Dr. Colvin remarked that the Companion Meeting was terrific then lauded the Education and Scientific Meetings Committee for the usefulness of the combined meeting format that allowed for new information to be presented to both groups. The session held Sunday morning with the Binford-Dammin (Infectious Diseases) Society was moderated by Cynthia Nast and Sylvana Tuur-Saunders. Titled "Viruses and the Kidney" it included 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.

Dr. Colvin 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 reported on the financial status. He stated that the Society continues to improve its financial reserves with $19,000 in a money market account in addition to the general balance of $7,144.65. Major expenditures since the previous meeting included the payment for the RPS functions at the ASN Meeting and the Young Investigator Award.

Dr. Magil, in the absence of the Chair of the Membership Committee, reported that the 4 new candidates and 1 former member who were recommended for membership at the Board of Directors meeting were accepted. The following were welcomed to the Society: Glen S. Markowitz, M.D., Laura Barisoni, M.D., Roberto F. Nicosia, M.D., Alexis A. Harris, M.D., and William J. Cook, M.D., Ph.D. (reactivation). Dr. Colvin encouraged members to sponsor colleagues and especially to reach out to recruit members from outside North America.

Dr. Cohen, Chair of the Nominating and Awards Committee, noted that no abstracts at the USCAP had been nominated for the Young Investigator Award. It was suggested that the Nominating and Awards Committee screen the abstracts published for the meetings and solicit members for nominations.

Dr. Rennke, Chair of the Education and Scientific Meetings Committee, commended the work of the previous committee. He reported that the Committee was in the process of developing the Scientific Session at the ASN in 1998 on the topic of tubular injury. Several members are working to arrange for better publicity at the 1998 meeting after the disappointing turnout at the 1997 session. Dr. Alpers suggested that the RPS co-sponsor the symposium on crescentic glomerulonephritis that is being moderated by Ramzi Cotran and Caroline Savage. He and Dr Colvin will pursue this. Dr Fogo announced that the renal biopsy short course co-sponsored by the RPS would be given again at the ASN using the same faculty. She requested that RPS members volunteer to man the microscopes and thanked those who participated last year.

Dr. Herrera, Chair of the Training Programs Committee, reiterated that the committee had collected data on currently available training programs. The possibility that the list be posted on the RPS web page was raised.

Dr. Iskandar, Chair of the Communications and Publications Committee, reported plans for a member directory were in progress and it was hoped that it would be mailed to members before the next meeting. He encouraged members to keep Dr. Jennette apprised of the their addresses as they change by sending e-mail to Dr Jennette (jcj@med.unc.edu) with a cc: to him (iskandar@bgsm.edu) or by noting any changes on forms to be returned to RPS. There was some discussion of adding specialty information to the membership list on the WWW to facilitate consultations.

Dr. Nast, Chair of the Research Committee, continuing the discussion from the November meeting on the subject of quality control and inspection of nephropathology laboratories noted that there seems to be a wide variation in what is current practice. She suggested that a worthy project would be to determine what the actual requirements are. Dr. Colvin would like the RPS to develop guidelines for determining the adequacy of biopsy material. Dr. Haas hoped that the committee could devise ways to facilitate exchange of cases for studies.