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Minutes of meetings of the Coordinating Committee, May 29th, 2005, held in Riverside, CA during the 31st annual Alcohol Epidemiology Symposium
 
 

KBS Coordinating Committee, Meeting May 29, 2005, Riverside California

 

The meeting held at the Riverside Inn and was called to order by the President, Andrée Demers.  Present in addition were Deborah Dawson, Anne Hope, Sharon Wilsnack, Kim Bloomfield, Kate Graham, Gerhard Gmel, Henk Geretsen (Incoming V.P.), Pia Mäkelä, Isidore Obot (check-may have arrived late or been excused), Elin Bye (Tresurer), Tom Greenfield (Secretary); excused were Jacek Moskalewcz (V.P.), Borje Olsson, Zsuzsanna Elekes and Incoming President Tim Stockwell.  

 

Agenda:

  1. Approval of agenda
  2. Approval of minutes of the 2004 meeting in Helsinki
  3. Welcome to the 2005-2007 President and Vice-president (Andrée Demers)
  4. Report on the KBS 2005 from local organizer (Robert Parker)
  5. Report from the KBS Secretary (Tom Greenfield)
  6. Report from KBS treasurer (Elin Bye)
  7. Status Report for the KBS 2006 in Maastricht (Ronald Knibbe/Paul Lemmens)
  8. Proposals for annual meeting in 2007 and 2008
    1. Hungary (2007)
    2. Other proposals
  9. Upcoming thematic meetings
  10. KBS young scientist award
  11. Update on the future of ETOH (Andrea Mitchell)
  12. Update on GENACIS (Sharon Wilsnack)
  13. New issues for discussion
    1. Papers on drug at the KBS meeting
    2. Non-researchers participation to KBS meting
  14. Other business

       1.      The agenda was approved.  (M Sharon, 2nd Pia).

2.      Acceptance of the Helsinki 2004 minutes.  Acceptance was moved (Kate), seconded (Kim) and approved.

3.      Introduction of new executive and committee members (Andrée Demers).  Tim Stockwell was elected President with Henk Geretson as V.P. Continuing committee members are: Zsuzsanna Elekes (Hungary); Kathryn Graham (Canada); Ronald Knibbe (Netherlands); and Isadore Obot (Nigeria).  Elected were Deborah Dawson (U.S.), Ann Hope (Ireland), Gerhard Gmel (Switzerland), and Borje Olsson.

4.      Report on the Riverside meeting.  (Was deferred and followed items 5. and 6).  Robert Parker was welcomed by Andrée who congratulated him for the selection of a wonderful place for the meeting.  Rob will provide a report later with the numbers of registrants, papers, etc.  He summarized the history of organizing the meeting.  The contract was negotiated prior to the Helsinki meeting to secure a contract for the dates.  Although there were number estimates this was flexible by design.  The University negotiated rate was favorable at $95.00 per standard room.  Then Tuesday last week the hotel rate increased by $4.00 per night. The hotel refused to take the Silvergate deposit because it fell $4.00 short per room.  The cost for rooms, banquet, etc., were all determined per the rates revised 2 weeks ago and as a result the Presley Center had to step in and supplement the deposit.  (A member interjected that the rooms were still good for the new rate.)  Further problems arose because the excellent Dean who backed the initial arrangements left.  The new Dean disputed the Center’s ability to sign the contract.  The hotel retaliated by reneging on the original contract which had had free coffee, free meeting rooms and registration to occur outside of the plenaries.  That explained registration now being in a separate room.  Rob and his staff have tried to do things to improve the situation.  There is now breakfast in front of the plenaries for all participants.  The organization has been partitioned between the group at UC Riverside and the Silvergate Group (Tom Colthurst and Barbara Ryan) which provides conference support; the Silvergate Group brought conference experience, for example running the recent Alcohol Policy meeting series.  The opening reception will require a ticket to be exchanged for a drink.  A bottle of red and a bottle of white wine will be on each table provided by the Silvergate group, who shouldered a lot of the organization for a modest fee.  They may lose money but only slightly.  Music was to have been provided by a mariachi band recommended by the hotel but the group cancelled.  There are coffee breaks in the a.m. and p.m., which now cost $4,000 extra but were deemed essential (there will be water too).  Rob’s Center paid for meeting rooms and breakfast for the satellite meetings.  The booklet of abstracts is available and papers can be printed on demand at two high-speed printers.  A CD-ROM of the papers has as of yesterday 110 papers.  The printing is an experiment that may be expensive.  Maastricht can evaluate the cost and usefulness of this approach.  Registration was set at $245 without the banquet.  NIDA contributed $5000 to be used in travel for those with drug-related papers (reflected in title and or abstract).  Ventura County has sent some registrants who help defray the costs.  The Pressley Center is backstopping the conference budget, and covers receptions, meeting room rental, and some of the banquet cost as well as breakfasts.  There was some discussion of cost centers like the Silvergate Group.  Total scholarships came to $23,600 which Andrée commented was an unusually generous amount.  This was defrayed by the $11,000 ($6,000 from KBS and $5,000 from NIDA) with the rest yielded by the Professional Track (about which there had been some debate).  Andrée noted it was better to have scholarships than coffee, but we had both.  The AV equipment was all provided by UC Riverside, which also bore some other costs.  Andrée commented that each conference is unique—the Helsinki group was able to provide much in-kind money and services. Rob was commended for his excellent efforts.

5.      Report from the Secretary (Tom Greenfield). The secretary had little to report.  A question was raised regarding possibility for a KBS Newsletter by Kim, and Tom noted that he’d agreed to explore the possibility of reviving this but felt the website served and this was beyond present capacity.  Difficulty accessing the KBS website seemed to have been overcome, via a Web-link on the ARG website (http://www.arg.org/kbs/index.html).  The Website Coordinator remains Jan Bibel jbibel@arg.org who works with IT staff at ARG, where the site is hosted.  Any people with updates are encouraged to contact the coordinator jbibel@arg.org.  Andrée discussed updating the CD-ROM for Conference Planning.  The last update was 1999 and she wanted to encourage that it be revised.  This might be a task for the new President, who she undertook to work with.  Kim noted that the Maastricht organizers are experienced, so there might be some time to get it updated.

6.      Report from the KBS Treasurer (Elin Bye ekb@sirus.no).  Since the Helsinki conference had a healthy budget, it did not need the usual allotment, so we had $14,718 after Helsinki.  128 members paid a total of $12,151, making the total $26,869 before Riverside.  Rob requested and received $6,000 (as usual) and that makes the total $20,869 after Riverside.  There is a currency issue regarding the falling U.S. dollar, $7.4 to the Norwegian Kroner now being $6.3.  The dues at $25 results in fewer Kroners than before but on the other hand the account is in Kroner, which is doing well.   Discussion noted that the organization is fiscally health.  We may come back to the membership amount issue next year (Andrée).

7.      Status Report for the KBS 2006 in Maastricht (Deferred to after #9 because Paul Lemmens was not yet here). Upon arrival Paul was welcomed by Andrée. He began by describing the organizing committee made up of four Dutch research organizations—Erasmus University Rotterdam, Volksbond Rotterdam, Radboud University Nijmegen, Tilburg University, and University of Maastricht.  In addition IVO is providing support.  Paul noted that the KBS meeting has been in Maastricht before. The arrangements for the venue involve university buildings in the center of town.  Maastricht is a medieval, cozy city with lots of places to go.  All hotels to be used are within 2 to 3 km.  The reception will be held in the Town Hall.  Drug researchers will find Maastricht interesting because of the liberal policies and indeed the Mayor has been involved in liberalization.  The social program will include a coffee shop tour.  The local program organizing will involve the University itself, but travel and accommodation support will be provided by a bureau attached to the University—there is no value added tax.  This in-house operation saves about 20%.  The secretariat will handle minor trouble shooting, registration, and the meeting Website, which will allow secure payments.  The bureau has much experience with hosting such meetings.  Thus they will handle hotel bookings and create computer facilities.  There will of course be a dinner on Thursday and a Social Program.  The proposed budget is €60,000, €45,000 from registrations, the rest by sponsorships.  Ronald secured the agreement with KBS for travel support.  The entity covering potential deficits (offering the guarantee) is interested in a seminar on future developments in alcohol research on genetics—the population implications.  One question Paul had was whether a €300 registration including the banquet was too much?  Henk commented that it shouldn’t go too much above €300.  The Ministry of health has given an outright “no” for any subsidy.  (Local governments and cities usually do not typically fund conferences.)  Contributions from IVO and three other institutes were together €15,000.  Paul anticipated 45 full person days although it could be trimmed to 30 days perhaps.  An RA from the University would do Web paper uploads, etc, to bring down costs.  Andrée expressed willingness to do lunch with Norman, Tim and Henk to work more on cost strategies.  Paul explained that a national and local prevention group was eager to coordinate a prevention conference at a separate venue for 2 days on Tuesday and Wednesday, which would be in the Dutch language.  Paul thought there might be a Dutch research scientific seminar.  The Government of the Netherlands supported an Amsterdam plenary session and the Dutch Research Council may support receptions, posters or Sunday seminars.  Given the public long-weekend holiday including Friday (Ascention), a separate venue will be arranged for the GENACIS pre-meeting. Paul closed by commenting that Maastricht is not an overpriced.

8.      Proposals for annual meetings in 2007 and 2008

a)  Hungary (2007): Andrée reported that Zsuzsanna Elekes will organize the meeting in Budapest at the university in the center of town.  There are restaurants close by, hotels, and an agreement for university guests, the lowest room rate being $55 for a room.  Andrée commented that registration might be expected to cover most of the costs, but that the KBS $6,000 would certainly be needed.  Someone questioned whether Hungary had requested the KBS support.  The feeling was that it should be offered, regardless.  It is too early for the Ministry to make commitments, so the level of support is uncertain as yet.  There was a question regarding the availability of a separate meeting website, with some comment about potential problems.  This was seen as something for the executive (President and V.P.) to monitor.  Sharon noted that she will be in Budapest for an ICAA meeting in October and would seek a face-to-face meeting for an update and to see what support is needed.  The suggestion was made and endorsed that we move forward with the plans per the proposal.  It is seen as desirable to move between America and Europe and between W. and E. Europe whenever possible.  It was noted that the $6,000 might be most useful in the early phases (although intended to be spent for travel/registration support for those in need especially from developing countries).  It was also reassuring that Zsuzsanna has organized a successful prior KBS meeting, albeit, when KBS was smaller.

b)   Other proposals:  Gottenburg: Friedrick Spak is still possible and might be asked for 2008.  The last meeting in Sweden was Sigtunna in 1991.  The Spak proposal was believed to be still an “open invitation.” 

9.       Future Thematic Meetings  Two upcoming thematic meetings were noted: 1) A meeting organized by Norman Giesbrecht for Toronto, March, 2006 (subsequently rescheduled for October, 2006): “Population Level Studies on Alcohol Consumption and Harm: Implications of Recent & Emerging Research on Alcohol Policy”, with the call for papers September 15, 2005.  A flyer will be distributed on Friday.  2) Cheryl Cherpitel’s “ SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1International Conference on Alcohol and Injury: New Knowledge from Emergency Room Studies” to be held October 3-6, 2005 at the Double Tree hotel at the Berkeley Marina, Berkeley, California.  In addition to being sponsored by KBS as a thematic meeting (as agreed by the Co-Com earlier), further sponsors are NIAAA, WHO and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  The plans for both meetings are well advanced.

10. Early Career Award  Andrée presented the idea of the Award for the best KBS paper for a researcher who is less than 5-years post Ph.D.  There were a variety of comments related to shaping the proposal.  It was agreed to have a small committee made up of Tim, Henk, Andrée, Kate and possibly others to refine the proposal.  Thursday at lunch time was agreed.

11. Update on ETOH (this item was removed other than an informational update)

12. Update on GENACIS  Sharon presented information on this KBS-affiliated project involving now 44 countries.  There were 40 people attending the pre-meeting workshop this year.  There are a lot of accepted articles or initiated paper projects, many from the EU component for which the Final Report has been issued (and a book).  The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) has an 18-month study involving 10 Latin American surveys with three new country surveys—Belize, Brazil and Peru—included.  Challenges facing GENESIS included funding the travel to meetings and for activities with the ending of both the NIAAA R21 and the EU funding.  A revised application to NIAAA based on the critique of the last submission is planned with a meeting of the involved group scheduled for Friday and Saturday at the end of this KBS meeting.  This involves a secondary analysis of the data collected to date.  A pre-meeting will be scheduled for Maastricht with concerns about travel scholarships that are now likely to be less available.  A KBS Panel including GENACIS will be proposed.  Kate commented on the greater richness of KBS because of GENACIS.  Andrée and Kim discussed the importance of GENACIS in supporting those from developing countries coming to KBS but they questioned whether Maastricht organizers should receive more than the standard KBS allotment, given that the budget looks sound.  It was pointed out that there were 30 new members added from GENACIS in Helsinki and Tom noted the importance of bringing members from under-resourced countries.  Kate made a motion (withdrawn) to support GENACIS travel with a one-time amount of $4000. Kim made a motion (seconded and carried) supporting Sharon’s efforts to bring new KBS members to GENACIS.

13. Other business. In response to a question, (a) Andrée clarified that drug papers are allowed at KBS Annual Meetings, though members had earlier voted not to change the KBS organization’s name to “… for social and epidemiological research on alcohol and other drugs.”  Pia suggested that the acceptance of drug-related papers be clarified in the call for papers.  The consensus was for acceptance of such papers but without formal announcement. (b) There was discussion of the track for professionals at Riverside and it was noted that it was not the first time.  Kate expressed being a bit uncomfortable if this were formally endorsed and if instituted routinely, although she recognized the financial pressure an organizer might feel.  Pia added this might be OK when the number was 30 added people but asked what if there were 200 and if papers are actually given by a minority?  Kate was worried about this notion of a “Professional Track.”  There was some group discussion about covering this as a matter of KBS Traditions and the suggestion that this be addressed in the instruction to organizers CD.  Pia noted that this year some speakers have more than 10 minutes (plenaries), which appears to violate an established tradition.  Andrée commented that flexibility was needed: placing a lot of restrictions on organizers could make fundraising harder and might result in boring meetings by dampening program innovations.  Guidelines were good, in other words, rather than laws.  Anne thought the matter might best be addressed by better communication between organizers and the President and V.P.  Kim thought a satellite meeting for special people might be better than having them mingled into the KBS meeting sessions.  Andrée suggested that she write a few guidelines to address the alcohol industry, drug papers, professional tracks, traditional presentation format, and the like.  A subcommittee was set up of Henk, Pia and Tom to write guidelines related to the traditions to be proposed to the Co-Com.  Andrée suggested we do an update meeting on Thursday and that in the meanwhile she would talk with Friederick Spak.  Ronald Knibbe will be asked to update the CD for organizers.  The CD will ultimately be placed on the Website.

  The meeting was adjourned.

 

 

 


 
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