Minutes

SEAAPM Business Meeting

March 10, 2001

Atlanta, Georgia

The meeting was called to order by President John Gibbons at 1:09 on Saturday March 10, 2001 at the Crowne Plaza Rivinia in Atlanta, Georgia.

Secretary’s Note:

During the scientific meeting Jon Trueblood was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by the SEAAPM.

Old minutes:

The minutes of the 2000 meeting were approved after the following correction: The term of the CRCPD representative is three years.

Elections:

The winners of the 2000 election of officers was announced as follows:

President-elect: Chester Ramsey

Secretary: George David

Treasurer: David Gauntt

Treasurer's Report (given by George David):

The treasurer's report had been previously distributed to meeting attendees. It showed a balance in the First Union Corporate CAP account as of December 31, 2000 of $32,066.21. The CD owned by the chapter was redeemed in May of 2000 with a value of $9,180 and was deposited in the First Union Corporate CAP account at that time. The year-end balance also reflects a $2,000 deposit to the Crowne Plaza Ravinia Hotel in Atlanta for the 2001 annual SEAAPM symposium and scientific meeting.

Chapter Board Representative Report (given by representative Jerry Allison):

Last year at our business meeting our chapter passed a Sense of the Chapter motion that AAPM membership dues not be raised for the next 3-5 years. This message was delivered by our board representative to the AAPM Board.
Although the World Congress association for the 2000 AAPM meeting strained the AAPM budget, AAPM finances are in good shape. The AAPM was financially responsible for the 40% of committed hotel rooms in Chicago for the national meeting which were not rented.
Steve Thomas is the AAPM representative to the ACR board.
At the AAPM Chapter Representatives Meeting in Chicago it was suggested that AAPM chapters invite state radiation control group representatives to meetings and that chapters have designated representatives to each state’s radiation control group.
Possible sponsorship of an annual AAPM meeting was discussed. Meeting locations are already designated until about 2010.
The sponsorship by the AAPM of the ACMP "Journal of Applied Clinical Medical Physics" was discussed. The AAPM board voted a one-time contribution of $27,000 for this journal. The contribution was for the initial creation of the journal as well as the creation and distribution of articles for 2000 and 2001 in CD format to the AAPM membership.

Ray Tanner moved that the chapter instruct the AAPM board representative to oppose the $27,000 contribution. Wlad Sobol seconded. After some discussion the motion was amended to say that the chapter instruct the AAPM board representative that the $27,000 contribution be reduced by the cost of making and distributing the CD. Much of the subsequent discussion concerned the CD ("a useless piece of plastic") and the fact that the journal was already available on-line. The motion passed.

The gavel was passed to President Sandra McIntosh

CRCPD Board Representative Report (given by representative Michael Tkacik)

Michael Tkacik attended the CRCPD Meeting. He reported on the following meeting highlights

The FDA gave a workshop for inspectors
The future of digital mammography was discussed
Building relationships between state regulators and the physics community was discussed
There was a session on reading physicists’ reports
There were approximately 150-200 total attendees. There were about 12 non-regulator physicists in attendance
There was a discussion on having the ACR state organization provide input to state regulators
Physicists are represented on various CRCPD committees. While they are not voting members of the CRCPD, they do contribute and provide input through this committee work
The next CRCPD meeting will be in Anchorage, Alaska

A suggestion was made to put the AAPM Board representative and CRCPD reports on the chapter web page

Chapter Business:

There was a request by the national AAPM to synchronize the terms of SEAAPM officers to the calendar year. This actually relates to an AAPM constitutional requirement for the Board Representative which allows the AAPM directory to display up-to-date information. It was pointed out that the term of the Board Representative from the SEAAPM is already synchronized to the calendar year. There was a short discussion on the reasons for the terms of the other SEAAPM officers to be synchronized to the annual chapter meeting. The chapter agreed to take the AAPM’s request under advisement and in the interim to inform national AAPM of new chapter officers when those changes occur.

2002 Annual Meeting and Symposium:

President-elect Ramsey is considering Knoxville, Tennessee or the Park Vista in Gatlinburg as candidates for the 2002 SEAAPM annual meeting and symposium.
Gary Barnes moved that President-elect Ramsey make a final selection of the meeting site in conjunction with the executive committee. The motion passed.
A short discussion of hotel contracts and guest room commitments followed including such commitments in Chicago by the AAPM and by the SEAAPM in Atlanta.
There was a discussion of having a full symposium on IMRT along with possibly a concurrent Friday morning shorter session on digital mammography. A motion was made to have the executive committee select the symposium. There was no second. There was general agreement that IMRT was an appropriate topic. Wlad Sobol moved that a Digital Mammography session be held during the scientific meeting on Friday afternoon. There was no second. There was a consensus to allow the executive committee to define the structure and coordinators of the 2002 symposium and meeting.

Mark Bruels brought up the topic of radiation therapy reimbursements. He moved to instruct our board representative to request that the national AAPM board support keeping physics APC codes and oppose changes to treatment planning codes. Ivan Brezovich expanded the motion to have the AAPM board request that a physicist be part of the HICFA group. Jerry Allison suggested writing the AAPM president and the chair of the Professional Counsel and urging them to take on the matter of treatment planning codes. Ray Tanner offered an alternate motion that the SEAAPM president write the AAPM president and the chair of the Professional Council requesting immediate action on changing the number of APC codes and urge representation to HICFA by physicists.

Perry Sprawls made a motion to thank secretary George David for his work on behalf of the chapter and the 2001 symposium and meeting. The motion was seconded and passed.

Jerry Allison thanked President Sandra McIntosh and her husband, Jim McIntosh, for all of their hard work in planning for the 2001 symposium and meeting including local arrangements.

President Sandra McIntosh thanked symposium co-directors Jerry Allison and Perry Sprawls for their efforts for the successful 2001 SEAAPM symposium.

President Sandra McIntosh reported on the death of charter SEAAPM chapter member Jimmy Fenn. A moment of silence was held in his honor. Perry Sprawls suggested the establishment of a heritage section of the SEAAPM web page. He agreed to write a tribute to Jimmy Fenn and also to write an article on chapter history. Webmaster George David agreed to insert all such material on to the web page.

Adjournment:

The meeting was adjourned at 2:54 PM.

Respectfully submitted

George David, Secretary SEAAPM

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