Minutes of Board Meetings

GEMS Board of Directors Meeting – April 7, 2008

The meeting was called to order at 3:10 pm by RoseAnne McGee, president. The following Board members were present: RoseAnne McGee, Jeff Ross (president-elect), Jayne Boyer (secretary), Heather Floyd (treasurer), Steve Little, Joel Myer, Perpetua Muganda, and Dan Shaughnessy. Rose Anne provided a delicious array of cheese, crackers, fruit salad, and drinks.

Reports from the Secretary and Treasurer
The minutes from the March 10, 2008 meeting were accepted.

Heather Floyd reported on GEMS financial summary and the treasurer’s report was accepted by the Board. Heather is still looking into a better money market rate.

Jayne Boyer is now able to use the GEMS banking accounts.

Old Business

Spring meeting:
The EPA catering group needs the number of Spring meeting registrants and speakers one week in advance. Heather will bring checkbook for the honoraria checks. Jeff suggested using the EPA catering for the reception also. They can provide cookies, brownies and soft drinks for $5/person. The Board discussed the lateness of the meeting and how long participants were likely to stay. It was suggested that 50% might stay for the reception and that the numbers given to the catering company reflect this expectation.

A NIEHS sponsor slide is needed for the meeting.

RoseAnne will prepare a 1-2 page program for the meeting. Heather designed new name tags for Board members and will use the ribboned tags for the speakers. Kristine has ordered all of the awards.

It was mentioned that one of the invited speakers may not be able to attend the meeting and that we can adjust the schedule.

Corporate Sponsor Report: None available.

GEMS Elections: Steve Little will contact Errol Zeiger for legal advice.

Young Scientist Outreach Program: RoseAnne will speak to students at NC A&T Wednesday April 9 about GEMS activities. This was arranged by Board member Perpetua Muganda, professor at the university.

Grant proposal: RoseAnne reported that the new proposal for money for the Fall Meeting from NIEHS was almost complete and will be submitted soon.


Student Outreach: Rose Anne McGee and Dan Shaughnessey plan to promote GEMS to students to increase membership of younger scientists. They are looking into avenues to do so.

Fall Meeting: Jeff will attend some inflammation and cancer talks at the April 2008 AACR meeting to get ideas for speakers for our Fall meeting. Jeff requested the Board to email speaker suggestions to him.

NIEHS Career Fair: GEMS will sponsor a table at the career fair April 25, 2008. Joel Meyer offered to man the table. Carol Swartz needs a check for the table. The Board agreed to donate $100. Dan and Joel volunteered to prepare a tri-fold poster for the event. Membership forms will also be available at the table. It was suggested to include the Fall Meeting topic and past winners of student prizes on the poster.

RoseAnne is still doing GEMS archive scanning and recording onto CDs.

New Business

Carleitta Paige inquired about using the money that she won at the Fall Meeting towards attending a scientific conference. RoseAnne emailed her the rules about its use and referred her to the GEMS treasurer for funds. She will ask Carlitta for a short report of the American Society of Microbiology meeting that she will attend in Boston.

Jeff reported that GSK has a program for donating money to non-profit organizations based on volunteer hours by employees and family members. He may be able to earn GEMS $500 for his time on the Board.

The EMS requested information about GEMS be provided for their newsletter. RoseAnne will send them information about our latest Fall and Spring meetings and a short story about our student winners who attended the EMS meeting.

The next meeting will be May 5, 2008 at 3:00 pm in NIEHS 4401 Building Room 122.

The Board adjourned at 4:00 pm.

GEMS Board of Directors Meeting – February 12, 2008

The meeting was called to order at 3:10 pm by Rose Anne McGee, president. The following Board members were present: Rose Anne McGee, Jeff Ross (president-elect), Jayne Boyer (secretary), Heather Floyd (treasurer), Cindy Innes, Kristine Witt, John D. Wilson, and Steve Little. Rose Anne provided a lovely selection of Valentine and birthday snacks and drinks.

Reports from the Secretary and Treasurer

• Rose Anne spoke with Gloria Jahnke (former GEMS secretary) about whether minutes were recorded at the Fall Meeting. Gloria reported that none were usually taken. The Board suggested that this may be considered in the future. Jayne Boyer distributed the latest version of the minutes from December 2008 and they were accepted by the Board. Jayne will send a copy to Frank Stack to post on the GEMS website.
• Heather Floyd presented the Treasurer’s report. In December, NIEHS approved a donation of $4000 to GEMS to help to cover the costs of the Fall 2007 meeting. Since the money has not been received by GEMS, Heather will contact The Institute to see if it has been sent.
• Another co-signer of the GEMS checks is needed in case the Treasurer is not available. Heather will contact Jayne about meeting at the bank to arrange for this approval.
• The Board discussed looking into getting a better interest rate for our money market account.
• Dan Shaughnessy needs to be reimbursed for the $50 gift card that was given to Greg Stuart.
• The Treasurer’s report was accepted.

Old Business

• RoseAnne is still looking into a student outreach program. She will contact Bruce Casto about the possibility of giving a workshop.
• RoseAnne asked for and received a timeline to prepare for meetings from former President Tom Hughes. Jeff Ross has a copy and will set a timeline for the Spring and Fall meetings soon.
• Credit card payment for our meetings was found not to be a viable option because of cost. A 3-tiered payment option was approved by the Board.

New Business

• The Board is interested in recruiting younger scientists into the society. Rose Anne presented ideas about recruitment opportunities at universities in the area. She suggested presenting information about the society during a class. It was also suggested that we concentrate on recruiting at historically black universities. Along with recruiting younger members to GEMS, the Board also discussed expanding the sphere of our presentations to keep up with “modern” genetic toxicology.
• Rose Anne has begun to scan and save GEMS documents into CDs to decrease the volume of records. She has 25 years of check receipts but will save the last 7 years. Steve Little volunteered to scan a box of color photos.
• The Board discussed and approved John Wilson as our liaison to corporate members. Since our Corporate Board member is a volunteer position, we thought that it was better to have an elected Board member assigned to contact Corporate sponsors and the Corporate Board member.
• A scientist from Turkey expressed interest in joining GEMS. He will send the membership dues by mail.

Spring meeting

• Jeff Ross has set the date for the Spring Meeting for Monday, April 21, 2008 and it will be held at the US EPA from approximately 11:15 am to 5:00 pm. The title of the meeting is “Micro-RNAs in Disease”. There will be 4 speakers; he has contacted several local and outside researchers.
  
• Jeff will be out of town prior to the meeting and will need help for last minute preparations. He has spoken with the EPA catering group about providing food for the break and lunch. They have boxed lunches for $10 per person. The Board discussed providing our own food for the reception, however. Rose Anne who is a former caterer volunteered to coordinate the reception. We discussed the potential food problem of the meeting being held during Passover but decided that we could not accommodate the special food needs of the holiday. Jeff will give the caterer the head count a week prior to the meeting.
  
• The Board approved the Spring Meeting plans.

Fall Meeting 2008

• Jeff reported searching for a venue for the Fall Meeting. Many hotels are already booked for October. The Radisson is still available for a few Mondays in that month. He will tentatively reserve Oct. 6 at the Radisson while he waits to hear from other venues.
• The Board considered a few topics for the Fall Meeting (Cancer Stem cells, Inflammation and Disease, Infectious Disease and Cancer) before choosing “Inflammation and Disease” as a tentative title.

The next Board meeting was set for Monday, March 3, 2008 at 3:00 pm. April 7 has been chosen for the meeting after. The GEMS meeting was adjourned at 4:25 pm.

GEMS Board of Directors Meeting – December 4, 2007

The meeting was called to order at 3:10 pm by Rose Anne McGee, president. The following Board members were present: Rose Anne McGee, Jeff Ross, Jayne Boyer, Heather Floyd, Cindy Innes, Dan Shaughnessy, Kristine Witt, Joel Meyer, Perpetua Muganda, John D. Wilson and Carol Swartz. Rose Anne provided a hearty selection of holiday snacks and drinks.

Reports from the Secretary and Treasurer
No minutes were available for the 25th Annual Fall Meeting. Rose Anne will ask for a report from Gloria Jahnke. The Treasurer’s report was written by Gloria Jahnke and presented by the new Treasurer, Heather Floyd. Heather plans to move some checking account funds into the money market account. There are still a few outstanding bills from the Fall Meeting including airfare for Dr. Maynard and gifts for speakers who cannot accept honoraria as well as gifts for outgoing GEMS officers. Heather and Jayne plan to meet with the bank to permit Jayne to write checks from the GEMS accounts.

Old Business
Fall Meeting – Rose Anne reported that there were 183 registrants, however not all had paid. GEMS lost money for lunches that were not paid by absentee registrants. A new policy to require payment with registration was discussed. Jeff Ross offered to investigate no-shows from the EPA. Heather offered to look into credit card or PayPal option for registration payment. Several Board members thought that this might be too expensive to offer. Jeff Ross suggested a 3-tiered time/payment option for meetings that would give discounts for early registrants.

It was noted that the GEMS website needed updating to reflect the election outcome and the minutes of the Fall Meeting. Rose Anne will contact Gloria Jahnke for the minutes and ask Frank Stack to update the web page.

New Business
Rose Anne McGee reported that NIEHS is considering donating funds for the 2007 Fall GEMS meeting. The committee to decide on the donation will meet in December 2007.

The Board discussed changing the length of some Councilor’s terms to allow for 3 new people per year for 3 years. This year a current Councilor became an Officer and left 1 year of their Councilor term open. Four Councilors were elected this fall to fill 3 – 3yr terms and 1-1yr term. It was suggested that one person serve for 4 years instead of 3 years. The Bylaws will be consulted and the topic will be discussed next meeting.

Spring meeting 2008 – Jeff Ross has tentatively reserved several rooms at the EPA for our Spring Meeting. The auditorium and a small lunch room have been reserved. The tentative dates are April 7, 8, 21, 2008. The Board decided that April 21 or April 8 would be dates of choice. The level of satisfaction with the food service from last Spring’s meeting was discussed. It was mentioned that lunch and the reception food were served a bit late. Jeff offered to look into this problem. There were also a few complaints about the lack of coffee during breaks. Jeff has an EPA Division coffee urn that can be used in lieu of adding coffee to the food service order. The price structure for the meeting will be discussed at a later date. A few topics for the meeting were discussed. “ Mitochondrial damage” was a suggestion that gathered much discussion. Rose Anne or Jeff will send the Board members a list of old topics. The Board was asked to add to the list for discussion at next meeting.

Jeff suggested that GEMS consider sponsoring a workshop on “How to Give a Seminar”. RoseAnn suggested Bruce Casto as the seminar speaker. Jeff feels that GEMS needs to find ways to recruit younger members and that the workshop could help us attain this goal. Since the EPA and NIEHS already have training sessions in place, it was suggested that we consider co-sponsoring such and event with them.

Fall meeting 2008 – A date for this meeting should be chosen soon. We should avoid dates around the EMS meeting which is Oct 18-22, 2008. Although the Fall 2007 meeting was a very successful one at the Radisson, a few complaints were registered with Board members. The use of 3 floors was inconvenient because the elevators were slow and the stairs did not go to all of the floors. The vendors reportedly loved their space, however. Coffee was said to be weak. The Sheraton in the RTP was suggested as a possible new venue. Jeff will contact them about dates. The Board discussed possibly moving the Fall venue around the triangle (e.g., UNC, Duke, RTP etc). The consensus was that Wake Forest University was too far for triangle scientists to travel.

Rose Anne suggested getting a volunteer GEMS historian to scan paper documents into CDs for easier storage. Some receipts must be kept for 7 years but the archives go back 25 years. She suggested that if we can’t find a historian that we could ask for several volunteers from the membership to help with this task.

Rose Anne remembered that there used to be a timeline guide for Board members to follow. She will try to find an old copy and distribute it to the Board.

Rose Anne will reserve the meeting room for Board meetings for the first Wednesday of each month. The actual meeting dates will be announced as it will not be necessary to meet monthly. The next GEMS board meeting was set for Feb. 6, 2008. Rose Anne will send email confirmations.

The GEMS Board meeting was adjourned at 4:30 pm.

GEMS Board of Directors Meeting – October 9, 2007

1. The meeting was called to order at 3:15 PM by Greg Stuart. The following Board members were present: Greg Stuart, Rose Anne McGee, Gloria Jahnke, Jayne Boyer, Errol Zeiger, Cindy Innes, Dana Dolinoy, Kristine Witt, Dan Shaughnessy, Dario Ramirez, Janice Allen, and Jeffrey Ross.

2. Secretary & Treasurer’s Report – Gloria Jahnke presented these reports. The balance in the checking and money market accounts were reported. The treasurer’s report was approved by the Board. The corrected minutes from the September 11, 2007 Board Meeting were also approved. Gloria also noted that as of September 10, 2007 there were 27 paid registrants and 8 paid corporate sponsors for the Fall Meeting.

3. Old Business –GEMS BY-Laws- The GEMS election guidelines need to be updated in the GEMS by-laws. In the present by-laws, specific timeframes are set based upon hand mailing of ballots and are too rigid. GEMS now uses electronic voting sent to “members in good standing”. The Board will also need to further discuss what that statement means in terms of dues payments. Most members pay their yearly dues at registration for the Fall meeting. Currently, members who last paid dues in 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007 are on the membership roster. The membership will need to have a dues reminder sent out by email. Requests for changes in the by-laws should be sent to Errol.

4. New Business – Fall Meeting– Rose Anne updated the Board on plans for the Fall Meeting to be held on Monday, October 29, at the Radisson Hotel in Research Triangle Park, NC. Tom Hughes has agreed to speak at lunch about the history of GEMS. Sam Wilson has also agreed to speak at the Fall Meeting. To help defray meeting costs, Rose Anne has requested a donation from NIEHS and has provided Dr. Wilson’s office with a draft budget for the fall meeting. She provided the Board with a proposed budget for the meeting and updated information on Fall Meeting preparations. Although the entry deadline was extended to October 9, at present there are 4 talks and 2 posters. She asked the Board to encourage more poster entries. The abstract booklet is nearing completion pending late abstracts and information on a corporate sponsor.

Spring Meeting and Membership- There was a brief discussion by the Board on how to increase the number of posters and attendance at the GEMS meetings. It was mentioned that refocusing the theme of the meetings towards mentoring for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows would be helpful. Greg mentioned that Dr. Donald Coffey (Johns Hopkins) is a very charismatic speaker and mentor. Janice mentioned Dr. Oliver Smithies (UNC), a recent Nobel Prize winner, would be a big draw. His contributions to genetics could be highlighted with a meeting topic such as “Animal Models of Human Disease”. Spring meeting dates, venue, and topics will be discussed at the next GEMS meeting.

Next GEMS Board of Directors Meeting will be announced by email after the Fall Meeting and election of new board members.

GEMS Board of Directors Meeting – September 11, 2007

1. The meeting was called to order at 3:10 PM by Greg Stuart. The following Board members were present: Greg Stuart, Rose Anne McGee, Gloria Jahnke, Jayne Boyer, Errol Zeiger, Cindy Innes, Dana Dolinoy, Kristine Witt, Mac Law, Dan Shaughnessy, Frank Stack, Stephen Little, Janice Allen, and Julie Ginsler.

2. Corporate Sponsor Representative’s Report – Julie Ginsler reported that there are twelve corporate sponsors for the GEMS Fall meeting and there are four more pending. The company logo and a short paragraph about the company and any advertisements are due by October 2nd for the Fall Program. A full-page advertisement in the Program can be submitted in pdf format and costs $50. All program submissions are to be sent to Rose Anne. The vendors will have a door prize raffle.

3. Secretary & Treasurer’s Report – ­­Gloria Jahnke presented these reports. The balance in the checking and money market accounts were reported. The treasurer’s report was approved by the Board. The corrected minutes from the August 2, 2007 Board Meeting were also approved.

4. Old Business –2007 GEMS Elections –Greg Stuart reviewed the candidates for the GEMS fall election. So far, the candidates for councilor (three positions open) are: Banalata Sen (USEPA), Joel Meyer (Duke University), Dennis Simpson (UNC-CH), John D. Wilson (GSK), Perpetua Muganda (NC A&T), and Yue Ge (US EPA). Jeff Ross (USEPA) and Heather Floyd (USEPA) are candidates for President-Elect, Treasurer, respectively. Jayne Boyer (UNC-CH) and Maribel Bruno (US EPA) are candidates for secretary. Nominations are still being accepted. The Board will need to approve the final ballot.

5. New Business – Fall Meeting– Rose Anne updated the Board on plans for the Fall Meeting to be held on Monday, October 29, at the Radisson Hotel in Research Triangle Park, NC. She has asked Dr. Sam Wilson to speak and has also requested a donation from NIEHS. A letter of congratulations to GEMS has been received from Honorable David Price. This letter will be included in the program booklet. Meeting fliers were distributed to Board members for posting. Almost all of the local universities have been notified about the meeting. However, a contact for Campbell University is still needed. In addition to a $1500 travel award for best presentation and awards of $250 each for best student, technician, and post doctoral poster, a President’s travel award will be presented. This award is intended to cover EMS meeting expenses and was generated through contributions from past presidents. Application for this award is on the GEMS website and the judging will be done separately from the meeting. Five past GEMS Presidents have agreed to judge the applications: Amal Abu-Shakra, Mark Miller, Beth George, Tom Hughes, and Mike Cunningham. Kristine Witt will obtain the awards for the invited speakers, best presentation, and outgoing officers.

Next GEMS Board of Directors Meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, October 9, 2007 at 3PM at the Hamner Institutes for Health Sciences.

GEMS Board of Directors Meeting – August 2, 2007

1. The meeting was called to order at 3:40 PM by Greg Stuart. The following Board members were present: Greg Stuart, Rose Anne McGee, Gloria Jahnke, Jayne Boyer, Errol Zeiger, Cindy Innes, Dana Dolinoy, Kristine Witt, Dario Ramirez, Mac Law, and Dan Shaughnessey. Refreshments were made available to the participants by Greg and Susan Stuart.

2. Treasurer’s Report – Gloria Jahnke presented the treasurer’s report. The treasurer’s report was approved by the Board. The corrected minutes from the June 13, 2007 Board Meeting were also approved.

3. Old Business –2007 GEMS Elections –Greg Stuart reviewed the candidates for the GEMS fall election. So far, the candidates for councilor (three positions open) are: Banalata Sen (USEPA), Joel Meyer (Duke University), Dennis Simpson (UNC-CH), and John D. Wilson (GSK). Jeff Ross (USEPA), Jayne Boyer (UNC-CH), and Heather Floyd (USEPA) are candidates for President-Elect, Secretary, and Treasurer, respectively. Nominations are still being accepted. Elections to the Board will occur 7-10 days before the Fall Meeting. Greg will contact the candidates after the election and a formal announcement of the election results will occur at the Fall Business Meeting.

4 New Business – Fall Meeting (handouts–outline of meeting report and draft meeting agenda) – Rose Anne reviewed plans for the fall meeting to be held on Monday, October 29, at the Radisson Hotel in Research Triangle Park, NC. John Maruca from Image Associates will provide audiovisual support and equipment. The estimated cost of this service to GEMS is approximately $2,300. This meeting should draw 17–20 corporate sponsors. Greg will check with Julie Ginsler about obtaining sponsors. Gloria will send Frank Stack electronic copies of the meeting announcement and registration form for posting on the GEMS website. Draft meeting agenda, list of past presidents, corporate sponsors, and call for abstracts need to be posted on the web by September 10. Randy Jirtle (Duke University), Andrew Maynard (Smithsonian Institution) and Ann Richard (USEPA) are the invited speakers. Six student talks of ten minutes each are planned. Deadlines for abstract submission and early registration is October 1. RoseAnne has finalized a contract for obtaining poster boards. All information for the program, including abstracts, invited speaker bios, and corporate sponsor information is due by close of business October 9, 2007. Dana and Dan will write the bios for the invited speakers. In September, Kristine, Rose Anne, and Mac will sample the Radisson food choices for the meeting. Meeting registration fees will be the same as last year. Gloria will check with Susan Ross for meeting registration information, such as printing nametags, lunch vouchers, and receipts for the meeting. Diane Spencer has agreed to help with pre-meeting preparations. Ed Ball (NIEHS publicity office, staff writer) and Steve MacCaw (Image Associates, photographer) will receive complementary luncheon vouchers.

Other Business – Kristine and Errol reported on a teleconference with members of GTA about hosting a joint symposium at the 2008 EMS meeting. The purpose of the symposium is to increase interest in genetic toxicology. GTA is focused on industry and government regulatory groups and GEMS is focused primarily on basic research groups. PLEASE ADD INFO TO THIS SECTION WHAT WAS THE OUTCOME?

Next GEMS Board of Directors Meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, September 11, 2007 at 3PM at the Hamner Institutes for Health Sciences.

GEMS Board of Directors Meeting – June 13, 2007

1. The meeting was called to order at 3:40 PM by Greg Stuart. The following Board members were present: Greg Stuart, Rose Anne McGee, Gloria Jahnke, Jayne Boyer, Errol Zeiger, Cindy Innes, Janice Allen, Stephen Little, Dana Dolinoy, Kristine Witt, and Dario Ramirez. Cheese, crackers, and chocolates were made available to the participants by Greg and Susan Stuart.

2. Treasurer’s Report (1 handout). Gloria Jahnke presented the treasurer’s report. The treasurer’s report was approved by the Board. The corrected minutes from the May 2007 Board Meeting were also approved.

3. Old Business –2007 GEMS Election –Greg Stuart has sent out an email asking the GEMS membership for nominations. Positions to be filled are President-Elect, Treasurer, Secretary, and 3 Councilor positions. Councilors rotating off the Board are Janice Allen, Errol Zeiger, and Jayne Boyer. So far, the candidates are: councilors: Banalata Sen (USEPA), Joel Meyer (Duke University), Dennis Simpson (UNC-CH), and John D. Wilson (GSK). Jeff Ross (USEPA), Jayne Boyer (UNC-CH), and Heather Floyd (USEPA) are candidates for President-Elect, Secretary, and Treasurer, respectively.

4. New Business – Fall Meeting (handouts–outline of meeting report and draft meeting agenda) – Rose Anne reviewed plans for the fall meeting to be held on Monday, October 29, at the Radisson Hotel in Research Triangle Park, NC. Rose Anne has instituted a Past President’s Travel Award with contributions to the fund from GEMS presidents. The meeting title is “Current and Future Issues in Environmental Toxicology”. Committed speakers are Randy Jirtle, PhD, speaking on “Epigenetics: The New Genetics of Toxicology” and Andrew Maynard, PhD, who will speak on emerging nanotechnologies (title to be announced). A third speaker will be named at the next board meeting. Poster boards for the meeting will be provided by a contract with Southeastern Exhibition Services and Steve McCaw will be the meeting photographer. Kristine Witt and Rose Anne will check on the Radisson food menu for the meeting. Jayne Boyer has agreed to obtain the Corporate Gift Basket for the meeting. Honorable David Price will be unable to attend the Fall Meeting, but will send a congratulatory letter to be copied into the program booklet. Honorable Elizabeth Dole has also been invited to the meeting. Gloria will draft a flier announcing the Fall Meeting. Fliers will be distributed to local universities and institutions. Errol Zeiger suggested that Sigma Xi may be willing to distribute the meeting announcement. Kristine will look into posting a meeting announcement in the EMS newsletter. Fall Meeting fliers and announcements will be sent out after the next board meeting and the meeting details posted on the GEMS web site.

The next Board of Directors Meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, August 2, 2007 at 3PM at The Hamner Institutes.