Annual Meeting of AORTIC International

Sunday June 1, 2003

Hilton Chicago, 720 South Michigan Avenue, Chicago, 4th Floor

Conference Room 4M

Minutes of the meeting taken by Sulma Mohammed

In Attendance:

• Dr. Holland, USA/USA
• Sulma Mohammed, SUDAN/USA
• Chris Williams, NIGERIA/CANADA
• Carrie Hunter, USA/USA
• Abiodun Elegbede, NIGERIA/USA
• Francis Ali-Osman,GHANA/USA
• Clement Aebamowo, NIGERIA/USA
• Charles Olweny, UGANDA/USA
• Frueh Martin (SWITZERLAND)
• Abeb Haregewoin ?/?
• Jimmy D. Taylor, USA/USA
• Clarence B. Vaughn ?/?
• Unyime O. Nseyo, NIGERIA/USA
• Olayemi Agboola, NIGERIA/USA
• Silvio Monfardini, ITALY/ITALY
• Arieuda Ofedale, ?/?
• Ahmed Elzawawy, EGYPT/EGYPT

Sections:

• Introduction
• The Year in Review
• IVth International Conference on Cancer in Africa
• AORTIC’s Financial Health
• Other matters

Introduction:

Dr. Williams opened the meeting with a brief introduction of himself and invited everyone at the meeting to do the same. He stated that in the interest of time, he would not go over the minutes of the last two meetings copies of which had been provided with the meeting papers. He also said that he was omitting item number 4 on the Agenda (Matters Arising) for the same purpose.

The Year in Review:

Dr. Williams said that most of the activities of the year have been in connection with the proposed AORTIC Accra meeting. H e also described the contacts that AORTIC had made with various organizations in various parts of the world. He suggested that those wanting to know more about AORTIC should visit the web site of the organization for more information.

IVth International Conference on Cancer in Africa

Dr. Abiodun Elegbede, the Chairman of the International Organizing Committee, spoke and introduced the International Conference and presented the tentative agenda of the Accra meeting. Dr. Holland gave introductory remarks about the conference. He expressed the hope that the conference in Africa would promote cancer care work in cancer in Africa. The conference will be a success because it involves both Africans and non-Africans. He indicated that money is a problem and that more money was needed so that more Africans could come to the meeting.

Dr. Carrie Hunter, the Chairperson of the Scientific Program Committee, defined the goals and the objectives of the conference. She informed the meeting that the Conference would consist in scientific sessions and workshops. Answering a question about how the discussion topics of the conference had been chosen, Dr. Hunter answered that the committee had tried to base them on the most prevalent cancer in Africa. Another question had to do with how contact was being made to people and institution in Africa.

Dr. Chris Williams described various communication modalities, including the AORTIC web site, which he said is increasingly being accessed by people at various parts of the world, based on the feedback that he was receiving.

Dr. Ali-Osman suggested that anybody present at the meeting could make contact and tell other scientists and oncologists about AORTIC and that the main objectives of the conference is to get AORTIC running again as well as to help Africans to take control of the organization.

Dr. Holland reminded the audience that Africa was the birthplace of AORTIC and that the organization was active there for 8 years before it became moribund for various reasons.

Dr. Chris Williams opined that the AORTIC conference would serve both scientific as well as organizational purposes and that it is hoped that an African headquarters of AORTIC would be identifiable at the conference.

Dr. Williams made mention of membership dues ($75.00 for those living and working in developed countries, and $25.00 for those living in Africa or African trainees in developed countries).

Dr. Francis Ali-Osman, Chairman of the Posters and Exhibitions Facilities of the conference, proposed that there be a poster competition and prizes. A suggestion was made that Cancer Medicine, the 6th edition of which is being launched today could be offered as one of the prizes.

AORTIC’s Financial Health:

Dr. Chris Williams urged the audience to review the attached financial statement, which had been prepared by the Protem Treasurer, Barrie Adedeji, who was not present to present it.

Other matters:

Francis Ali-Osman explained that any topic relevant to cancer, with valid scientific findings and not necessarily related to Africa would be acceptable for posters. Views were expressed that research on AIDS associated cancers should be eligible for funding from President G.W. Bush AIDS Funds for Africa.

Recognition was made of the fact that US NCI was providing some assistance for Africans for participate in some of the proposed events at the Accra meeting.

Dr. Silvio Monfardini expressed the interest of Italy in the development of AORTIC and suggested that effort be made to obtain more European involvement in this respect.

The need to promote the training objectives of AORTIC was pointed out. The difficulty of incorporating AORTIC in other countries apart from the US was also discussed. Mention was made of the advice of a Canadian tax lawyer who cautioned that it would not be advisable to do so in Canada except potential donors of large sums of money (e.g. a million dollars) were being targeted.

Group photographs were taken prior to adjournment.