International Society of Urological Pathology
Friday June 1, 2018
Sydney, Australia
Present: Dr. David Grignon (President), Dr. Hemamali Samaratunga (Secretary), Dr. Chin-Chen Pan (Australasian Councilor) and 24 members of the Society.
- Call to Order
Dr. Grignon called the meeting to order and welcomed the participants at 7:15 PM.
- Apologies
Apologies were received from the Treasurer
- Minutes
The minutes of the 2017 Annual General meeting of the International Society of Urological Pathology were approved.
- Presidents’ report
Dr. Grignon delivered the Presidents report
The President extended his thanks to Dr. Samaratunga for organizing this meeting on short notice. Thanks were also made to Drs. Samaratunga, Kench and Delahunt for helping to get the word out and encouraging members to attend, and to all the ISUP members present who were taking time away from the cocktail reception to attend. He also acknowledged the presence of Dr. Chin-Chen Pan (Council member) who was in attendance. Dr. Grignon thanked Dr. David Clouston who chaired the ISUP companion meeting earlier in the day and Dr. Peter Bethwaite, President of the Australasian Division for hosting an outstanding meeting. Dr. Grignon indicated he would keep his report brief and would distribute a letter to members next month providing greater detail on some of these topics. Dr. Grignon also indicated that although the purpose of the President’s report was to highlight activities of the previous year (2017) and plans for the coming year (2018), it was not possible to present the report without some comment on the events in early 2018.
The President reported that activities in 2017 included the completion of the revised Bylaws and Constitution. These were presented to the Members for comment and subsequently final versions were provided to the membership for a vote to approve or not approve. The voting was held electronically and was carried out by an external firm (contracted for by Dr. Cheville). The voting concluded on January 22, 2018. The results of the voting for the Constitution were 179 approve, 7 not approve and 1 no vote. For the bylaws the results were 177 approve and 10 not approve. The revised Constitution and Bylaws were therefore accepted by the Council and will remain the governing documents until the next review.
In 2017 there was also continued work on the website with several enhancements. Dr. Egevad shared some data on web site activity and this have showed a remarkable increase in activity. Dr. Grignon indicated he would provide some specific data in the letter he will send out shortly. He also extended his thanks to Dr. Egevad for the tremendous amount of time and energy (and financial support) he has provided to make the website such an outstanding offering. The Case of the Month continues to be popular and the President extends his thank to Dr. Andy Evans for his outstanding contributions to the Society. He also thanked Dr. Sean Williamson for outstanding service as the Webmaster.
The President reported that as everyone was aware, 2018 has so far been marked by a great deal of instability in the Society. Events included the resignations of Drs. John Cheville (President), Larry True (President-elect) and Ming Zhou (Treasurer). He commented that it was following this that the Council approached him to take on the Presidency. The President reported that he agreed to take on this role with the understanding that he would complete the remaining one-year of the President’s term in order to maintain the current calendar and have the President-elect position be on this year’s ballot for election by the members. Within a couple of days of accepting the role, the decision of USCAP to suspend ISUP was presented to him. He immediately informed the membership of this decision. Dr. Grignon reported that he was very pleased to have Dr. Theo van der Kwast accept the role as current President-elect and Dr. Steven Shen as Treasurer. He expressed confidence that both would be excellent in these roles.
The President reported that in late April (2018) a letter signed by a number of ISUP members was sent to him requesting that he take two actions. The first was to place three additional members of the signees choosing on the Nomination Committee. The President reported that it was not possible for this request to be met. The President stated that he did not have the authority under the bylaws to take such an action. The members of the Nomination Committee are specified in the ISUP bylaws. Those bylaws governing the actions of the President and the Council were put in place by the members and to act outside of the bylaws would represent a breach of his fiduciary duty to the Society and its Members. The Society President is bound by the Constitution and Bylaws and legally he or she must follow the rules set out in these documents.
The second request was to overturn the recently held vote on the revised Constitution and Bylaws. As reported earlier, the revised Constitution and Bylaws were approved by 95% of the Members who participated in the voting that concluded in January of this year. The President indicated that in his view it was a fundamental principle of an organization structured to be democratic that following such a vote the results are to be accepted by all the Members. A vocal minority has refused to accept the vote results and demanded that they be overturned. The President indicated that from a moral and ethical perspective he could not undo the voting results reversing the will of the membership.
The President reported that plans were underway for the elections to be held this year. He reported that in mid to late August there will be a notice sent out to the entire membership requesting nominations for all 5 of the International Councilor positions as well as for the President-elect and Secretary positions. Dr. Grignon reported that Dr. Holger Moch has agreed to serve as the ordinary member representative on the committee. Dr. Grignon also reported that as provided by the Bylaws the ballot will include 2 nominees for each position, assuming that there are 2 excellent candidates available.
The President reported that the Council has approved a Consultation Conference to be held in National Harbor, Maryland on March 17, 2019. The purpose of the Consultation will be to provide a state of the art review of the current application of molecular diagnostics in urologic pathology. More details regarding the organization of the meeting will be forthcoming.
Dr. Grignon indicated that in response to the suggestions requested of the membership, the formation of a Membership Committee has now been approved by the Council. He also reported that new chairs and members of the stipend and excellence in urologic pathology committees had not been finalized.
Finally, the President reported that the application for reinstatement to active status will be submitted to USCAP in mid-September. He expressed his gratitude to the members who to date have provided 237 written notes of support for the reinstatement. He expressed confidence that a strong presentation would be made to USCAP and was hopeful that it would be successful.
It was moved that the report be received and accepted (Delahunt/Delprado). The motion was passed unanimously.
- Treasurer’s report
The President presented the Treasurer’s report on behalf of Dr. Shen.
The Society accounts held a total of $37,747.78 at the end of 2016. In 2017 total revenue was $8,340.10 and total expenses $6,130.84 resulting in a balance of $39,957.04 at the end of 2017. The budget for 2017 included a $5,000.00 stipend awarded to Dr. Grignon to support the Jubilee Speakership. Dr. Grignon did not accept the financial part of the Award and so this expense was not incurred.
For the 2018 budget, revenue is estimated to be $8,500.00 and expenses to be $6,500.00. The single largest expense budgeted for 2018 will be the Stipend Award payments. This will result in a small improvement in the Societies financial position at the end of the year.
It was moved that the report be received and accepted (Clouston/Malchewski). The motion was passed unanimously.
- Secretary’s report
Dr. Samaratunga presented her report on the activities of the Society for the past year. She commented that the past year has been a difficult one for the Society and the cancellation of the program at Vancouver was unexpected and extreme. The annual Grawitz dinner was held with attendance being at an all-time record, and a cordial time was had by all. The society continues to grow and flourish and the members were very pleased to welcome David Grignon as our President, with Theo van der Kwast and Steven Shen in the roles of President-elect and Treasurer respectively. Many of the projects initiated last year have continued and again David and our immediate Past President, Lars Egevad, as well as the members of the Council have worked tirelessly for the advancement of the Society through the promotion of its many activities.
The secretary noted that the image base remains a wonderful resource that is available to all members. The Public Section is viewed by non-members throughout the world while ISUP members have access to the entire series which is quite comprehensive. Promotion of the image base continues and a special publication has appeared in Histopathology, with a second publication in press in the same journal.
It was reported that the Case of the Month function of the website is working smoothly and thanks were expressed to Andy Evans and his team for the continued provision of this educational material.
Despite all the disruptions there has been an unprecedented number of inquiries from pathologists wanting to join ISUP. Currently there are 1,462 members, which is an increase of 200 members since last year, with more than two-thirds from outside the US.
A common recurring and problem with the website was described as some members change their email addresses without informing the Society. Members e-mail addresses are registered with the Society and if these are changed then access to the website is lost. It is therefore important for the Treasurer to be advised so that the database may be amended.
It was moved that the report be received and accepted (Malchewski/Bethwaite). The motion passed unanimously.
- General Business
A motion was passed by acclamation thanking Dr. Grignon for the outstanding work he is doing to further the society.
- Adjournment
The meeting closed at 7:48 pm.