Letter from the Program Chair

Society of Perinatal Obstetricians 409 12th STREET,SW WASHINGTON,DC 20024 (202) 863-2476 Dear Colleagues, This has been an exciting year to be Program Chair for the SPO, and I very much appreciate the privilege allowed me. With the Board of Directors and Planning Committee, we have instituted a number of changes. These include increasing the total number of presentations, expanding the review process, awarding additional prizes all to be selected on site, and spotlighting research done by fellows in a separate Fellows' Plenary session. These changes were made largely in response to suggestions from various SPO members, and because this is the first SPO meeting without direct corporate sponsorship of specific prizes or social events. The meeting format change of having two rather than three concurrent oral sessions was dictated by space constraints in the Atlanta Hilton & Towers. Because we increased the numbers of posters by approximately 20 per session, extra effort was made to organize these presentations by index subjects within the broader category groupings. I would like to express my sincere appreciation to all of you who submitted your work for consideration for presentation. The 1995 SPO meeting has set another record for abstract submissions with 1047 which is 130 more than received last year. By increasing the number of presentations by 99, we were able to slightly improve the overall acceptance rate from 58% last year to 60% this year. Each abstract was blindly reviewed by four (rather than three as in the past) SPO members. The 120 highest scoring abstracts were then reviewed by four of ten secondary reviewers. There was a high degree of congruence between the primary and final reviewer lists with 80% of the oral presentations being scored in the top 76 of each list. A number of people require special recognition for their efforts in planning the 1995 SPO meeting. Without the support of Lauretta Stewart, Martha Foss-Johnson, Karylyn Bliss, Maureen Griffith and Kathy O'Sullivan the meeting would not have been possible. I would also like to thank my colleagues Michael Katz, M.D., Elliott K. Main, M.D., Carl E. Otto, M.D., and Lourdes Scheerer, M.D. for their help and good humor while SPO took over our secretarial space, fax and telephone lines. We will all also benefit from "The Guide to Dining and Entertainment in Atlanta" prepared by Paul Browne, M.D. and Lee Blinson. I am also grateful for their help in the band selection and other local arrangements. I would also like to thank Valerie Parisi, M.D., our President, the Planning Committee consisting of Steven Clark, M.D., Mary D'Alton, M.D. and Cissy Capeless, M.D. and all the Board members for their active help and counsel. Pat Stahr, as usual, provided valuable assistance with grace, knowledge and good humor. Finally, I would especially like to thank my husband and fellow SPO member, Elliott K. Main, M.D., who as the computer savvy member of our team, devoted at least as many hours as I did to program planning and organization. We look forward to seeing you at the SPO meeting and will appreciate your comments on how to improve our upcoming meetings. Sincerely, Denise Main, M.D. 1995 SPO Program Chair

F o u n d e d 1977 E d u c a t i o n • Service • Research

iv January 1995

American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology