Minutes of the 1998 Annual AAOB Business Meeting

Nootka Room of the Waterfront Centre Hotel in Vancouver, B.C., Canada
March 12, 1999

The 1999 Annual AAOB business meeting was held on Friday, March 12, 1999 from 4:30 - 5:30 P.M. in the Nootka Room of the Waterfront Centre Hotel in Vancouver, B.C., Canada. Dr. Olav Alvares, AAOB president, opened the meeting and extended his appreciation to the AAOB officers for their input during the preceding year. He then set the agenda and led the membership in their discussion of the following items of business.

Item 1: The minutes of the AAOB business meeting on Thursday, March 5, 1998 at the Minneapolis Hilton Hotel were accepted as presented in the January, 1999 issue (Volume 7, Issue 1) of the American Association of Oral Biologists Newsletter.

Item 2: Dr. Steven D. London, AAOB Secretary/Treasurer reported that the balance of Association funds as of December 31, 1998 was $12,412.19. Dr. London acknowledged the Block Drug Co. and the CollaGenex Pharmaceutical Corp. for their financial support of a joint symposium and reception of the American and Japanese Association of Oral Biologists at the 1999 IADR/AADR annual meeting in Vancouver, B.C., Canada. The membership agreed that any unspent contributions from the Block Drug Co. and the CollaGenex Pharmaceutical Corp. would be committed for support of future AAOB symposia and/or receptions.

Dr. London reported that there were 113 members in good standing for the 1998 calendar year. 1999 dues will be $12.00. $70.00 dues for the 1999 issues Critical Reviews in Oral Biology and Medicine will be handled directly with the publisher (IADR). Subscription to Critical Reviews in Oral Biology and Medicine will remain optional for associate (student) and retired members. Dues notices were sent out in January 1999.

Dr. London reported that it will no longer be possible for international members to pay their dues via credit card. For the past several years, international members were able to charge their AAOB dues to their Master or Visa cards through an arrangement with the IADR. However, this year, the IADR has restructured how it handles membership payments and the IADR is no longer able to accommodate international AAOB member due payment by credit card. Dr. London reported that he offered international members to option to pre-pay for multiple years to accommodate this change. Dr. London acknowledged Bobby Phipps of the IADR central staff for his help during the past years in this matter.

Item 3: Dr. Frank Oppenheim reported the results of the 1999 AAOB election. Of 113 ballots mailed, approximately 50 responded with the majority voting by e-mail. The following members were elected or appointed officers for 1999-2000. Additionally, Dr. Salomon Amar (Boston University) was elected director for the term 2000-2002.

Item 4: Dr. Frank Dowd reported that 36 graduating dental students from 35 dental schools in the United States and Canada received the 1998 AAOB Award in Oral Biology. Award winners were listed in the December 1998 issue of Critical Reviews in Oral Biology and Medicine and in the AAOB Newsletter (Volume 7, Issue 1, February 1998). 1998 was the first year of this award program which honors graduating senior dental students who have been involved in research in Oral Biology during their dental school career. A motion was unanimously passed that Dr. Dowd would continue to chair an ad hoc Oral Biology award committee. Dr. Dowd reported that he again contacted the deans of all dental schools in the US and Canada and solicited them to nominate one candidate for the AAOB Oral Biology award from their institution. Dr. Dowd, with the help of Dr. Steven D. London, will make award certificates and will distribute them to the dental schools for presentation to students this spring (1999) at their graduation ceremonies. Dr. Alvares and the membership acknowledged Dr. Dowd's continuing efforts in this project.

Item 5: Dr. Olav Alvares reported that the AAOB, in association with the Japanese Association of Oral Biologists co-sponsored a joint symposium at the 1999 IADR/AADR meeting in Vancouver, Canada. He reported that the symposium, "Cytokine Biology in Oral Disease" was well attended (>200) and well received. He thanked the speakers from Japan and the United States for their excellent presentations. Dr. Alvares acknowledged the Block Drug Co. and the CollaGenex Pharmaceutical Corp. for their financial support of the sympsium and a joint reception of the American and Japanese Association of Oral Biologists which immediately followed the 1999 AAOB business meeting. The membership acknowledged Dr. Alvares and Dr. Dana Graves (Program Officer) for their efforts in organizing the symposium.

American and Japanese Associations of Oral Biologists Joint Symposium
MARCH 12, 1999
VANCOUVER, B.C., CANADA

Cytokine Biology in Oral Disease

Following these presentations a panel discussion was held involving all speakers.

Item 6: Dr. Olav Alvares reported that the Japanese Association of Oral Biologists was interested in co-sponsoring a symposium at the 2001 IADR meeting in Tokyo, Japan. While a topic has not yet been selected, the membership unanimously approved a motion that Dr. Alvares and the AAOB continue to plan for this joint symposium.

Item 7: The membership indicated their approval to sponsor a program at the 2000 IADR/AADR meeting in Washington, D.C. A number of possible programs were discussed and it was agreed that the Program Director and the AAOB officers would develop a program for the 2000 IADR/AADR meeting. It was also agreed that the membership would be solicited for input via e-mail.

Item 8: Dr. Olav Alvares, Editor of Critical Reviews in Oral Biology and Medicine, reviewed the status of the journal as reported in the February 1999 issue (Volume 7, Number 1) of the AAOB Newsletter. He reported that the journal is operating at a deficit of ~ $16,000/year and that the deficit could be met with an additional 300 individual subscriptions. Dr. Alvares reported that the IADR has approved a budget that will support the journal for the next two years, however the deficit continues to be a major concern. In this regard, the membership approved Dr. Alvares to continue negotiations with the Japanese Association of Oral Biologists to have Critical Reviews in Oral Biology and Medicine become a "subofficial" publication of the JAOB. This arrangement would require mandatory subscription by the ~300 JAOB councilors and, if approved, would eliminate the operating deficit of the Journal.

Item 9: Dr. Frank Oppenheim reported that he had information on 14 dental school oral biology programs. Dr. Oppenheim will continue the survey this year and report back to the membership at the 2000 AAOB business meeting in Washington, DC.

Item 10: Dr. Olav Alvares, AAOB President, initiated a discussion of a number of items of New Business. They included:

1. Dr. Alvares reported the passing of Britta Månsson-Rahemtulla on January 16, 1999. Britta was an AAOB member since 1991 and was married to Firoz Rahemtulla who served as an appointed director of the AAOB from 1995 -1996. Dr. Alvares reported that donations may be made in Brittas memory to The Britta Rahemtulla Fellowship Fund, UAB Gift Records, 1230 Administration Building, 701 20th St. South, Birmingham, AL 35294-0112.


2. Dr. Alvares announced that starting this March, Dr. Leigh Anderson (University of Washington) will become the new editor of the AAOB Newsletter and that the Webpage will be maintained by Dr. Mike Dodds (University of Texas, San Antonio). The membership acknowledge Dr. Steven D. London's contributions to the AAOB in his role as Secretary/Treasurer, Editor of the AAOB Newsletter, and as Webmaster of the AAOB home page.


3. Dr. Kenneth Etzel reported that he would activate e-mail communication between AAOB members and would try to get AAOB members at each dental school in the United States and Canada during his term as president of the Association (1999-2000).

With no further business items to be discussed, the meeting was adjourned at 5:30 P.M. Prepared and submitted by Dr. Steven D. London, for Dr. Frank A. Scannapieco Secretary/Treasurer.