June 19, 2007, Blair Perrone, Manhattan

Present: Peak Woo, MD, President; Stephen Rush, MD, President-Elect; David Myssiorek, MD, Secretary; Dan Kuriloff, MD, Treasurer; Mark DeLacure, MD, Member at Large; Dennis Kraus, MD, Nominating Committee; Richard Lopchinsky, MD, Nominating Committee; Eric Genden, MD, Program Committee; Jay Boyle, MD, Program Committee; Arie Rosen, MD, Web Master; Missak Haigentz, MD, Program Committee; David Kutler, MD, Membership Committee; Ken Hu, MD, Paper/Education Committee.

Excused: Richard Smith, MD, By Laws; Bhoomi Mehrotra, MD, Paper/Education Committee; Sandy Dubner, MD, Nominating Committee

Absent: Bhuvanesh Singh, MD.

The meeting was called to order by the President, Dr. Peak Woo at 7:10 PM. The President introduced the new and returning members of the Executive Council.

The minutes of the February 6, 2007 Executive Council meeting were distributed to all present council members prior to this meeting. A motion to approve the minutes was entertained, seconded and approved.

The Society has maintained membership and interest by inviting nonsurgeons to join and be involved with all activities. Notably, the President Elect for the Society is a Radiation Therapist Since the last Executive Council there were two conferences. The March 21st, 2007 meeting was held at St. Vincent's Hospital, arranged by Helen Yoo Bowne, MD. The featured presentation was Progress in Combined Treatment Strategies for Head and Neck Cancer presented by Merrill Kies, MD, from the MD Anderson in Texas. Three papers were delivered by residents as part of the Proffered Papers section of the evening. Awards of $300, $200 and $100 were given to the authors of these papers. Only 55-60 people attended this meeting. The President's Night Dinner, hosted by Sandy Dubner, MD, drew 45 attendees. Dr. Jay Apt presented an outstanding lecture on a "View of Earth" from his perspective as a NASA Astronaut. Once again, this was a nonmedical subject but the audience was completely enthralled by his photographs and commentary, as well as his insight into the future. The most frequent reason for nonattendance was that this year the meeting was held on a Tuesday night which is less convenient for some of our members. Attendance at our meetings was less robust compared to prior years. The Executive Committee did not think this was a result of subject matter. Members are encouraged to invite other members, housestaff and nonmembers from their respective institutions in an effort to increase support for our meetings. Financial support for all meetings last year was completely absent which affected revenue. Dr. Woo addressed the restructuring of the Executive Council. It has been streamlined since many of the committees were either nonfunctional at this time (Social Committee) or had too many members for their function. Since many of the duties of these committees were taken care of by other Executive Council members, there is no need for an overpopulated Council. To this end, the Education Committee and Paper/Publication Committee were joined. Finally, Dr. Woo discussed the President's role in coordinating the final meeting of the year. The President Elect was introduced. Stephen Rush, MD will be the President of the Society from 2008-2009. He represents the first President from a nonsurgical field, reflecting a new direction of the NY Head and Neck Society. The Secretary's report consisted of observations of the membership and attendance at meetings. Residents submitting abstracts for the Proffered Paper session should be told as early as possible during the year about the opportunity to present and potential for Awards. Chairmen of the various departments around the Greater Metropolitan area need to be involved as well. The residents and fellows in our area need to be encouraged to attend these meetings and each member of the Executive Council was charged with this responsibility. Some members of the Society felt that our members need to be made more aware of the meetings, despite numerous e-mailings about these meetings 6 weeks in advance of each meeting. The Secretary's report included the attendance of the meetings this year. Another ground mail request was made to members currently not on our e-mail lists. No one replied to this mailing.

The Treasurer, Daniel Kuriloff, MD, was enthusiastic about the income generated by the Society's investments. Currently, the society has its assets in protected funds managed by Joel Konigsberg at Smith Barney. The balance in the account as of June 2007 was $121,116. This did not include the debits for the last meeting and speaker stipend. However, the surplus remains well above $100,000. The estimated yearly expenses generally do not exceed $25,000 and is covered mostly by the dues collected. Our surplus continues to grow with YTD through April, 2005with $92,902, 2006 with $107,727 and $125,373 for 2007.

There needs to be approximately $25,000 per year in a cash account to cover bill payments. The rest can remain in principal protected funds/ money markets/CDs. Because of the stable and increasing surplus, dues can remain at $100 with a late fee of $25. Various ideas were discussed to make better use of the surplus including raising the resident research/paper awards, research grant seed money, and sponsorship of a named speaker at the Society for Head & Neck Surgery annual meeting.

Outstanding dues continue to be an issue with our membership, which has been stable at approximately 152 of which 128 pay dues (24 non-dues Seniors). Uncollected dues for 2007 are $2,875 and still unpaid dues for 2006 remain at $3,250. Fourteen members have not paid for two consecutive years. Several individuals on the executive committee have volunteered to call members on the delinquency list to resolve the issue.

Corporate funding for our meetings this year was disappointing and an attempt will be made by the organizing counsel members to solicit educational grants to sponsor our meetings for next year.

In summary, the New York Head & Neck Society is financially solvent and we will continue to work on increasing our membership base and financial support.



Committee Chairs Report

A) Nominating Committee: There was nothing to report at this meeting.

B) Membership Committee: Dr. Kutler reported that there was 1 new member to be discussed. Michael Most was approved for membership and will be inducted at the President's meeting in 2008. There were 6 new members inducted this year. Diplomas for the new members were distributed on President's Night. It was suggested that new graduates be invited to join the society.

C) Education Committee: The Education Committee discussions are included in the new business section.

D) Program Committee: The Program Committee discussions are included in the new business section.

E) Papers/Publication Committee: The Papers/Publication Committee discussions are included in the new business section.

F) Social Committee: No report.

G) Communication Committee: Dr. Rosen will once again manage the Website. Our address is www.nyheadandneck.org. The site is used for listing upcoming meetings, guest speakers and their Bios, potential research projects and studies. The Website software was finally purchased and the site will be updated.

H) By-Laws Committee: The new Chair of the committee is Richard Smith, MD. Currently no changes in our membership requirements are necessary.

I) Research Committee: No report from the Research Committee



New Business

The upcoming years agenda is as follows:

Place: Cabrini Medical Center. Date: October 17, 2007 (Wednesday) Topic: Post Primary Treatment Adjuvant Therapy Potential Speakers: Jay Cooper, MD - Maimonides; Pierre Lavertu, MD from Cleveland. Drs. Kutler and Rush will help get the speakers. Dr. Bloom will be responsible for securing a room and catering.

Place: NYU Medical Center. Date: January 16, 2008 (Wednesday) Topic: Ultrasound of the Thyroid Potential Speakers: Robert Sofferman, MD or Greg Randolph, MD Dr. Kraus will help get the speaker. Dr. DeLacure will be responsible for securing a room and catering.

Place: Mt. Sinai Hospital. Date: March 19, 2008 ((Wednesday) Topic: Hot Topics in Head and Neck Literature Proffered Paper Session Potential Speakers: Randy Weber, MD or Jonas Johnson, MD or Ehab Hannah, MD Dr. Boyle will help get the speaker. Dr. Genden will be responsible for securing a room and catering. The awards for presented papers will be $1000/$500/$250. The session will be run by the Paper/Publication Committee.

President's Night is tentatively scheduled for May 28, 2008 at the National Art's Club. The speaker will be announced later in the year. Dr. Bloom will contact the Club early this year.

The subject of CME credit for our meetings was discussed and rejected at this time.

The next Executive Council Meeting will take place on February 5, 2008.

Having no other business items for discussion, the meeting was adjourned at 9:30 PM.



Sincerely,

David Myssiorek, MD Secretary