Board unanimously elected Greg Erexson
as the new treasurer and Leon Stankowski
as his backup. The Board thanked them for
accepting these positions. Greg will be
in contact with Russ shortly to arrange
for the transfer of monies and responsibilities.
The Board sincerely thanks Russ for all
of his years of dedicated service to the
GTA as Treasurer and will recognize him
at the spring meeting.
Newsletter
Gerry reported that Darlynea McCluskey
(Newsletter Editor) has requested
that she receive all items for the Newsletter
by the first week in March. She also said
that the Flyers for the upcoming spring
meeting would be mailed around the same
time as the Newsletter due to the
early meeting date, April versus May. Our
publication date and meeting date are pushed
forward because of the scheduling of the
meeting to accommodate the EMS meeting in
May. Anita will send Dar the agenda for
the spring meeting and her letter from the
chair as soon as possible. Greg will check
to see if a member profile can be prepared
in time for this edition or if it will be
postponed until the fall. Possible subjects
might be David Brusick or Mike Prival. Dan
requested that Dar send him any photos she
might have for the Web site.
Web Site
Dan Benz, Webmaster, will post the meeting
agenda and registration information on the
Website now that the new Treasurer has been
named. Registrations will be sent to Greg.
The publication advertisement we had posted
will be removed since the offer it described
has expired. Dan will check that the updated
membership dues amount is correctly listed
on the Web.
Membership
Andrea Ham, Membership Chair, needs
to send Dan the new database for the on-line
Membership Directory.
Future GTA Meetings
Spring 2003
Anita Bigger and Laura Schild are the
co-chairs of this meeting, which will be
held on Wednesday April 23, 2003 at the
Clayton Hall Conference Center at the University
of Delaware. The agenda is "Hot Topics in
Genetic Toxicology." Speakers Barbara Parsons,
Vasily Dobrovolsky, Jim MacGregor, Jiri
Aubrecht, Lucy Anderson and Ofelia Olivero
have all confirmed their participation.
Anita and Laura indicated that the speaker
expenses for this meeting should be minimal.
Anita contacted a coworker of Jan O'Neill,
the conference manager at the University
of Delaware, during the meeting to discuss
the payment of a retainer fee of $500 and
our contract with them for the Spring Meeting.
Anita will forward the contract to Greg
when she receives it. The Board also decided
on the buffet menu items for the luncheon
that day.
Anita told us that Vijay has selected Casarett
and Doull's "The Basic Science of Poisons"
as his book choice. Dan will purchase the
book and prepare the inscription to be signed
by us at the spring meeting. Anita will
make the presentation to Vijay at the meeting
as an acknowledgement of his service as
Chairperson.
The possibility of storing poster boards
at the Clayton Hall facilities and allowing
them to use them during the year for other
conferences, will be tabled until the next
meeting since we will not have exhibitors
or posters at the Spring Meeting. We may
hold a poster session at the Fall Meeting
if this arrangement is acceptable to the
University.
Fall 2003
Jag and Greg will co-chair the Fall
Scientific Meeting this year. Jag suggested
the topic of Regulatory Sciences of Veterinary
Medicine with speakers from CVM possibly
discussing the VICH Harmonization and the
Guidelines which have been approved by the
US, Europe, Japan and Australia. Topics
included could be antimicrobial issues,
biotechnology, human safety and alternatives
to animal testing as they relate to veterinary
products.
GTA Sponsored Meeting
Dan updated us on the GTA/AGT sponsored
meeting on "Informatics and Computational
Toxicology" that he and Jennifer Sasaki
are planning. It will be held Tuesday and
Wednesday, June 3 & 4, 2003 in the Washington
D.C. area. The cost will be $50 for one
day and $90 for both days for GTA and AGT
members who register in advance. Between
6 and 8 companies have agreed to participate.
Dan will forward the agenda to Darlynea
for inclusion in the Newsletter.
It will be advertised through GTA, AGT and
the NCAC/SOT and registrations will be possible
through the GTA and AGT Web sites.
University Outreach
Skip Wagner presented an update of his
University Outreach efforts. He distributed
his growing list of Universities that include
106 contacts to whom Skip will be sending
the upcoming meeting agenda. Skip will continue
to identify faculty members as contacts
at 35 additional institutions. The Board
members all agreed that Skip has done a
stellar job in gathering this information.
EMS Student Reception and Travel Award
Krista Dobo sent updates with Gerry
for both the Student Travel Award and Reception
sponsorships. Krista had contacted Bill
Morgan who is managing EMS travel awards
for 2003. Krista sent along the abstracts
from the selected EMS Student Travel Award
candidates from the east coast area. The
GTA Board members reviewed them and selected
an award recipient. He is Larry Arthur of
the University of Maryland in Baltimore.
The title of his abstract is "Biochemical
effects of 'clustered' damage on the Mre11
nuclease." He will be presented with a $1000
travel award from the GTA during the award
ceremony at the EMS meeting in Florida and
will present his work at the Fall Meeting
of the GTA.
Krista will contact Tonia Masson (of the
EMS management firm) with our selection.
Greg will make sure that EMS has been sent
the $500 donation to support the student
reception. As stated previously, sponsors
will be recognized this year for supporting
individual events. This will be done in
the on-site program and with signs outside
of the respective rooms.
Krista spoke with Jonathon Ward, who is
in charge of organizing the student reception,
about having a representative from GTA (most
likely Anita) speak at the reception this
year regarding the GTA. He was receptive
but said it would depend on the final format
of the program. He will get back to Krista
after discussing it with David Eastmond.
We will discuss this further at the April
Board meeting.
Future Board Meetings
The Summer Board Meeting may be held
at Pfizer Inc. sometime in late July or
early August 2003. Gerry will confirm this
and check possible dates with her management
at Pfizer.
The meeting was adjourned at approximately 1:00 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Geralyn L. DeVito, Secretary
Minutes of the April 23, 2003 Meeting of the GTA Board of Directors
The Board of Directors of the Genetic Toxicology
Association met following the Spring 2003
GTA Scientific Meeting at the John M. Clayton
Hall Conference Center at the University
of Delaware in Newark, DE held on April
23, 2003.
Members of the Board in attendance at the
meeting were Anita Bigger, Greg Erexson,
Leon Stankowski, Skip Wagner, Devaraya Jagannath
and Laura Schild. Dan Benz (Webmaster) and
Darlynea McCluskey (Newsletter Editor)
were also in attendance. Krista Dobo, Andrea
Ham (Membership Chair) and Gerry DeVito
(Secretary) were unable to attend. The meeting
came to order at approximately 4:15 p.m.
Anita provided the agenda for the meeting.
Web Site
Dan Benz, Webmaster, requested that
he report first since he could not stay
for the entire Board meeting. Dan informed
us that he is no longer the Webmaster for
the EMS Website but that he is still willing
to update and maintain the GTA Website.
He requested pictures from Darlynea for
the Website.
Dan thanked Greg for handling the treasury
and organizing the registrations and badges
for today's meeting. He also said he appreciated
getting all of the meeting abstracts in
advance of today's meeting so that he could
post them on our site.
Regarding the GTA/AGT co-sponsored Informatics
and Computational Toxicology meeting to
be held in June, Dan stated that the GTA
will not lose money. He provided a budget
statement which indicated an approximate
income from the meeting. Dan solicited for
a volunteer or two to help out on the meeting
days. Dan also thanked Darlynea for getting
the information about this meeting into
the GTA Newsletter with short notice.
Dan will need to be reimbursed for the cost
of meeting brochures as well as the purchase
of Vijay Reddy's book choice (outgoing Chair).
Secretary's Report
Gerry DeVito (Secretary ) was not able
to attend today's meeting. Darlynea McCluskey
reviewed the highlights of the minutes from
the previous meeting. The major item for
today's meeting was discussion of plans
for the Fall Meeting in 2003. The minutes
were approved on the motion of Anita, seconded
by Greg. Dan will post the approved minutes
from today's meeting on the GTA Website,
and Darlynea will include them in the next
GTA Newsletter.
Treasurer's Report
Greg Erexson detailed the finances of
the GTA as of April 23, 2003 at today's
Business Meeting. Greg stated that the Treasury
has a total of $29,572.54. Current balances
are: Checking $2204.11, Savings $11,013.98,
and 1 CD totaling $16,403.00. Greg also
opened a new no fee Wachovia business checking
account with a balance of $2,313.00. This
account will include a debit card. Today's
meeting expenses totaled $3,361.55 to the
University of Delaware. Speaker expenses
have not been calculated yet. Income was
~$1,247.00 from today's meeting registrations,
dues payments and commemorative mug sales.
Greg indicated that all but one Fall 2002
meeting speaker had been reimbursed for
travel expenses and that he would work to
finalize the last speaker's expenses.
There was discussion centered around whether
or not to bill the meeting registrants who
registered for today's meeting on-line but
did not show up and did not pay 1/2 the
registration fee as clearly stated in the
GTA Newsletter and on the Website.
It was decided that Greg would draft a letter
to be sent to the individuals who did not
pay the fee (7 total).
Greg contacted Jan O'Neill, the conference
manager at the University of Delaware about
the possibility of storing poster boards
that we would purchase at the Clayton Hall
facilities, allowing them to use the boards
during the year for other conferences. Jan
said that the University does not have a
place to store such boards. Greg looked
into the cost of renting poster boards and
was quoted $80 per 2-sided board ($400 for
10 boards; includes delivery/setup?). The
Board agreed that renting poster boards
would be acceptable. Greg will follow up
on renting boards for the Fall GTA meeting.
Newsletter
Darlynea McCluskey (Newsletter
Editor) had no updates regarding the Newsletter
at this time.
Membership
Andrea Ham (Membership Chair) was not
able to attend today's meeting. Anita stated
that Andrea did send Dan a member directory
update. Greg will send Andrea an update
on renewed memberships and new members.
GTA Meetings
Spring 2003
Everyone agreed that Anita Bigger and
Laura Schild hosted a successful Spring
meeting. Greg indicated that were a total
of 74 meeting attendees.
Fall 2003
Devaraya Jagannath and Greg Erexson
will chair this meeting to be held on Thursday,
October 23. The meeting title has not been
decided as of yet but Jag is working towards
having a speaker from each of the four Centers
of the FDA to give talks about what each
Center requires for regulatory submissions.
In addition, there will be a poster session
and vendor displays. The GTA Student Travel
Award recipient (L. Matt Arthur) will also
give a talk at our fall meeting.
The Board agreed to a buffet luncheon again
and decided that the lunch break would be
shortened to one hour since the buffet luncheon
is quicker than the sit-down luncheon we
had in the past.
Greg will secure October 23, 2003 as the
date of our Fall meeting with Jan O'Neill
at Clayton Hall.
University Outreach
Skip Wagner provided a comprehensive
overview of his outreach efforts at today's
business meeting. He has contacted over
100 institutions. Skip also indicated that
he had received a request from a professor
at the University of Delaware asking if
he could make a presentation. There was
discussion around how to handle this request.
Leon suggested we invite him to the Fall
meeting and have him display a poster even
though the subject matter may not be "theme"
appropriate. Skip suggested that we might
set aside time during Spring meetings for
such requests in the future.
Greg will give Skip a copy of the names
of students who attend our meetings.
EMS Student Reception and Travel Award
Krista Dobo sent updates with Darlynea
McCluskey for both the EMS Student Reception
and GTA Travel Award Presentation.
Darlynea stated that Krista had been in
touch with the organizers of the EMS student
reception and asked if someone could speak
about GTA and also if we could have some
GTA materials handed out. The organizers
said that Anita was going to speak at the
reception and that a table would be set
up where we could place some GTA materials.
Darlynea asked for confirmation from Anita
about her talk and asked if Anita would
introduce the GTA. Anita said she would
do an introduction at the end of her talk.
There was discussion about having someone
man the table where GTA brochures would
be set out and the decision was made not
to have anyone there. Greg will ask Andrea
if she has any brochures that Greg can bring
for the table and Anita will ask Dan if
he has any.
Darlynea stated that Krista will forward
the GTA Travel Award certificate to Anita
for her signature after she receives it
from Tonia Masson this week. Krista requested
that Anita bring the certificate to the
EMS meeting and Greg bring the $1000 check
since Krista will not be attending (Anita
and Greg agreed to do this).
New Business
There was discussion about presenting
Russ DuFrain with a gift of appreciation
for his service as Treasurer to the GTA.
Future Board Meetings
The Summer Board Meeting may be held
at Pfizer in Groton, CT but no final word
had been received yet from Gerry regarding
this option. Anita discussed possibly having
the meeting at the FDA. Possible dates for
the Board Meeting are Friday, July 18 or
Friday, July 25 (Greg would not be able
to attend if the date is July 25).
The meeting was adjourned, on the motion of Anita seconded by Greg, at approximately 6 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Darlynea McCluskey for Geralyn L. DeVito,
Secretary
Minutes of the July 18, 2003 Meeting of the GTA Board of Directors
The Board of Directors of the Genetic Toxicology
Association met at Pfizer Inc. in Groton,
Connecticut on July 18, 2003. The members
thank our Pfizer colleagues for planning
the meeting and for their gracious hospitality.
Members of the Board in attendance at the
meeting were Anita Bigger (Chair), Krista
Dobo, Devaraya Jagannath and Skip Wagner.
Gerry DeVito (Secretary), Andrea Ham (Membership
Chair) and Darlynea McCluskey (Newsletter
Editor) were also in attendance. Dan Benz
(Webmaster), Greg Erexson (Treasurer), and
Board members Laura Schild and Leon Stankowski
were unable to attend. The meeting came
to order at approximately 9:15 a.m. Anita
provided the agenda for the meeting.
Secretary's Report
Gerry DeVito reviewed the highlights
of the minutes from the previous meeting
and the action items for today's meeting.
The major item to be accomplished today
was the finalization of the plans for the
upcoming Fall meeting. Nominations for the
Fall Board election would also need to be
discussed. The minutes were approved on
the motion of Anita, seconded by Skip. Dan
will post the approved minutes from today's
meeting on the GTA Website, and Darlynea
will include them in the next GTA Newsletter.
Treasurer's Report
Greg Erexson sent his Treasurer's Report
on the finances of the GTA as of July 18,
2003. The accounts have been moved to Wachovia.
Current balances are: Checking Account $12,751.28,
Money Market Account $25,041.56 and an outstanding
BB&T checking account balance of ~$143.00
not included in the total balance of $37,792.84.
The total liquid asset balance is $32,054.24
subtracting the catering invoice from the
Informatics and Computational Toxicology
Symposia, which has not yet been received,
and the Association of Government Toxicologists
(AGT) split from that meeting. The Spring
meeting expenses were $3,311.55 to the University
of Delaware and $564.13 for speakers for
a total of $3,875.68. Other expenses were
the $220 incorporation fees for 2003 and
$1,500.00 for the student support at the
EMS meeting. The costs for the Informatics
and Computational Toxicology Symposium
were $3,667.27. Income was $6,852.73 from
the meeting to be split with the AGT for
a total of $3,426.36 for the GTA. A $475.00
deposit was also paid to the University
of Delaware for the October 23, 2003 Fall
meeting.
Greg thanked Dan in his e-mail message,
stating that the Informatics Meeting he
was responsible for was a huge financial
success.
Greg stated that he had contacted Jan and
Mary at the University of Delaware about
the possibility of storing our purchased
poster boards at the Clayton Hall facilities.
He said that they would not be able to accommodate
the storage of the boards. Rental of the
boards is possible at ~$100.00 for a two
sided corkboard. This price includes transportation
from Philadelphia. We plan to have a poster
session at the Fall Meeting 2003 so we decided
to rent 5 boards, costing about $500.00
and will allow for 10 posters. Greg will
see if this meets the minimum rental requirements
from the company.
Newsletter
Darlynea McCluskey (Newsletter
Editor) discussed the dates for submissions
to and mailings of the next Newsletter.
The deadline date for additions to the Newsletter
will be September 1, 2003.
She will need to have the final agenda for
the Fall meeting by August 18 so as to send
out the meeting flyers in a timely fashion.
Items to be included in the Fall Newsletter
will include the agenda for the Fall meeting,
the minutes from today's Board meeting,
the Letter from the Chair and a Member profile.
Possible member profiles are Ceinwen Schreiner
or Steve Haworth. Greg will contact them.
Web Site
Dan Benz, Webmaster, was unable to attend.
In an e-mail message, Dan stated that the
minutes from the last meeting of the Board
are now posted and asked that we send him
the minutes from this summer meeting when
possible. He will post all the details for
the Fall 2003 meeting as soon as the program
is closer to being final. He looks forward
to getting abstracts from the October meeting's
speakers as soon as practical and as always,
any new ideas for the GTA Website would
be very much appreciated.
He also discussed the Informatics and
Computational Toxicology Meeting, which
was held on June 3 & 4, 2003 and was
cosponsored by the GTA and AGT. Dan said
that the meeting appeared to be successful
with 77 people (total, all categories) attending
the first day of the meeting and 69 attending
the second day. There were 59 paid attendees,
including one representative each from the
Humane Society and PETA. Dan wrote that
the profit to GTA and AGT may be as much
as $2000 each (still waiting for the bill
from the caterer the last he had spoken
to Greg). NLM provided the meeting space
free and expenses for speakers' travel,
etc. was $0, so food and brochure
printing/mailing were the only expenses.
The total income was $10,310.00.
Membership
Andrea Ham, Membership Chair stated
that the current membership includes 3 Emeritus,
256 Friends, 244 Full Current, 7 Students
and 278 Former (have not paid dues in the
last three years). Dan and Andrea have updated
the On-line Directory. Andrea said that
she and Greg need to set up a system to
routinely update the Membership Directory
with new member information as well as changes
to the information for existing members,
which are received through meeting registrations.
Andrea also mentioned that the amount we
have been charging for the posting of advertisements
on our Website seemed to be in line with
other organizations.
GTA Meetings
Fall 2003
Devaraya Jagannath and Greg Erexson
are responsible for the Fall meeting, which
will take place on October 23, 2003 at Clayton
Hall. The title of the meeting is "Regulatory
Requirements of FDA's Product Centers."
Representative speakers will be from CFSAN,
CDRH, CBER, CVM and CDER. Jag will confirm
titles with the speakers, requesting the
abstracts of their talks, information for
a short introduction and asking if they
will need us to make travel arrangements
for them. Greg will be asked to handle any
necessary travel arrangements.
Posters will be solicited in the flyer and
Newsletter and personally by board
members. The first 10 to respond will be
included in the meeting. Greg will arrange
for the rented poster boards to be shipped.
The on-line registration deadline for the
meeting will be October 16, 2003.
Andrea will plan the dinner with the speakers
held the evening prior to the meeting.
Possible exhibitors are MD Biotech, MolTox,
Loats and Protocol. Skip will contact MolTox
and Dar will contact MD Biotech. Greg will
arrange for tables for the exhibitors as
needed from the University.
The menu for the meeting was decided on
and Gerry will forward the choices to Greg.
Anita will contact Russ to find his choice
for a book, which we are planning to present
to him at the Fall meeting.
Spring 2004
Krista Dobo and one of the new board
members to be elected this Fall will chair
this meeting. Possible topics are Impurities,
Carcinogenicity follow-up studies or Toxicogenomics,
Proteomics, etc. A May 6, 2004 date
for this meeting was discussed. Greg will
check the availability of this date with
Clayton Hall.
University Outreach
Skip handed out his updated and very
impressive list of 150 universities with
137 respective contact persons within the
150-mile radius of Newark, Delaware. He
will be sending out e-mails to each of them
informing them of the upcoming meeting and
the request for poster presentations.
EMS Student Reception and Travel Award
Krista has the responsibility for the
GTA sponsorships. We will again sponsor
a Student Travel Award recipient and the
Student Reception and Poster Session in
2004. Since the 2004 EMS meeting is not
until the fall we will table further discussion
until early next year.
Elections
Anita, Greg and Leon Stankowski will
be rotating off of the board this Fall,
although Greg has agreed to stay on as Treasurer.
Thank you very much Greg. Elections will
be held during the Fall Business meeting.
Possible nominees for the three open board
positions were discussed. Dan will bring
the paper ballots for writing in your choices.
Future Board Meetings
The Fall Board meeting will be held
immediately following the Fall GTA Meeting
on October 23, 2003 at John M. Clayton Hall
Conference Center at the University of Delaware
in Newark, DE.
The meeting was adjourned, on the motion of Krista seconded by Jag, at approximately 1:45 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Geralyn L. DeVito, Secretary
Minutes of the October 23, 2003 Meeting of the GTA Board of Directors
The Board of Directors of the Genetic Toxicology
Association met following the Fall 2003
GTA Scientific Meeting at the John M. Clayton
Hall Conference Center at the University
of Delaware in Newark, DE held on October
23, 2003.
Members of the Board in attendance at the
meeting were Krista Dobo, Devaraya Jagannath
and Skip Wagner. Gerry DeVito (Secretary),
Greg Erexson (Treasurer), and Andrea Ham
(Membership Chair) were also in attendance.
Dan Benz (Webmaster), Darlynea McCluskey
(Newsletter Editor) and Board member
Laura Schild were unable to attend. The
group welcomed the three newly elected Board
members, Maria Donner, Dan Levy, and Joe
(Haizhou) Zhang. The meeting came to order
at 4:30 p.m. Anita Bigger (outgoing Chair)
provided the agenda for the meeting. The
Board members elected Skip Wagner as the
new Chairperson.
Secretary's Report
Gerry DeVito reviewed the highlights
of the minutes from the previous meeting
and the action items for today's meeting.
The major items to be accomplished today
were the election of the new chair and initial
plans for the Spring meeting. The minutes
were approved on the motion of Krista, seconded
by Skip. Dan will post the approved minutes
from today's meeting on the GTA Website,
and Darlynea will include them in the next
GTA Newsletter.
Treasurer's Report
Greg Erexson presented his Treasurer's
Report on the finances of the GTA as of
October 23, 2003 at the Business meeting.
Current balances are: Wachovia Business
Checking Account $6686.35, Wachovia Money
Market Account $25,099.23 and an outstanding
BB&T checking account balance of ~$143.00
not included in the total balance of $31,785.58.
The estimated Fall meeting expenses are
$3785.45 to the University of Delaware and
~$815 for speaker expenses, $500 for poster
boards and $37.69 for name badges for a
total of $5138.14. The projected Fall meeting
registration income is $4785.00 with approximately
87 paid attendees (77 pre-registered, 9
no shows (7-8 paid) and 11 walk-ins). Greg
will speak with Dan concerning possibly
changing the wording on the on-line registration
form to clarify the responsibility for payment
for no-shows.
Andrea suggested that we might be able to
borrow poster boards for future meetings
from AI DuPont Hospital. She will look into
this option. We would need to determine
how to get them delivered to the Conference
Center.
It was agreed by the Board that we would
purchase a bookstore gift certificate for
$100 to be sent as a thank you from the
GTA membership to Russ DuFrain. Russ dutifully
served the GTA for many years as treasurer.
Skip will purchase the certificate and Greg
will send him Russ's address so that he
can send it on to Russ.
Newsletter
Darlynea McCluskey (Newsletter
Editor) was unable to attend the meeting.
The Board thanks Dar for a great job on
the Fall Newsletter and Pfizer for
supporting the printing and mailing. The
Member profile and Personal Information
section from the membership were briefly
discussed. A member to be profiled might
be Ceinwen Schreiner. Greg will attempt
to contact her.
Web Site
Dan Benz, Webmaster, was unable to attend
the board meeting but gave an update during
the Business meeting. Dan stated that the
EMS Website was using a new server and revisions
to that site will be forthcoming. He asked
for any new ideas for the GTA Website.
Membership
Andrea Ham, Membership Chair stated
that the current active membership was 205
persons. Andrea will continue to keep track
of who attended meetings and who paid dues
and all checks will be sent to Greg. A discussion
of the official address for the GTA took
place. It was agreed that Andrea would maintain
the mailbox, which will be paid for by the
GTA at a cost of $360 per year. This motion
was made by Maria and seconded by Dan L.
This address will be used for all paper
registrations and dues payments.
GTA Meetings
Fall 2003
Devaraya Jagannath and Greg Erexson
were responsible for today's successful
meeting, entitled "Regulatory Requirements
of FDA's Product Centers". Representative
speakers from CFSAN, CDRH, CBER, CVM and
CDER gave informative presentations about
each Center. Five posters were also presented.
Exhibitors were MD Biotech and MolTox.
Spring 2004
Krista Dobo and Joe (Haizhou) Zhang
will co-chair the Spring meeting. Possible
topics discussed were Impurities –
Drugs, Food, Environment; Epigenetic Mechanisms;
Carcinogenicity follow-up studies such as
SHE, Transgenics, conditional models –
Tumor regression; or Toxicogenomics, Proteomics,
etc. The consensus moved toward the
topic of "Challenges of Predicting Carcinogenicity"
and this will be discussed further at the
Winter board meeting. Greg confirmed the
May 6, 2004 date for this meeting with Clayton
Hall.
University Outreach
Skip presented his updated list of over
150 universities and their respective contact
persons within a 150-mile radius of Newark,
Delaware at the Business meeting. Dan Levy
will assume this role in the future with
guidance from Skip. Maria Donner offered
to check her University of Delaware and
EMS contacts to solicit possible additional
interest in our meetings from academia.
EMS Student Reception and Travel Award
Krista Dobo gave an update at the Business
meeting. We will again sponsor a Student
Travel Award recipient and the Student Reception
and Poster Session in 2004. She also asked
the membership to submit ideas for possible
future meeting topics. Maria will now assume
the responsibility for the GTA sponsorships
with guidance from Krista. Since the 2004
EMS meeting is not until the fall we tabled
further discussion until next year.
Elections
Anita, Greg and Leon Stankowski rotated
off the board today, although Greg has agreed
to stay on as treasurer. The GTA membership
thanked Greg with a round of applause at
the Business meeting. The election was held
during the Business meeting. Maria Donner
of DuPont, Joe (Haizhou) Zhang from Covance,
and Dan Levy from the FDA were elected to
the Board by the attending GTA membership.
Thank you to Les Reccio for also running.
Future Board Meetings
The Winter Board meeting will be held
at Covance in Vienna, VA on February 13,
2004.
The meeting was adjourned, on the motion of Dan L. seconded by Skip, at 6:40 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Geralyn L. DeVito, Secretary