• Version
• Download 0
• File Size 102.45 KB
• File Count 1
• Create Date May 27, 2022
• Last Updated May 27, 2022

BOD_Minutes_2010_10_29

MINUTES OF THE
HUNGARIAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA
BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING – 1:00 PM, OCTOBER 29TH, 2010
HELMSLEY’S SANDCASTLE HOTEL, SARASOTA, FLORIDA
Voting BOD members present: total votes 10 (plus Presidential tie-breaker)
G. Acs, I. G. Baffy, I. Harangozo, Z. Garami, I. Pirko, Z, A. Varga, T. Lajos, T.
Krisztinicz
Advisory Board President: T. Peredy
K. Kismartoni, A. Matolcsy, I. Krisztinicz, P.Petrusz, K. Kismartoni, P. Forbath
Alternates: L. Toth, , L. Csathy, A. Tarnoki, A. Khoor, G. Paragh (voting for Dr. Leidl)
Also present: I. Stadler, A. Stadler
Quorum was established. Dr Somkuti briefly summarized the issues and discussions of
Monday night’s board meeting.
I. Introduction of New BOD Members
Dr. Acs introduced and welcomed the new BOD members. On Wednesday’s membership
Meeting Dr. Thomas Lajos was elected to be a Member of the Board, while Dr. Andras
Khoor was elected to be an Alternate Member of the BOD.
II. Spring BOD Meeting
A brief discussion was held regarding the time and place of the next spring BOD
meeting. Dr. Baffy offered to host the meeting in his house on Cape Cod in May of 2011.
Following a brief discussion and a motion by Dr. Harangozo the Board decided to keep
the spring meeting in Sarasota at the Helmsley Sandcastle Hotel. The date and time of the
meeting was established to be Saturday, April 9, 2011 at 12 noon.
III. Collaboration with MET and MOK
With regard to our collaboration with the MOK (Magyar Orvosi Kamara), the Board
decided to that our prior agreement with the MOK needs to be located and reviewed. Dr.
Harangozo noted that the HMAA is a self sufficient organization that can cooperate with
other organizations, such as the MOK and questioned whether we need a formal contract
with them to establish collaboration. The Board agreed that such contract is not
necessary. Since the MOK will have elections in the near future we may have to deal2
with a new leadership of the MOK. It was noted that the political future of the MOK is
unclear and it remains to be defined whether we gain any benefit from this collaboration.
Nevertheless, we should use the opportunity to advertise our activities in the MOK
newsletter.
With regard to our collaboration with the MET (Magyar Egeszsegugyi Tarsasag), it was
noted that several of our members participated and lectured on their meeting this year.
Their calendar of events is available for us. Currently the HMAA BOD is represented by
Dr. T. Krisztinicz on the MET Board. According to our agreement with them, we have
reduced registration fee at the meetings of the MET. It was noted that last year we
collected dues to be forwarded to the MET and it was suggested that we should collect
dues this year as well. According to information from Dr. Suveges, President of the MET,
our dues were not yet received by the MET. It was decided that A. Sadler will provide the
list of members who paid dues and Dr. Harangozo will forward the collected dues to the
MET. Further, if any of our members wish to become MET members, they should send a
check for $80.00 to Dr. Harangzo for the 2011 MET membership by the end of
November.
IV. Program Report
Dr. Peredy emphasized the importance of online abstract submission, registration and the
ability to pay registration fees and dues online. He agreed to accomplish this before the
next meeting, working together with Dr. Garami. A question was raised regarding the
costs of online payment. The payment will be established through a secure online
payment option, such as PayPal or similar, as since we already pay credit card fees, it will
not result in significant additional cost to us.
The BOD decided that an event calendar should be included on our website. This will be
accomplished by Dr. Garami. In addition, in order to have better communication with the
students applying for or participating in our exchange program (including HAESF
application guidelines), complete guidelines regarding the application process and the
rotations in Buffalo should be placed on our website. The students should be made aware
that the apartment at the Sarasota Sands (provided by Dr. Forbath) should be utilized by
them during the Sarasota meeting. Dr. Garami will work with Dr. L. Mechtler to
accomplish this by the April BOD meeting. It was also noted that the students should also
participate in the meeting registration.
With regard to next year’s Annual Meeting, Dr. Stadler announced that the dates of the
next meeting are October 23-28, 2011. The title of the Meeting will remain the same.
According to the BOD’s decision, Dr. Stadler will be assisted by Dr. Pirko as Assciate
Program Chair. Dr. Stadler noted that we already have several scientific sessions planned,
including a memorial cardiology session for Dr. Ganz organized by Drs. Lajos and
Forbath. Dr. Matolcsy will invite Dr. Peter Ganz to present on this session. Dr. Matolcsy
suggested that this session should be held on Thursday and that Dr. Peter Ganz could be
the speaker on the banquet, if he can attend. Other planned sessions include pediatrics3
(Dr. Csathy), orthopedics (Drs. Kovacs and T. Krisztinicz), gynecology (Dr. Somkuti),
breast cancer (Dr. Acs) and family medicine (Dr. Matolcsy, who plans to invite Dr. White
and Dr. Kalabai, chair of Family Medicine at Semmelweis University). First
announcements for the meeting will be sent out in January. The abstract forms will be
sent out in April together with the disclosure forms in order to try to finalize the program,
in July.
Dr. Kismartoni expressed his concerns that we have too many invited lecturers who we
have to pay for travel and hotel, and at the same time there are too few people
participating on the scientific sessions. Dr. Matolcsy suggested that at least the BOD
members should be present on the lecture of the keynote speaker. Answering a question
from Dr. Somkuti, Dr. Stadler noted that this year we had 13 invited lecturers and we
paid for travel and hotel for 10 of them. This would include a total of $3,500 for airfare
and 20 nights in the hotel (according to our guidelines), which fits into our free
allowance.
V. Social Program Planning
Dr. Somkuti emphasized that the HMAA needs to have financial accountability with
regard to the social program on the annual meeting. A discussion was held about
potential solutions, including the inclusion of the fees for social programs in the
registration fee, the distribution of wristbands for the various events for participants who
had paid the fees, and limiting the number of invited (non-paying) guests at the banquet.
Since the Auxiliary is dormant at this time, Dr. Harangozo suggested that we should form
a committee consisting of a limited number of BOD members, including Drs. Varga,
Somkuti, Peredy, Acs, Stadler and himself, to explore this issue and plan the future
events in a financially sound manner. Erika Klatyik, who helped organizing the Kocsma
Party this year, has also offered her help with the social functions. The BOD decided that
a Social Planning Committee will be formed, chaired by Dr. Varga, which will work on
the social program with the help of Erika Klatyik as an event planner. The Committee
members will include Drs. Somkuti, Peredy, Acs, Stadler and Harangozo. The BOD will
decide on an affordable budget for these acitivities. Dr. Somkuti thanked Dr. Varga for
her efforts in organizing this year’s social functions. He noted that many locals attended
Tusday’s event and emphasized that we should further build on our relationship with the
local Hungarian community, but we should also be careful to keep a good balance for the
various social events. Dr. Peredy suggested that we should have some programs
scheduled for the locals at the time of the Hungarian Festival in October to offer, such as
the “Meet the Doctor” program.
Dr. Somkuti noted that he had donated some small HMAA gift items, such as pens, mugs
and bags. The Board thanked Dr. Somkuti and agreed that we should try to continue
offering such small gift items in the future.
A discussion was held about the Banquet and Dr. Matolcsy noted that we should pay
more attention to protocol, including the need to have a formal presidential table. Dr.4
Forbath noted that the program at the Banquet was too long, almost 90 minutes. He
suggested that we change the program, make it shorter and he stated that we should not
have performers during whose presentations the audience needs to be silent.
It was noted that many attendees from Hungary do not attend the Banquet and a
discussion was held about the potential reasons for this. It was suggested that the
registration fee for attendees from Hungary may be increased to include the banquet.
Dr. Peredy suggested that the Social Planning Committee should establish the fee
structure for the upcoming meetings.
A discussion was held about the awards, and the question was raised with regard to who
decides on the awardees. Drs. Somkuti and Acs noted that in the past the Awards
Committee was charged by the BOD with establishing awards on its own. However, if
there is a need in the future, this practice can be changed so that the Committee will
propose awardees to the BOD for discussion on the Spring BOD Meeting.
VI. Old Business
Dr. Peredy reminded the BOD that in August 2011 the Student Conference at Baltonfured
will again be organized and encouraged all BOD members to attend. He noted that Dr.
Koller will take an active role in organizing this meeting with the help of Dr. Csathy. Dr.
Somkuti asked whether the registration fee at this meeting could be increased to pay for
the Award for the best presentation. Dr. Csathy replied that the aim of the meeting is to
advertize the HMAA among the Hungarian medical students, who usually participate on
the meeting on their own expense. The meeting is possible because Dr. Veress provides
the venue and emphasized that the registration fees cannot be increased for the students.
He also noted that although the Hungary Chapter has its own bank account, they cannot
provide receipts for payments to the Chapter and that they will need to find a solution for
this problem. Dr. Garami reminded the BOD that we have various different funds which
could be used to pay for the Award at the student meeting and expressed his opinion that
we all should consider contributing to these funds.
VII. New Business
Dr. Matolcsy announced that about three years ago he was approached to establish a
family practice fellowship at Boston University for Hungarian physicians. They have
signed an agreement with Semmelweis University and this year they had the first fellow
to participate in this HMAA Family Practice Fellowship.
VIII. List of Items for Follow-Up
1. Online abstract submission, registration and payment (Peredy, Garami)
2. Calendar of events on the website (Garami)5
3. Complete guidelines and expectations for the Buffalo student program to be
included on the website, communicate expectations to students (Garami, L.
Mechtler)
4. Proposed list of awardees (Somkuti, Acs)
5. Scientific program for upcoming meeting (I. Stadler)
6. Social Planning Committee (Varga)
7. Fee structure for meeting (Varga)
Submitted by
Geza Acs, MD, PhD
Sectretary, HMAA