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BOD_Minutes_2009_04_18

MINUTES OF THE
HUNGARIAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA
BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING – 12:00 PM, APRIL 18TH, 2009
HELMSLEY’S SANDCASTLE HOTEL, SARASOTA, FLORIDA
Voting BOD members present: total votes 7 (plus Presidential tie-breaker)
I. Harangozo, G. Acs, P. Leidl, A. Varga (by Skype)
Advisory Board President: L. Mechtler (one vote)
I. Krisztinicz, P. Forbath, I. Frater, P., K. Kismartoni, A. Matolcsy
Alternates: L. Miskolczi (voting for T. Krisztinicz), G. Paragh (voting for G. Baffy)
Also present: I. Stadler, A. Stadler,
I. Approval of Minutes
Quorum was established with 7 voting members present. The Minutes of the October 27
and October 29, 2009 BOD meeting were approved.
II. Presidential Address (Peredy)
Dr. Peredy thanked the members of the Board for their time and effort in serving the Association.
He reminded the Board of our mission, which is mainly to promote scholarly activity within our
group. One of the ways we do that is by organizing the Scientific Meeting. Our last meeting was
successful and we expect the next meeting to be successful as well. We also support the student
exchange program which is doing extremely well, the evaluations are uniformly positive. Our
second goal is to foster friendship and collaboration among our members and colleagues in
Hungary. He emphasized the importance of good communication and participation in our
activities and tasks. Email remains our main method of communication, however, he asked the
members to be careful with email communication as it represents a written document and may be
misinterpreted.
Our high priority activities include obtaining verification of our 501c status. According to Dr.
Harangozo, who has been in contact with the IRS, the ball is in their court and there is nothing we
can do the facilitate this process at the current time. A discussion was held about the fact that we
had this status in the past and the IRS had to re-certify us. Dr. Harangozo mentioned that we
receive requests from multiple organizations for our tax ID number and he emphasized that we do
not have to give out that number to anyone. The question was raised whether we should give our
tax ID number to companies or individuals who financially support our activities or make
donations to the Association or rather, simply providing our name and stating that we have 501c
status suffices. Dr. Harangozo will clarify this question.
The next high priority item is the domain transfer letter for the HMAA website. We have
previously transferred our domain name (hmma.org) from Network Systems to WebAssist. Dr.2
Peredy has the domain transfer letter which was sent in December 2008. If we consider moving
the web host to any other company, we need a domain transfer letter and we need to be paid in
full with the current company. He has sent a note to Dr. Garamy to find out if he has been in
contact with WebAssist. Dr. Garami has not been in contact with WebAssist. At the present time
we are considering changing our web host from WebAssist to Interware in Hungary. We already
have the preliminary design of the website (which is not live yet), which Dr. Peredy demonstrated
to the Board and noted that some changes still have to be made to the design. He acknowledged
Drs. Garami and Harangozo's efforts to facilitate this process. A discussion was held whether to
go forward with the plan to change our host to Interware. The board unanimously decided that we
move forward with the plan and Dr. Garami will serve as "webmaster" under guidelines from the
Board and will provide regular reports to the Board. There will also be a possibility for revenue
generation from companies advertizing on our website. Dr. Acs proposed that members should be
able to update their own contact information in the members only area on the new website. He
also proposed that hmma.org email addresses should be provided to the officers.
Letters of thank you is also a high priority activity. Dr. Peredy will send thank you letters to the
four sites in Hungary. He also asked the help of the Board in identifying a list of individuals who
should receive thank you letters.
Our next high priority activity is the completion of the abstracts for the next scientific
meeting. The preliminary announcements have been sent out. Dr. Peredy emphasized the
importance of timely submission of the abstracts and completion of the forms to meet
CME credit requirements. Dr. Bodnar in Hungary also has received abstract forms for
distribution in Hungary. We will provide the hotel with a complete mailing list so that
they can send out a brochure (for free) to the individuals on the list. He noted that we
have several membership and mailing lists and emphasized that we need to pull these lists
together to have one complete membership list. We also have to distinguish between the
membership list and the mailing list, which is broader than the former. A. Stadler has
recently updated the mailing list. Dr. Peredy suggested that we divide the list according to
states between our members and try to contact the individuals on the list to confirm their
contact information and in order to try to recruit new members. Other possibility may be
to obtain a list of Hungarian physicians from the AMA. It was decided that A. Stadler
will update the mailing list and distribute it among Board members. Dr. Peredy will
divide the list among members to contact the individuals on the list in their respective
states.
III. Secretary report (Acs)
In the absence of Dr. Somkuti (Awards Chair) Dr. Acs talked about the proposed awards.
He noted that at the last BOD meeting the Board made the decision to purchase 50 replica
copies of the first medical book published in Hungarian as a gift to be given to the
awardees. The book will also contain one page each in English and in Hungarian about
the HMAA and our mission. We estimate that we will give out five books per year, so
that the 50 copies ordered will be enough for the Association for 10 years.
Dr. Acs proposed the establishment of a new educational award together with his brother,
Dr. Peter Acs. The award, in the amount of $2,000 per year, will cover the costs for3
inviting a Hungarian medical student to participate in our Scientific Meeting and give a
presentation. The awardee will be selected among students giving the best scientific
presentations at the Students Scientific Circle conferences in Hungary. The Board
unanimously approved the proposal.
IV. Treasurer’s Report (Harangozo)
Dr. Harangozo provided a written Net Worth Report including a net worth summary as of
March 31, 2009. He noted that compared to last year we have a decline of close to $8,000
in our balance, primarily made up of the UBS account and the Buffalo account. Most
expenditures are through the student exchange program. He noted that the loss in balance
is mainly due to membership dues being down. He proposed a push in generating
membership dues.
V. Auxiliary Report (Halasz)
No report was received from Dr. Halasz.
VI. Program Report (I. Stadler)
Dr. Stadler has provided the Board with a written Summary Evaluation for the 40th
Annual Scientific Meeting. Based on the evaluations of participants, this meeting was one
of the best in the history of the Association.
The title for the 41st Meeting was approved: "Sarasota Splash - Update in Biomedical and
Clinical Sciences". He has sent out a preliminary abstract form but only received seven
responses. He presented the Call for Abstracts letter to be sent out, which was approved
by the Board. He emphasized the importance of timely abstract submission and noted that
we should reject any abstract submitted after the deadline. Last year he had serious
problems with the forms necessary for CME credit not filled out by participants. Dr.
Peredy proposed that Board members should fill out the forms at this Board meeting. It is
also important that participants fill out all data fields on the registration form.
Registration fees will not be increased for this year's meeting. We will continue our
tradition regarding invited speakers. For speakers from the US we pay for airfare up to
$350 and three days of accomodation in the hotel and waive the registration fee. For
speakers from abroad, we cannot pay for travel, but we provide accomodation for some
nights and waive the registration fee.
Dr. Stadler asked members whether they would be interested in organizing a scientific
session. He reported that Dr. Falus, a Professor of Immunology at Semmelweis
University, would like to organize a session in basic biomedical science together with Dr.
Petrusz. Dr. Kovacs proposed to organize an orthopedic session with Dr. T. Krisztinicz4
and will invite speakers from Germany and Hungary. Dr. Khoor proposed to organize a
session on pulmonology.
A. Stadler has talked about the financial aspects of the program. She proposed to use
Kinko for copying our materials as prices has increased for printing of the program and
Archives. The question was raised whether we should only publish the Archive
electronically. Although not having paper copies would save money, the opinion of the
Board is to continue publish hard copies of the Archives as it is a registered journal.
However, the number of copies printed can be reduced if necessary and feasible, while
the electronic version can be sent out to the membership by email.
Dr. Peredy has thanked Dr. Stadler for his excellent work in putting together the scientific
program. With regard to the social program, he noted that we should have suggestions for
the Banquet speaker. Among several suggestions from the Board for banquet speaker the
Board has decided to try to invite Dr. Alan List from the Moffitt Cancer Center this year.
During the October conference the Board meeting will be held on Monday night as usual.
On Tuesday night the Kossuth Club of Sarasota would like to get together again with us
for a tea party and possible poetry reading. On Wednesday we will have the water polo
game, and following that we would have an adults only "Kocsma Party" as proposed by
Dr. and Mrs. Matolcsy, who will also organize this event. The membership meeting will
also be held on Wednesday immediately following the scientific session. The banquet
will be held on Thursday evening at the Bird Key Yacht Club, to be organized by Andrea
Varga. We will try to have the second Board Meeting on Friday.
VII. Membership Report (S. Mechtler)
Dr. S. Mechtler has provided a written Membership Committee Report. As of April 18,
2009 we have 153 active members. Invoices for the 2009 dues were sent out early April.
Of the 153 members 110 paid their dues for 2008. In 2007 100, while in 2006 104
members paid their dues. Compared to the previous year, 2008 brought a 10% increase in
paid dues. Some of our members have moved back to Hungary, some have retired. Dr.
Mechtler has written to those members who recently retired to see if they are interested in
continuing their membership as retired members. To those who have not paid their dues
originally, he will send a second invoice. He noted that historically many members pay
their dues in Sarasota in October. Dr. Mechtler would prefer to have the dues paid earlier
as this would provide him the opportunity to make the membership cards and distribute
them prior to the conference. He also attached the most recent list of HMAA members for
2009 and will provide an electronic version of it as well.
VIII. Public Relations (Matolcsy)
Dr. Matolcsy reported that Mr. Molnar from the American Hungarian Federation in New
Brunswick approached him asking that we provide them a collection of our brochures
and archives to include them in their library, which is the largest Hungarian library in the5
country. He would also be very happy to organize a meeting for the Hungarian
physicians in New Brunswick in their offices in the name of the HMAA.
Dr. Matolcsy has met with the leaders of the Hungarian American Educational
Foundation in Budapest and emphasized that this could be a good foundation for students
to obtain support to come to the US to do research. He reported that he has signed an
agreement between Boston University and Semmelweiss University for two Hungarian
fellows to come to the US. He notified the Board that Dr. Haas, who is a member of the
Hungarian Academy of Sciences, will travel to Hungary in the near future to receive an
award from the Academy. Dr. Matolcsy is working on organizing a scientific symposium
in Hungary, honoring the establishment of the first academic chair of emergency
medicine in Hungary.
Dr. Matolcsy had nothing to report with regard to the Orvosi Kamara. With regard to the
MET, Dr. Forbath reported that he had no recent contact with them. They have a new
leadership, but he had no contact with them yet and there are no scheduled events that he
is aware of.
Dr. Kismartoni raised the idea of contacting the local hospital in Sarasota and invite them
to our Meeting to increase audience. Unfortunately our contact in Sarasota has left the
hospital and we would need an active physician in Sarasota to be our contact person with
the local medical community. Dr. Varga and Dr. Acs were planning to bring together
Hungarian physicians in Florida and a brief discussion regarding the possibility of
establishing a Florida chapter was held.
IX. Publications Committee (Somkuti)
In the absence of Dr. Somkuti, Dr. Peredy reported that according to their recent
conversation, Dr. Somkuti has received a nice monograph from Dr. Ertl about his family
history of three or four generations of surgeons. He would like to publish this, but has not
yet received any other material for the Archives. He called on the Officers and Board
members to submit other articles, because it is important to keep the two yearly issues of
the Archives. A discussion was held about the need to have two issues of the Archives
versus only one. Dr. Paragh suggested that we should publish interesting articles and
material on the website to make it more interesting and increase traffic on our website.
Dr. Matolcsy noted that the printed archive is a very good tool in public relations. It was
suggested that the visiting Hungarian and American students should write about their
experiences in the US and Hungary and those could be published in the Archives. Dr.
Paragh suggested that we should offer a small prize for students to write good reports.
The Board's recommendations will be passed on to Dr. Somkuti. Dr. Matolcsy noted that
Dr. Somkuti is also working on an article on the history of our Association.
X. Awards Committee (Somkuti)6
See above under Secretary's Report.
XI. By-law Committee (Kismartoni)
Dr. Kismartoni had nothing to report.
XI. Student Exchange Program (L. Mechtler)
Dr. L. Mechtler reported that the program is in a good phase now despite some small
difficulties. The new larger apartment is working out very nicely. Most activities and
logistics are done by Eva Tamoga. Usually students request rotations and it is Dr.
Mechtler's and Ms. Tamoga's job to secure these rotations for the students. Things are
running smoothly so far. The students especially enjoy their rotations at Roswell Park
Cancer Center, where they are allowed to participate in clinical work and be part of the
team. Other rotations are also going very well. The quality of students and their English
is very good, many of them receive letters of recommendations after their rotations and
feedback about the students has been uniformly good. Although not an official program
for the University of Buffalo, nine American students have had rotations in Hungary
(Budapest and Pecs). In Hungary these students receive free housing and the Hungarian
students take care of them. They have had excellent rotations in Pathology and Forensic
Pathology. When they come back with good feedback about their rotations, we will use
this information to market the program and also bring attention to the Hungarian students
at the University of Buffalo. Regarding difficulties, Dr. Mechtler noted that the students
need more bicycles. Ms. Tamoga has done a lot of work, but she’s very ill and actively
receiving treatment. Although we have already sent her $500 and a nice card as a token
of our appreciation from the Board, Dr. Mechtler suggested that we should consider
another donation after the October meeting. He also noted that we need a plan for
replacing Ms. Tamoga, and he is trying to do this with another executive secretary of his.
Dr. Mechtler also reported that they have a film club of Hungarian movies in Buffalo,
where the Hungarian students and some American physicians show up and it is a success.
Dr. Peredy suggested that we should have a Hungarian movie night at the October
meeting on Tuesday night.
Dr. Peredy reported that according to his conversation with Dr. Bodnar the interview
process for the exchange program went smoothly. Five students from Debrecen applied.
There were no applications from Pecs, so Dr. Bodnar is planning a presentation about the
program at Pecs. The CIEE has provided five scholarships for the students. Dr. Peredy
will send thank you letters to Dr. Bodnar and other individuals who helped in the
interviews. Dr. Harangozo proposed that we should put together the facts and numbers
regarding the student exchange program and publish it on our website, because it is a
very significant achievement. According to Dr. Mechtler's calculations, approximately
250 students and 70 residents spent rotations in Buffalo over the years since 1995 and
about 20-30% of students have come back to the US for residency training. The Board7
agreed that we have to use these figures for advertising, marketing and fundraising
activities.
A brief discussion was held about the offer of Marta Ventila, who proposed that she
could help us raise money for our educational efforts if we provided her with $1,000 seed
money. No decision was made in this matter. Dr. L. Mechtler will talk to Ms. Ventila in
the near future to obtain more information about her offer and the chances of success.
XII. New England Chapter Report (Baffy)
In the absence of Dr. Baffy, Dr. Matolcsy has read Dr. Baffy's report to the board which
has been distributed to members of the Board by email. According to Dr. Baffy's report,
the New England Chapter (NEC) of HMAA continues with the same level of activity
since its inception in 2004, providing a venue for regular meetings with the participation
of members and friends of the HMAA within the greater New England area.
Unfortunately the number of paying members remains low. Most attendees are recurring
guests and it has been difficult to encourage them to join the HMAA and NEC. However,
the level of attendance at their quarterly meetings has been steady. The main goal of the
Chapter remains to provide a recruitment ground for current and potential members of the
HMAA in the New England area where there are many physicians engaged in clinical or
research activities temporally or on a permanent basis. The Chapter has its own accepted
bylaws and fully complies with the HMAA bylaws, advancing the original mission and
vision of the HMAA. The NEC membership fee is $30 per year, which is in addition to
the $150 HMAA membership fee. The officers of NEC are Ildiko Halasz, President
(elected Sep 30, 2005) and Agnes Virga, Secretary (elected June 10, 2005). Dr. Baffy has
also attached a list of prior NEC meetings.
XIII. Old Business
1. Report from Germany (Kovacs)
Dr. Kovacs could not attend the meeting and he had sent no report. It was noted that he is
organizing a session for the fall meeting and planning to attend.
2. Report from Hungary (Bodnar and A. Tarnoki)
Dr. Bodnar submitted a written report to the Board. According to her report, they
interviewed 16 medical students on February 18 and 25, from the Medical Universities of
Szeged, Debrecen and Budapest. It is good news that there were 5 applicants from
Debrecen (as last year there were none), most likely as a result of their communication
with the University of Debrecen clarifying financial details and introducing the HAESF
program in detail by organizing a meeting between the Hungarian representative of
HAESF and the HMAA representative of Debrecen University. Unfortunately there were
no applicants from Pecs, so they will try to focus on Pecs this fall to advertise the8
program better. The Tarnoki twins are planning to give a lecture on the exchange
program, and they have presented another lecture in Debrecen.
Currently there are 9 medical students from Buffalo for 1 month pathology rotation, 6 at
the Semmelweis University in Budapest, 3 in Pecs. Hopefully their presence in Pecs will
help to introduce our exchange program to the medical students there. The Tarnoki twins
organized a shuttle bus from the airport, visiting the Opera and have e-mail contact with
the visiting students, so Dr. Bodnar hopes that they will return with a good impression
about Hungary and the exchange program. They are also expected to provide us with an
exit report about the professional side of the training.
With regard to the lecture series at Rozsakert Medical Center, Dr, Bodnar reported that
Dr. Baffy gave an excellent lecture about colorectal cancer screening in March 2009.
There are more and more participants every time, so she is very enthusiastic about
continuing this program.
With regard to the Hungary Chapter, Dr. Bodnar noted that on our last Board meeting the
BOD accepted and supported her proposal to establish a Hungary Chapter in order to
work in a more organized fashion in Hungary. The Hungary Chapter Bylaws Proposal
was written in Sarasota and received comments from Drs. Petrusz and Kismartoni on
behalf of the Bylaws Committee. With the recommended corrections incorporated she
has sent the Hungary Chapter Bylaws Proposal to the Board asking for recommendations,
corrections, and acceptance from the Board. They would like to gather with the members
of HMAA living in Hungary on May 27, 2009 and finalize their proposal to be presented
to the Membership in October.
With regard to the Summer Student’s Conference she reported that the Tarnoki twins will
organize a student meeting in Balatonfured. This meeting will also serve as a good
opportunity to advertise the exchange program for students from the different medical
universities.
Regarding the HMAA website Dr. Bodnar noted that as soon as the HMAA web-site is
updated the information on www.amosz.extra.hu needs to be linked within the
www.hmaa.org web-site, so that the latter will be the only web-site address that we will
use in the future emphasizing that issues regarding the Hungary Chapter are within the
HMAA and it does not represent a separate entity.
They are advertising our upcoming October Scientific Meeting through two travel
agencies in Hungary and have also contacted FAKOOSZ, which previously organized the
travel of many Hungarian doctors to Sarasota.
Dr. A. Tarnoki has also submitted a written report, which was distributed by email among
members of the BOD. Dr. Bodnar noted that the Tarnoki twins do tremendous work for
the HMAA in Hungary under her guidance. She has expressed her thanks to Dr. Garami
who took a very active role in solving the HMAA website issues.9
Dr. Matolcsy noted that he has spent some time in Hungary with the Tarnoki twins and
Dr. Bodnar discussing the establishment of the Hungary Chapter. He emphasized that the
Hungary Chapter can only can function within the confines and under the bylaws of the
HMAA. The establishment of the Chapter will be brought to the Board in October.
Dr. Peredy noted that he has spoken to Dr. Csathy who expressed some concerns
regarding the establishment of the Hungary Chapter. His concerns are as follows: The
people organizing the chapter are young and not established physicians. In his opinion we
should have everybody interested involved, but he also wants a clear signal from the
Board whether they should move forward or not with the establishment of the Chapter.
Dr. Peredy proposed that as a signal, the Board should vote to approve the idea of
establishing the Hungary Chapter, and the membership should vote on this issue in
October.
Dr. Kismartoni commented on bylaw issues regarding on Chapter establishment and
noted that we already had extensive discussions about the NEC, which in his opinion has
worked out extremely well. This means that we already have the framework to establish a
chapter. He noted that according to the bylaws all kinds of members can form Chapters in
the US or Canada. Associate members (all Hungarian members are associate members by
definition) are not mentioned in the bylaws in this regard, which means that we need a
change in the bylaws in order to establish a Hungary Chapter. According to the minutes
of the BOD meeting in October 2008, members in Hungary were given instructions to
move forward with organizing a Chapter and it was recommended that Drs. Bodnar and
Csathy write a letter to the Board announcing their intention to organize a Chapter,
including the guidelines for membership applications, dues collections, reporting stucture
and election procedures. In general, the rules applying to the NEC will be followed. The
Board has not received a letter from Drs. Bodnar and Csathy in this regard yet. They
should be reminded to send us this letter. A discussion was held on the inclusion of the
right of associate members to form a Chapter and in general.
Dr. Leidl proposed a motion that an amendment to the bylaws will be submitted to the
membership in October 2009 with the purpose of establishing a Hungary Chapter. The
exact wording will be developed by the Bylaw Committee, presented to the President and
the Board, and it will be sent to the membership in time to be able to vote on it in
October. After extensive discussions, the bylaw modification as proposed by the Board
reads as follows: “Section 6. A group of regular, associate, honorary, emeritus or junior
members of the HMAA may organize themselves with the purpose to establish the
Hungarian Chapter to promote the goals of the HMAA. This should be performed
according to the HMAA bylaws.” The Board voted and the motion carried unanimously.
A reminder letter will be sent to Drs. Bodnar and Csathy to send a letter to the Board
announcing the intent to establish the Hungarian Chapter.
A discusion was held about the website www.amosz.extra.hu, created by members of the
proposed Hungary Chapter, and also mentioned in the reports of Drs. Bodnar and
Tarnoki. This website appears to be live and uses the logo of the HMAA. The opinion of
the Board was that this site inappropriately uses the name and logo of the HMAA at this10
time (as the Hungary Chapter does not exist yet) and that it should be disabled
immediately. Dr. Peredy called Dr. Bodnar on the telephone to convey the Board's
opinion and request to her in this regard.
3. Report from Canada (Forbath)
Dr, Forbath reported that members in Canada are planning on attending the next
Scientific Meeting.
XIV. New Business
No new business.
Submitted by
Geza Acs, MD, PhD
Secretary
HMAA