The President's Page: Summary of Motions and Action Items from February 2004 Executive Board Meeting

Bradley A. Connor, President, ISTM

My policy is to share with you deliberations and action items generated by the ISTM Executive Board. The most recent Executive Board meeting was held in Cape Town, South Africa in February, at the time of the African European Travel Medicine Conference, an event jointly sponsored by the South African Travel Medicine Society and ISTM. A description of this very successful conference appears in the previous edition of NewsShare, and is available on our website.

Here are the highlights from the 2-day EB meeting. Please read through these notes and see what your elected representatives and committee chairs are working on. Hopefully this will inspire you to become more involved in ISTM business matters.

Management Firm

A motion was made to agree to hire Talley Management Group to provide consultative management services dependent upon a suitable contract being negotiated for 15 months (until May 2005) with a one-year renewal option. The contract will be presented to the full voting board for approval. The motion was seconded and approved.

A motion was made that the ultimate authority for the management company and secretariat rests with the President, with him or her delegating day to day management responsibilities to the Secretary/Treasurer. The motion was seconded and approved.

Secretariat

A motion was made and seconded to support Mrs. Bagwell’s continuation in her current capacity with the society without any change in her job description. The motion passed.

NewsShare

A motion was made that we move to a printed version of NewsShare (at a cost of no greater than $10,000). The printed version would be mailed to all members for one year. This procedure of printing and mailing will then be reevaluated at the next board meeting. The motion was seconded and approved.

Host Country

A motion was made to have Drs. Pandey and Steffen prepare the 10 tips (for responsible travel) by March 1. The motion was seconded and passed. (Note: This has already been accomplished and submitted to the secretariat for inclusion on the reverse side of the yellow bookmarks.)

Migrant Health

A motion was made that Dr. Gushulak remain committee chair with the issue to be reconsidered at the Lisbon board meeting. The motion was seconded and approved.

Membership

A motion was made to eliminate the membership committee and run membership issues out of the executive. This matter will be revisited at the Lisbon meeting. The motion was seconded and passed.

Publications

A motion was made that the current contract with Decker (the publisher of the Journal of Travel Medicine) be forwarded to Mr. Talley for his review and recommendations as to where we might go with regards to new publishers. The motion was seconded and passed.

Site Selection Guidelines

A motion was made, seconded and passed to accept this document as presented.

Future Conferences

A motion was made that the board agrees to consider Vancouver as the site for our 2007 conference and to form a subcommittee to further investigate the site. The motion was seconded. The motion passed by a vote of 6 to 1.

A motion was made, seconded and approved that a small subcommittee to consist of Dr. von Sonnenburg, Dr. Connor, Dr. Kain and Mr. Talley be formed to investigate Vancouver as a possible site for the 2007 conference.

A motion was made to rescind the motion passed at a previous Executive Board meeting that the biennial conference days must be Sunday to Thursday. The motion was seconded and approved.

A motion was made to call the even year meetings “The____ (fill in number: e.g., 2nd) Regional Meeting of the ISTM.” The motion was seconded and approved.

A motion was made to have Dr. Leggat explore the possibility of having a 2008 regional meeting in Australia and submit his findings to the Executive Board. The motion was seconded and passed.

A motion was made to form a small ad hoc committee (consisting of Drs. Pandey, Connor, von Sonnenburg and Ostroff) to investigate the following as potential sites for the conference: Rome, Basel, Amsterdam and Jerusalem. The motion was seconded and passed.

Elections – 2005

Following a discussion about the procedure to use for the upcoming election, a motion was made to conduct the 2005 elections via the Internet. The motion was seconded; however, it did not pass.

ACTION ITEMS

Research Committee

The website will need to be updated with the following: what is the objective of these grants, who can apply for them and the deadline for applications. Changes will be submitted to and printed in NewsShare.

Host Country Committee

Three virtual courses had been prepared to be posted on the ISTM website. These will be posted very shortly.

Practice And Nursing Issues Committee

The committee had made the decision that CEU’s would not be offered in Lisbon. Reasons for making this decision will be communicated to the nursing contingent through NewsShare.

Publications Committee

The President thanked the committee for their report and noted that the template presented is a good first step in helping persons of lower income countries to become members of the ISTM. The President will review this template and report his findings and thoughts to the board.

Journal of Travel Medicine

It was thought than an article including some GeoSentinel statistical information would help increase the impact factor of the Journal.

Exam Committee

There was sentiment for placing an article in NewsShare explaining what is really involved in taking this exam.

Professional Education and Training Committee

A course for physicians on travel medicine given in Canada could serve as a model for similar courses elsewhere. Possibly this material could be offered for use on the ISTM website.

The issue of setting standards for ethics in travel was presented and discussed. It was noted that such material has already been assembled for Canadian travel clinics. The material will be reviewed and possibly placed on the ISTM website.

The committee chair was requested to explore with the new ISTM management consulting group the feasibility of offering distant learning courses and North American CME courses.

The committee chair was also requested to review the different proposals discussed (distant learning courses, responsible travel clinic, etc.) and send the President a report of these findings by April 1 of those that the Professional Education committee should pursue.

CISTM-8

Mr. Talley presented a summary of the New York conference.

AECTM

After discussion, including a review from the President on the reasons the ISTM decided to branch out into regional meetings, it was decided that the Chair of the recent African-European meeting would prepare and submit to the President a template for the regional meetings.

APTHA

An ad hoc committee to consist of Drs. Schwartz, Pandey and Chatterjee will advise the board on the activities of the Asian-Pacific Travel Health Association.

Elections

NewsShare will carry an article about bylaws-directed Executive Board composition.

February 2004 Executive Board Meeting:
In attendance