African Organization for Cancer Research and Training (AORTIC)

Minutes of the Meeting of AORTIC International

 

 

Place: Hilton Anaheim, 777 Convention Way, Anaheim, CA.

 

Room: Malibu

 

Date and Time: Sunday, April 17, 2005

 

Attendance:

 

 

Chris Williams, Nigeria/Canada

Francis Ikpatt, Nigeria/USA

Babatunde Oyajobi, Nigeria/USA

Joan Packenham, USA

George Hammons, USA

James Holland, USA

Jimmie Holland, USA

Katai J. Nkhata, USA

Geraldina Dominguez, USA

Jodi Black, USA

Sulma Mohammed, Sudan/USA

Karen Witty, USA

Wole Odujinrin, Nigeria/USA

Kishor Bhatia, USA

 

 

  1. Introduction of the attendees

 

Chris Williams opened the meeting, introduced himself and then asked the others to do likewise.

 

  1. Message from the acting president Paul Ndom.

 

There was no message from the AORTIC acting president.  Dr. Holland informed the meeting that during his forthcoming visit to attend the ASCO annual meeting, Paul Ndom would also visit the National Cancer Institute (NCI), MD Anderson, and the Mount Sinai Hospital in New York.

 

  1. Message form the secretariat.

 

There was no message from the secretariat. Dr. Holland reported that the secretariat was functioning well, as judged by the regularly prepared AORTIC newsletters. Chris Williams reported on the new AORTIC web site with its two component subsites, the International site and the Africa site. He described as a special feature of the International site the AORTIC News section, which can be contributed to by any AORTIC member who expresses interest to do so. Such an individual would be given a user identity and password so as to be able to contribute news items. Chris Williams said he would soon be announcing the ways of accessing this facility.

 

  1. Review of the minutes of the last ASCO meeting

 

The minutes of the last ASCO meeting were passed.

 

  1. The Year in Review:

 

Chris Williams reported that AORTI C International had continued with the process of reactivation of AORTIC in Africa.  He regretted that Dr. Ayettey who had been elected president at the Accra meeting had been unable to continue at the position and had voluntarily stepped down after one year in office, and that Paul Ndom had been elected by the Vice-Presidents, according to the stipulations of the draft AORTIC constitution. He announced that the acting president would be attending the AORTIC International meeting in Orlando and that he would chair the meeting there. He thanked the NCI for sponsoring the meeting in Cairo. He also reported on the UICC World Congress of Cancer Organizations, which held in Dublin in November 2004 He remarked that there was a fair representation of Africa at the meeting, including breast cancer survivors. He reported on contacts made, including his meeting with the American Cancer Society Vice-President, Nathan Grey,

 

  1. Fund raising for the 5th International Conference on Cancer in Africa, Dakar, Senegal:

 

Joe Harford of the NCI reported that NCI would support the Dakar meeting with $30K. He expressed the hope of finding additional sources in the institution to bring the contribution to  $50K. The NCI money will go to Lyn, and will be spent to bring only Africans to the meeting and not be used for the international speakers’ travels.

 

Sulma Mohammed reported that she wrote a conference grant proposal for $218K to cover AORTIC conferences for five years and it had been submitted to NCI. She regretted that she had since discovered that that NCI’s conference sponsorship was limited to only $25K. She also reported that she had approached the International Rotary club for conference funds, and that it would be discussed in their May meeting. Sulma Mohammed also stated that she was making some effort to obtain funding from her institution, the Purdue University, and also to get the institution to solicit money form Eli Lilly due to its proximity to Purdue University.

 

Jim Holland reckoned that AORTIC had $120K in hand. The need to have a financial chair was raised, especially because communication with the AORTIC money handler, Barrie Adedeji had been difficult. Jim Holland will contact her since they both work in New York City. Oluwole Odujinrin suggested that a mechanism was needed to enable endowed African expatriates to make donations to AORTIC.

 

  1. Conference Scientific Committee- Report

A report on the development of a scientific program fro the Dakar conference was given by Sulma Mohammed. She explained that the scientific program would focus on the following:

a.       Awareness

b.      Cervical cancer, breast, and tobacco-related cancer,

c.       Palliative care

d.      Research session

She explained that speakers were chosen in order to have international representation, as well as balanced representation from French speaking and English speaking countries.

 

  1. Other matters:

 

Some of the topics discussed included means of replacing inactive presidents. Others included the need to establish a Scientific Advisory Committee to advise the AORTIC Executive Committee and Council on research priorities. The topic of an AORTIC Foundation for raising money for AORTIC research activities in Africa as well as mechanisms to promote and support fund raising was also discussed.

  1. The meeting adjoined after a group photograph at the closing of the meeting.

 

Recorded by Sulma Mohammed

Edited by Chris Williams.