President
CHARLES Jennette, M.D.
Vice President
LORRAINE RACUSEN , m.d.
Councillors
JAN BRUIJN, M.D.
STEPHEN BONSIB, M.D.
MARK HAAS, M.D.
Secretary and Treasurer
GUILLERMO A. HERRERA, M.D.
Department of Pathology
LSUHSC Shreveport
1501 Kings Highway
Shreveport, LA 71130-3932
Telephone: (318) 675-4557
Fax: (318) 675-7662
E-mail: gherre@lsuhsc.edu

Status report Renal Pathology Society Membership Committee

Reported at the USCAP meeting, March 8 th , 2004

Committee members:

Maria M. Picken (chair), Ingeborg M. Bajema, Zoltan Laszik

A.   New members

In March 2004, at the USCAP meeting, 15 new applicants were accepted for admission to the Renal Pathology Society, bringing our total membership to 274.

This includes :   4 from the USA, 1 from Canada, 7 from the UK, 1 from Korea, 1 from India, and 1 from Chile.   Two members (one from Chile and one from the UK were approved by the previous committee).

The new members include:

Marc Barry, USA

Timothy A. Fields USA

David B. Thomas, USA

Megan L. Troxel, USA

Janet K. Holden, Canada

David FR Griffiths, UK

Ervine Long, UK

Carl Bruce Allan Lyons, UK

Roy Stephen Reeve, UK

Michael Timothy Sheaff, UK

Elizabeth Mary Thompson, UK

David A. Wright, UK

Hyun Soon Lee, Korea

Shaileh Soni, India

Daniel Carpio, Chile

B.   Proposed amendment

Maria Picken proposed to include trainees as members of the Society (ballot to be included with this mailing).   If approved by the membership at large, this new category will allow junior membership with no membership fee.

1. This amendment introduces Junior Member category as follows:

"any holder of a MD, PhD, DVM, or equivalent degree with demonstrated interest in the field of renal pathology as evidenced by enrollment in a renal pathology training program or research at the resident or fellow level. (Article III, 3)".

2. Article IX, dues:

Junior members are not required to pay Society dues while in training.

C.   Membership drive

Maria Picken invited all members to serve as "ambassadors" of the Society and to become actively involved in recruiting new members.   The goal is to have as members of the Society all pathologists, researchers, and trainees who are involved in kidney disease diagnosis and research.   Since the Renal Pathology Society is international in scope, the goal is to have an international representation among the membership.

Since, hitherto, "word of mouth" has been the most successful means of recruitment of new members, all members are asked to actively recruit new members when attending various meetings.   Please let the membership committee know about any conference that you are planning to attend in the near future.   The committee has RPS brochures available for distribution at various meetings.   The Society's website, http://www.renalpathsoc.org, has a downloadable application form and a lot of other valuable information.   Now that the Society has matured, we need to strengthen the recognition and impact of our activities within the ASN and USCAP.   Increasing the size of the membership is a very good way to demonstrate a vote of confidence in the Society's actions.

Maria M. Picken MD, PhD

Chair, Membership Committee

Department of Pathology

Bldg#110, Rm#2242

Loyola University Medical Center

2160 S. First Ave

Maywood, IL 60153, USA

Phone: 708-327-2607

FAX: 708-327-2620