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Tuesday 11 April 2006
University of Manchester
- Apologies for absence
Apologies for absence were received from Prof. David Kelsell and Prof. Irene Leigh.
- Minutes of the 2005 AGM
The minutes of the Annual General Meeting of the Society held in Cambridge on the 12th April 2005 had been circulated and posted on the website. These were approved as a correct record.
- Matters arising from the 2004 minutes
List of delegates for pharmaceutical companies: Prof. Eugene Healy informed the meeting that a sentence had been added to the registration form for the 2006 BSID annual conference in which delegates could agree to their name and institution being provided to the pharmaceutical sponsors for the conference. The opt-out box had been ticked by 30% of the delegates, of which several were senior academics. The possible financial consequences, in terms of sponsorship for the meeting, of senior academics' names not being included on the list for pharmaceutical companies were highlighted and a request was made that people consider this in future years when filling in the registration form.
Australasian Society for Dermatological Research: Prof. Healy reported that he had contacted the ASDR to agree to the request for an affiliation between the ASDR and the BSID, and that he had indicated that the BSID would prefer an active affiliation in which ASDR delegates would attend and participate in the BSID annual meeting in future years.
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Chairman's Report
Feedback from Annual Meeting in Cambridge: 64 feedback forms were received, which included 41 from BSID Members and 23 from BSID Non-members. Overall, the feedback was positive with the responses indicating that the BSID Skin Club session, educational session and BPG sponsored guest lecture had also been considered successful.
BSID Membership and Annual Conference 2006: The Society's Membership currently stands at 307. The number of abstracts submitted to the 2006 Annual Meeting was 66, which is similar to the previous four years. There were 120 delegates pre-registered for the 2005 conference which was lower than the 2005 conference, and similar to the 2004 conferences. The format of the annual meeting had been modified slightly with 24 original research presentations and eight guest lecturers (including four during the BSID Skin Club Symposium, a key note lecture, a local guest lecture, a British Photodermatology Group (BPG) sponsored lecture and a British Contact Dermatitis Society (BCDS) sponsored lecture). The local organisers, Prof. Chris Griffiths and Dr Rachel Watson, were greatly acknowledged for all their input in the organisation of the meeting. The dates of future meetings were noted, including Nottingham (Monday 16th to Wednesday 18th April 2007), Oxford 2008 and Bristol 2009.
Awards and Sponsorships: No applications had been received for the BSID Young Investigator award, and therefore Astellas (who had agreed to fund the award) had been asked and had agreed to sponsor the BSID Skin Club symposium. Only 6 applications had been made for the travel bursaries, of which 10 were available. The sponsors for the Annual Meeting were greatly acknowledged; these included Astellas, Schering Plough, Serono, Wyeth, Unilever, 3M Healthcare, Syngenta, Leo Pharma, Galderma, Novartis, Shire, TyPharm, Steifel, and Taro Pharma UK.
Association with other Societies: The previous five year agreement that the BPG sponsored guest lecture would feature from 2004 - 2008 at the BSID conference was acknowledged. This year, the BCDS had sponsored a guest lecture and Prof. Healy noted the potential benefits of this type of lecture but also requested that delegates give feedback on this after the conference so that the committee could make an informed decision on whether to approve future BCDS lectures in future years. It was also noted that the 2007 BSID annual conference, which would be held in Nottingham with Prof. Hywel Williams as local organizer, would invite abstracts from members of the British Epidermo Epidemiological Society (BEES) and encourage interaction between both societies.
Publication of BSID abstracts in the British Journal of Dermatology: Prof. Healy informed the delegates that alterations during the previous year in the way the British Journal of Dermatology (BJD) is published meant that the BSID abstracts would have had to be submitted to the BJD Editorial Office during December of the preceding year in order to appear in the April issue in time for the BSID conference. The delegates accepted that it was unlikely that the December deadline could be attained in future years, because the closing date for abstract submission for the BSID conference normally occurs in early December, and allowing for refereeing of abstracts and the acceptance of those reporting high quality research during the January committee meeting, the transfer of abstracts to the BJD would be unlikely to happen until mid-January at the earliest. However, Prof. Healy raised the issue of late breaking abstracts (normally taking place in late February) delaying the publication process further as was the case in the current year. The view of the members was that, in order to avoid this extent of delay, the late breaking abstracts would not be published in future years, and that negotiations with the BJD Editor might allow publication in the April issue if abstracts were submitted to the British Journal of Dermatology during January from 2007 onwards. It was accepted that publication of the BSID abstracts in the BJD either in the April issue or as soon as possible after the April issue would be acceptable.
Overseas Registrants for BSID: Prof. Healy noted that there had been some applications by people resident in other countries to attend the BSID meeting, and thus he wished to raise awareness of the issue that some form of acceptable identification as to the qualifications of prospective overseas registrants for the BSID annual conference should be requested. The members agreed that the BSID did wish to encourage attendance at the conference by appropriate overseas delegates, but that the committee did need to be satisfied as to the identity of these applicants and that the presence of these registrants would enhance the overall conference.
- Treasurer's Report
Prof. Mark Birch-Machin reviewed the Society's finances and the income/costs for the annual conference in the University of Cambridge 2005. He acknowledged that the meeting in 2005 had been expensive due to the costs in Cambridge being greater than in some other universities, with the Cambridge meeting having been approximately £10,000 more expensive than the average costs of the BSID conference in the preceding years. However, Prof. Birch-Machin noted that the 2005 conference had actually made a small profit due to Prof. Healy having obtained over £21,000 in sponsorship (which was significantly more sponsorship than in previous years). Overall, the finances of the Society were in good shape and the indications at that stage were that the Manchester meeting would also make a profit.
- New Members
Eight applications for membership of the Society had been received. The nominations were exhibited to the members during the AGM and all were accepted.
- Election of Committee Members/Chair Elect
Prof. Healy thanked Prof. Mark Birch-Machin for all his hard work as Treasurer and committee member, while highlighting the fact that Prof. Birch-Machin was stepping down from the committee after serving on the committee for several years, including as Treasurer for the last 5 years. In addition, he noted that Dr Graham Ogg and Dr Edel O'Toole were due for re-election to the committee having served for 3 years at that stage, and that Dr John Mee had also submitted a nomination for committee membership. Prof. Healy informed members that Dr Ogg had served as Chair Elect during the preceding year, because Prof. Healy was due to step down as Chairman, having served 3 years as Chairman, and that if re-elected to the committee, Dr Ogg would serve as Chairman for the next 3 years; Prof. Healy would remain as a committee member for a further year, consistent with him having been five years in total on the committee at that stage. Furthermore, Dr O'Toole had served as Treasurer Elect during the preceding year and if re-elected to the committee would serve as Treasurer for a 5 year period. Dr Mee had assisted in maintaining the BSID website for the previous 2 years, and if elected to the committee, would take over the role of website co-ordinator. All three nominations were accepted, and Prof Healy welcomed Dr Mee onto the committee and welcomed Dr Ogg and Dr O'Toole as incoming Chairman and Treasurer, respectively.
- Any Other Business
There was no other business.
- Date of Next Meeting
The next meeting will take place on Tuesday 17th April 2007 at the University of Nottingham.
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