MINUTES OF THE RENAL PATHOLOGY SOCIETY BUSINESS MEETING

The Renal Pathology Society (RPS) held a business meeting on Sunday evening, November 2, 1997 during the annual meeting of the ASN in San Antonio, Texas

Dr. Cohen called the meeting to order. Approximately 60 members were in attendance.

Dr. Cohen, remarked on the excellence and the timeliness of presentations at the Scientific Symposium held in the morning. Dr. Cynthia Nast moderated the session "Chronic Renal Allograft Rejection" with presentations by Dr. Leendert C. Paul (Pathogenetic Considerations), Dr. Hallgrimur Benediktsson (Pathologic Features), and Dr. Bertram L. Kasiske (Clinical Aspects, Risk Factors, and Therapy). It was noted that while the session was well attended by renal pathologists, there was a marked decline in the attendance by nephrologists. It was thought that this was due to the lack of publicity about the session now that the meeting is not held jointly with the NKF and the RPS session was not listed in the regular program. Several suggestions were made as to ways more ASN members could be made aware of this session in the future. Charlie Alpers, who is on the Program Committee for the next ASN Annual Meeting, said that he would be actively exploring ways that would allow improved publicity.

Dr. Cohen noted, also, that the Young Investigator Award had been presented during the morning session to Hitrendra S. Jethwa for his work "Variable region gene selection in murine anti-myleoperoxidase (MPO) autoantibodies" done in the laboratory of Charles Jennette.

Dr. Cohen accepted the minutes of the prior meeting as circulated and called on the Secretary-Treasurer and Committee Chairs for reports.

Dr. Jennette, Secretary-Treasurer and Chair of the Auditing Committee announced that the Society had been granted status as exempt from federal income tax under section 501(a) of the Internal Revenue Code as an organization described in section 502 (c) (3). He stated that expenditures since the last meeting had gone to completion of the tax exemption, awards and RPS functions. Revenue came primarily from dues. It was noted that money from Barnert Hospital that had been placed into a money market account should have accrued sufficient interest by February to cover the Churg Award as was the intent of the donors. Dr. Rennke raised the question of the adequacy of funds when services now being provided gratis by Dr. Jennette’s staff had to be paid. Dr. Jennette thought the dues would be adequate to pay for the current level of activity either by a part time person or by an agency that specializes in handling small non profit accounts. These options will be investigated prior to the end of his term. He did note that postage and some supplies were being purchased with RPS funds already.

Dr. Mel Schwartz, Member of the Membership Committee in the absence of the Chair, reported that 13 candidates for membership would be recommended to the Board of Directors for acceptance.* He commented that the Committee was pleased with the broad experience of the applicants.

Dr. D’Agati, Chair of the Nominating and Awards Committee, reported the committee was nominating Seymour Rosen for Vice-President/President Elect and Agnes Fogo and Jan Bruijn for the vacant Councillor position. There were no nominations from the floor.

Dr. Cynthia Nast, Chair of the Education and Scientific Meetings Committee, said the committee would be continuing to explore ways to increase awareness of the Scientific Symposiums at the ASN. She announced that the Companion Meeting at the USCAP in 1998 would be a combined presentation with the Binford-Dammin( Infectious Diseases) Society. She and Sylvana Tuur-Saunders will moderate the session " Viruses and the Kidney" that will include talks by Tibor Nadasdy (RPS) Epstein-Barr Virus, Sherif Zaki (BDS) Hemorrhagic Diseases, Roger Smith CMV and BK Virus, and Marshall Horowitz (BDS) Adenovirus Immunoregulatory Genes and Their Role in Islet-Cell Transplantation, Autoimmunity and Viral Vector Design. This will be the first joint presentation and depending on how well it is received more may be planned in the future. Dr Cohen and others commented on the need for the RPS to maintain its identity by also continuing to be the sole sponsor of sessions.

Dr. Herrera, Chair of the Training Programs Committee, reported that the committee has updated the information that was collected previously. There are 11 training programs (10 with 1 position, 1 with 3). A list of the programs will be distributed to members in the spring. If there are training programs that have not been contacted by his committee, he would like to hear about them so the list will be as complete as possible. There was a discussion of future needs to maintain and improve the specialty. One suggestion was to poll former trainees to determine the extent they are using their training in their present positions. Dr. Rosen said that he was recommending that trainees maintain flexibilty so they will have several strengths. Dr Rennke thought there would be fewer renal pathologists in more centralized locations in the future.

Dr. Samy Iskandar, Chair of the Communications and Publications Committee, stated that the collection and correction of e-mail addresses continues again urging members to let the RPS know as they get or change their e-mail addresses. This can be accomplished by sending e-mail to Dr Jennette (jcj@med.unc.edu) with a cc: to Dr. Iskandar (iskandar@bgsm.edu) or by noting any changes on forms to be returned to RPS.

Dr Cohen called on Dr. Fogo, to report on the short course she developed for the ASN meeting. She praised the members of the Renal Pathology Society who gave their time to man the microscope room. The response was favorable but it was noted that there were some times with few nephrologists. It was suggested that the microscope room might be open at other times to attract more nephrologists. Other suggestions included better publicity of where the room was and when it would be open. Dr Jennette stressed the need for the ASN to be aware that it is the Society that is supporting this course.

Dr. Cohen recognized Dr. Peter Kolbeck , a pathologist from Sacramento CA, to make known his experience during a recent laboratory inspection. Dr. Kolbeck reported that his laboratory had been cited for failing to provide adequate controls for the immunofluorescence microscopy performed in his laboratory. The inspectors said that positive control tissue must be evaluated for each antibody with each batch of renal biopsy specimens. Several members commented on the controls used in their labs. Dr. Rennke thought that it would be necessary to develop an artificial substrate that could be used as control in place of the human tissue that is being used now. Dr. Croker, who does inspections for CAP, said that the internal controls that have been accepted in the past may no longer be judged adequate in the future. Dr Cohen appointed Drs Kolbeck, Rennke and Croker to study this issue and report to the group at some future meeting.

The Business Meeting was adjourned and the members were invited to the RPS Reception in the adjoining room.

*At the Executive Board Meeting the following new members were accepted: Sharon G. Adler, M.D., Lois J. Arend, M.D., George A. Bannayan, M.D., Medhat O. Hassan, MBBh, PhD, Michael D. Hughson, M.D., Kensuke Joh, M.D., Julian I. Joseph, M.D., Luiz Moura, M.D., Lydia Nakopoulou, M.D., Charles R. Nolan, M.D., Nestor M. Pakasa, M.D., Luis Salinas-Madrigal, M.D., X. Joseph Zhou, M.D.