- Email: [email protected]
Report from the president: Society for Clinical Trials
Report from the President: Society for Clinical Trials
This second and final year of my presidency culminated in the fourth annual meeting of the Society, held at St. Louis, Missouri, May 8-11, 1983. The program and abstracts have been reproduced in Controlled Clinical Trials, so that members w h o were unable to attend can at least sample the flavor of the many subjects discussed. Attendance was excellent, with 427 registrants at the final count. Several members stopped me in the hallways to remark that they enjoyed the St. Louis meeting more than any previous one in the Society's short history; for that we owe a vote of thanks to Dr. Curt Furberg and the other members of the program committee who worked steadily through the preceding year to make the meeting a success. The 1984 meeting will be held in Miami, Florida, May 13-16. I suggest you mark these dates on your calendar now, and forward suggestions about the program to Dr. Genell Knatterud, w h o will chair the program committee for 1984. The Board of Directors held its annual meeting to execute the business of the Society on May 8. A number of decisions were reached that will be of general interest to the membership. The Board elected Dr. Thomas Chalmers to the office of vice president and president elect, and reelected Dr. Christian Klimt and Ms. Eugenie Gaudine as secretary and treasurer, respectively. Dr. Thaddeus Prout, the previous vice president, automatically succeeds to the presidency, as provided by the By-laws. The membership committee reported that the Society's membership had risen from 922 to 1,113 during the previous year. An updated membership directory is being prepared. The finance committee noted that the Society has an adequate fiscal reserve, but not more than the minimum that it has recommended. Although the Society appears to have been operating without either significant profit or loss during the past 2 years, this appearance is misleading, as the Maryland Medical Research Institute (MMRI) has not asked the Society to pay the full cost of the secretarial and office services it has provided. The governing board of MMRI has requested that this hidden subsidy be phased out over the next 3 years, so that there is an urgent need to increase revenues. Continuing growth of the number of members, even if it does not slow down, cannot be expected to provide for the requirements. Therefore the committee recommended, and the Board voted to adopt, these measures: . Beginning in 1984, membership dues will be increased from $15 to $20 annually. The membership subscription to the journal will remain at $19, so that the total annual cost per member will be $39.
Controlled Clinical Trials 4:255-256 (1983) © Elsevier Science Publishing Co., Inc. 1983 52 Vanderbilt Ave., New York, New York 10017
255 0197-2456/83/$03.00
256
R.S. Gordon, Jr. 2. Members will be urged to make a voluntary contribution (fully tax-deductible) along with their dues. It should be noted that dues of $20 are unusually low today among professional societies. 3. Registration fees for the 1984 meeting will also have to be raised, to $95 for members and $105 for nonmembers. In addition, private organizations and companies that share the interests of the Society will be canvassed for contributions to assist with the support of the meeting. The Board adopted a budget for the coming year as proposed by the Secretariat. It anticipates office and administrative expenses of $46,770 and annual meeting expenses of $42,650, for a total of $89,420. MMRI will continue during the coming year as the secretariat, but competing proposals will be solicited for the year following. There was also discussion of the advisability of continuing the specific affiliation with the International Society for Clinical Biostatistics which is written into the By-laws of the Society. While there is a general provision in the By-laws that affiliations may be effected by a vote at membership business meeting, this particular affiliation is articulated by name in the By-laws, and the International Society is required to designate a representative to the Board of Directors. This issue will be examined in more detail during the coming year, with consideration being given to putting the affiliation with the International Society on the same basis as other affiliations. As the meeting adjourned, the president, on behalf of the Society, thanked the Directors whose terms are ending in 1983 for their service. Those Directors are Dr. Thomas Chalmers, Dr. Christian Klimt, Dr. Curtis Meinert, Dr. Thaddeus Prout, Dr. O. Dale Williams, and Mr. Fred Ederer. Dr. Chalmers, Dr. Klimt, and Dr. Prout will not leave the Board, however, but, as officers, will continue to meet with it. It has been a privilege to have served the Society for Clinical Trials as President for the period 1981-1983, and to have seen the growth of the organization, both in numbers and in scientific strength. It has begun to provide leadership in an interdisciplinary area in which experts have not always been easy to identify, and in which there are many pitfalls for the uninitiated. Although when discussions on the establishment of the Society were first being held, I felt some scepticism regarding the need for a new and separate organization, events have clearly proven this view to be erroneous. I look forward to an interesting future of continued activity within the Society as an active member. Robert S. Gordon, Jr., M.D., M.H.S.
This second and final year of my presidency culminated in the fourth annual meeting of the Society, held at St. Louis, Missouri, May 8-11, 1983. The program and abstracts have been reproduced in Controlled Clinical Trials, so that members w h o were unable to attend can at least sample the flavor of the many subjects discussed. Attendance was excellent, with 427 registrants at the final count. Several members stopped me in the hallways to remark that they enjoyed the St. Louis meeting more than any previous one in the Society's short history; for that we owe a vote of thanks to Dr. Curt Furberg and the other members of the program committee who worked steadily through the preceding year to make the meeting a success. The 1984 meeting will be held in Miami, Florida, May 13-16. I suggest you mark these dates on your calendar now, and forward suggestions about the program to Dr. Genell Knatterud, w h o will chair the program committee for 1984. The Board of Directors held its annual meeting to execute the business of the Society on May 8. A number of decisions were reached that will be of general interest to the membership. The Board elected Dr. Thomas Chalmers to the office of vice president and president elect, and reelected Dr. Christian Klimt and Ms. Eugenie Gaudine as secretary and treasurer, respectively. Dr. Thaddeus Prout, the previous vice president, automatically succeeds to the presidency, as provided by the By-laws. The membership committee reported that the Society's membership had risen from 922 to 1,113 during the previous year. An updated membership directory is being prepared. The finance committee noted that the Society has an adequate fiscal reserve, but not more than the minimum that it has recommended. Although the Society appears to have been operating without either significant profit or loss during the past 2 years, this appearance is misleading, as the Maryland Medical Research Institute (MMRI) has not asked the Society to pay the full cost of the secretarial and office services it has provided. The governing board of MMRI has requested that this hidden subsidy be phased out over the next 3 years, so that there is an urgent need to increase revenues. Continuing growth of the number of members, even if it does not slow down, cannot be expected to provide for the requirements. Therefore the committee recommended, and the Board voted to adopt, these measures: . Beginning in 1984, membership dues will be increased from $15 to $20 annually. The membership subscription to the journal will remain at $19, so that the total annual cost per member will be $39.
Controlled Clinical Trials 4:255-256 (1983) © Elsevier Science Publishing Co., Inc. 1983 52 Vanderbilt Ave., New York, New York 10017
255 0197-2456/83/$03.00
256
R.S. Gordon, Jr. 2. Members will be urged to make a voluntary contribution (fully tax-deductible) along with their dues. It should be noted that dues of $20 are unusually low today among professional societies. 3. Registration fees for the 1984 meeting will also have to be raised, to $95 for members and $105 for nonmembers. In addition, private organizations and companies that share the interests of the Society will be canvassed for contributions to assist with the support of the meeting. The Board adopted a budget for the coming year as proposed by the Secretariat. It anticipates office and administrative expenses of $46,770 and annual meeting expenses of $42,650, for a total of $89,420. MMRI will continue during the coming year as the secretariat, but competing proposals will be solicited for the year following. There was also discussion of the advisability of continuing the specific affiliation with the International Society for Clinical Biostatistics which is written into the By-laws of the Society. While there is a general provision in the By-laws that affiliations may be effected by a vote at membership business meeting, this particular affiliation is articulated by name in the By-laws, and the International Society is required to designate a representative to the Board of Directors. This issue will be examined in more detail during the coming year, with consideration being given to putting the affiliation with the International Society on the same basis as other affiliations. As the meeting adjourned, the president, on behalf of the Society, thanked the Directors whose terms are ending in 1983 for their service. Those Directors are Dr. Thomas Chalmers, Dr. Christian Klimt, Dr. Curtis Meinert, Dr. Thaddeus Prout, Dr. O. Dale Williams, and Mr. Fred Ederer. Dr. Chalmers, Dr. Klimt, and Dr. Prout will not leave the Board, however, but, as officers, will continue to meet with it. It has been a privilege to have served the Society for Clinical Trials as President for the period 1981-1983, and to have seen the growth of the organization, both in numbers and in scientific strength. It has begun to provide leadership in an interdisciplinary area in which experts have not always been easy to identify, and in which there are many pitfalls for the uninitiated. Although when discussions on the establishment of the Society were first being held, I felt some scepticism regarding the need for a new and separate organization, events have clearly proven this view to be erroneous. I look forward to an interesting future of continued activity within the Society as an active member. Robert S. Gordon, Jr., M.D., M.H.S.