Present: Drs. Rasul Khan (Chair), David Cone, Dan McLaughlin, Cam Goater, Al Shostak, David Marcogliese (incoming Vice Chair and Chair, Parasite Module Steering Committee), Ekaterini Riga (incoming Junior Councillor), members and guests of the Parasitology Section.
Dr. Khan called the meeting to order and asked for approval of the Agenda.
Motion: Arai / Anderson Approved
Dr. Khan welcomed guests. He congratulated Dr. Roger Prichard, the 1999 Wardle Award recipient, and gave special recognition to Dr. Roy Anderson who would introduce Dr. Prichard's lecture. Dr. Khan also welcomed the Symposium participants; Drs. Henry Hengeveld, David Molyneux, Dennis Murray and David Marcogliese. Dr. Khan then introduced Dr. David Marcogliese and Dr. Ekaterini Riga who were acclaimed as the new Vice Chair and Junior Councillor, respectively. Dr. Khan provided a brief update on events discussed at the Executive Committee Meeting of the CSZ. ICOPA X will be held in Vancouver in August 2002. He reported that consideration was being given to hiring a company called Venue West to coordinate the arrangements for ICOPA X in Vancouver.
Copies of the Minutes of the previous AGM were available on all tables in the meeting room. These had been posted on the Section website and hard copies were available from the Secretary on request. Dr. McLaughlin requested a motion to approve the minutes. Motion: Burt / Arai Approved
Dr. Khan thanked the Symposium speakers for their participation. He acknowledged the assistance of Drs. Goater and McLaughlin and expressed thanks to the Canadian Society of Zoologists and the American Society of Parasitologists for financial support.
Dr. McLaughlin reported that the Section had 67 members last year, based on a list supplied by Dr. Susan Bower for the Fall Newsletter. Fifty-seven members have renewed to date. Members were urged to designate their Section on renewal.
There was one request from a commercial firm for the e-mail addresses of Section members. In keeping with the consensus from last year, this request was denied. The company was referred to the webmaster for a website posting but apparently did not follow through.
Dr. Burt asked if Dr. Podesta had sent a letter of thanks to the CSZ for funding support for the Directory of Parasitologists. Dr. McLaughlin will follow up to see if Dr. Podesta has done so and, if not, will see that it is done.
Report Copies of the Financial Statements for May 1998 to December 1998 and from January 1, 1999 were distributed to all tables. Dr. McLaughlin explained that the CSZ had recently adopted January 1 to December 31 as the new financial year and that it made sense for the Section to harmonize it's financial year with that of the Society. He requested a motion to approve the Financial Statements. Motion: Marcogliese / Bower Approved
Dr. Khan reported that the 1998 Nominating Committee consisted of Dr. R. Podesta (Chair), Dr. H. Arai and Dr. L. Graham. Nominations are required for the positions of Vice Chair and Junior councillor for the upcoming year. The 1999 Nominating Committee will be chaired by Dr. R. Khan; Dr. H. Arai and Dr. M. Lankester will be the other members.
Dr. Khan reported that the 1998 Recognition Committee consisted of Dr. D. Cone (Chair), Dr. M. Lankester, Dr. D. Befus and Dr. P. Woo. Dr. Roger Prichard was selected as the Wardle Award recipient for 1999. The 1999 Committee will be chaired by Dr. D. Marcogliese; Dr. R. Prichard, Dr. M. Lankester and Dr. D. Befus will be the other members.
Dr. Goater commented on the quality of the student presentations and congratulated the participants. Due to the small number of presentations, they were pooled for this competition with the Murray Fallis Prize awarded to the highest ranked presentation and the poster prize awarded to the next ranked presentation. Bernadette Ardelli from Guelph University (supervisor: Dr. P. Woo) received the Murray Fallis Prize and Sean Forrester from the Institute of Parasitology, McGill University (supervisors: Dr. R. Prichard and Dr. R. Beech) received the second prize. The judges for the student paper competition were Drs. B. MacKinnon, M. Lankester and D. McLaughlin.
Dr. Marcogliese circulated copies the annual report of the Parasitology Module Steering Committee. Copies of this report will be available at the AGM and it will be posted on the Section website. The parasitology protocols being developed for the Ecological Monitoring and Assessment Network (EMAN) are progressing well and will be available on the EMAN website (http://www.cciw.ca/eman) as they are completed. The Section Directory (http://www.biology.ualberta.ca/home.htm) is now interactive and members can update their entries. Updates were presented on ongoing projects (perch and stickleback parasite surveys), on NSERC supplements to graduate students to promote research in systematics and on activities at the Canadian Museum of Nature (CMN). Excellent parasite collections are housed at the CMN and are available for study. The CMN has established a Visiting Fellowship Program to defray costs of working with these collections (see the full report on the Section website for further details). The building will be under repair next year so requests to use the collections should be made as soon as possible.
CSZ Dr. Khan reported that the executive summary of a draft of a document entitled "Public Investments in University Research: Reaping the Benefits", prepared by The Expert Panel on the Commercialization of University Research for the Prime Minister's Advisory Council on Science and Technology, had been discussed by the CSZ Executive Council and that there had been strong reaction to it. Copies were available at the meeting and Dr. Khan urged members to obtain one, read it and present their views at the Annual General Meeting of the Society.
Dr. Khan reported that only one Symposium title had been submitted for the 2000 Meeting in St. Andrews, N.B. This was submitted by Dr. M. Burt and was tentatively titled "Aquacultured Fishes; Captive Hosts for Parasites". Dr. Burt commented that this had been suggested as a Local Symposium title, not as the title of the Parasitology Symposium. He envisaged that it would include other aspects of aquaculture (e.g. husbandry), but would include a parasitology component. As there were no other proposals at the time, there was no further discussion.
The ASP prize as currently described for the best student poster is not available. Searches through the Section archives and the ASP minutes from the late 1980's (when it was apparently instituted) onward have failed to produce any formal mention of the prize to support our position of it's existence. The Secretary-Treasurer of the ASP considers this a dead issue. Apparently, no other Affiliate Society has such a prize. Dr. Beverley-Burton suggested that Dr. G. D. Esch might be able to shed some light on this issue. Dr. McLaughlin will contact him. There was a general consensus that a poster prize be retained despite the decline in poster presentations. Dr. McLaughlin will investigate options and report back next year. In the interim, winners of the poster prize will receive a membership in the CSZ and a subscription to the CJZ.
That Dr. Roy C. Anderson be accorded Honorary Life Membership in the Parasitology Section.
Motion: Lankester / Burt Unanimous
That Dr. John C. Holmes be accorded Honorary Life Membership in the Parasitology Section.
Motion: Shostak / Arai Unanimous
Dr. David Marcogliese was appointed to this committee by the Executive Council, CSZ. 10.6 International Congress of Parasitology Update Dr. Burt informed the members that ICOPA X will be held in Vancouver in the year 2002 however, the dates of the conference have been changed from August 9-14, 2002 to August 4-10, 2002. The Section recognizes the following four points: 1. The successful bid was made by Dr. Martin Adamson and Dr. Rasul Khan on behalf of the Parasitology Section of the CSZ. 2. The Parasitology Section (CSZ) is responsible for the organization of ICOPA X. 3. Dr. Martin Adamson will chair the Local Organizing Committee whose members presently include Dr. Hisao Arai, Dr. Susan Bower and Dr. John Webster. The Local Organizing Committee may co-opt other members as necessary. 4. Dr. M. D. B. Burt will chair the Scientific Program Committee All members of the Parasitology Section are invited to participate on the Scientific Program Committee. Some members expressed strong concern over the limited communication to date. Effective communication will be essential for the success of ICOPA X and it is urged that lines of communication within and between committees be established immediately.
Dr. Khan introduced Dr. Cone the incoming Section Chair. Dr. Cone spoke briefly on his concern over the declining membership and indicated that one of his priorities will be to examine the membership issue with a view to improving it.
Motion: Marcogliese / Cone Approved
Meeting Adjourned 13:00.