Report booklet circulated at the AGM in July 2000

7^th ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Monday July 24, 2000 - 08h00:09h00
Pacific H Room, Marriott Hotel, San Francisco CA USA

1. Call to Order, Opening Remarks
2. Approval of Minutes of Annual General Meeting, September 16, 1999
3. President's Report (L.M. Shaw)
4. President-Elect's Report (A.D. Fraser)
5. Secretary's Report – Membership Affairs (K. Napoli)
6. Treasurer's Report (T.C. Kwong)
   • 1999 Financial Statement (audited)
   • 2000 Interim Report
   
   
7. Reports of Administrative Committees
   • Awards Committee (W. Evans)
   • Awards Fundraising Committee (RG.. Morris)
   • By-Laws Revision Committee (M. Oellerich)
   • 1999 Congress Planning Committee (R. Morris)
   • 2001 Congress Planning Committee (S.J. Soldin)
   
   
8. Reports of Scientific Committees
   • AIDS Drugs Committee (S. Soldin)
   • Certified Reference Materials (I.D. Watson)
   • Chiral Pharmacology Committee (J.M. Perel)
   • Clinical Pharmacokinetics Committee (A. Thomson)
   • Clinical Toxicology/Drugs of Abuse Committee (H. Maurer)
   • Immunosuppressive Drugs Committee (J. Potter)
   • Impact of TDM on Pharmacoeconomics Committee (A. Vinks)
   • Pharmacogenetics Committee (M. Linder)
   • Standards of Practice Committee (E. Zylber-Katz)
   • IATDMCT/IFCC Joint Working Group on Immunosuppressive Drugs (D. Holt)
   
   
9. Publications
   • Therapeutic Drug Monitoring (S. Soldin)
   • IATDMCT Newsletter (I.D. Watson)
   • IATDMCT Web Page (A. Verstraete)
   
   
10. Adjournment

MINUTES 6^th ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
International Association of Therapeutic
Drug Monitoring & Clinical Toxicology
September 16, 1999 10h30
Cairns Convention Centre, Cairns Australia

1. Call to Order; Opening Remarks
   
   The President, Prof. Dr. M. Oellerich called the 6^th Annual General Meeting of the International Association of Therapeutic Drug Monitoring and Clinical Toxicology to order at 10h30 September 16, 1999 in the Auditorium of the Cairns Convention Centre, Cairns Australia. President Oellerich welcomed all members to the meeting.
   
   
2. Approval of the Minutes of the 1998 Annual General Meeting
   
   MOVED by Dr. Walson, SECONDED by Dr. Watson
   
   THAT the minutes of the 1998 Annual General Meeting held August 3, 1998 in Chicago Illinois USA, be approved as circulated.
   
   CARRIED
   
   
3. President's Report
   
   Membership - Prof. Dr. Oellerich reported that the membership has remained stable and that Council is working to have more members subscribe to TDM Journal. 48 countries are represented by the membership.
   
   By-Laws - The By-Laws were revised in 1998 to reflect current practices.
   
   Joint Meetings - IATDMCT has been involved in a number of congresses since the Vancouver Congress, in keeping with the association's goal to promote TDM and CT in countries in which these fields are not widely practiced. A symposium was presented by IATDMCT at the Balkan Clinical Laboratory Federation conference in October 1998, of which Dr. D. Svinarov, IATDMCT Councillor, was an organizer. A one-day symposium was presented in collaboration with the Russian Academy of Medical Science in Moscow in May 1999. A two-day symposium will be presented as part of the 9^th Masean conference in Hanoi in collaboration with the Vietnamese Association of Clinical Biochemists in October 1999. Travel expenses for these Regional Meetings are funded by the speakers themselves. IATDMCT organized and presented a symposium at the IFCC Congress in Florence Italy in May 1999; IFCC participated in a joint symposium during the Cairns Congress. IATDMCT together with the Clinical and Diagnostic Immunology Division of AACC and the TDM/Tox Division of AACC presented a Joint Edutrak meeting in New Orleans in July 1999. Prof. Dr. Oellerich noted that these joint meetings have been successful in raising the visibility of TDM and CT worldwide, and it is hoped that these joint ventures will be continued.
   
   Joint Activities – The IATDMCT/IFCC Joint C-TDM Committee was unilaterally terminated by IFCC. IFCC and IATDMCT have formed a new Working Group to develop guidelines for the practice of immunosuppressive drug monitoring, which will be chaired by Dr. David Holt.
   
   Web Page – Prof. Dr. Oellerich expressed the thanks and the appreciation of the membership to the webmaster, Dr. Alain Verstraete, who is maintaining an excellent, up-to-date web page for the association.
   
   Prof. Dr. Oellerich concluded his remarks by thanking the Council and Executive for their support, efforts, and time over the past 2 years of his term.
   
   
4. President-Elect's Report
   
   1. Nominating Committee
      Dr. L.M. Shaw, President-Elect reported that, as per the By-Laws, he chaired the Nominating Committee, with members Drs. Ester Zylber-Katz, Don LeGatt, Hans Maurer, and Philip Walson. Dr. Shaw reviewed the process of calling for nominations, developing the slate of candidates, and the process for election by ballot. He noted that no nominations had been received from the general membership, and encouraged members to submit names in future. The 1999-2001 Council elected is:
      • President Dr. L.M. Shaw, USA
      • President-Elect Dr. A.D. Fraser, Canada
      • Treasurer Dr. T.C. Kwong, USA
      • Secretary Dr. K. Napoli, USA
      • Past President Dr. M. Oellerich, Germany
      • Directors of Education Dr. D. Holt, England
      • Dr. R.G. Morris, Australia
      • Dr. A.A. Vinks, The Netherlands
      • Councillors Dr. K.F. Illett, Australia
      • Dr. D.F. LeGatt, Canada
      • Dr. M.J. Stewart, South Africa
      • Dr. A.H. Thomson, Scotland
      
      
   2. Meetings Committee
      Dr. Shaw reported that as per the By-Laws the President-Elect chairs the Meetings Committee. The members of this committee are Drs. S. Wong (Co-Chair), Susan Tett, Takashi Mimaki, Julia Potter, Ann Warner, and Ester Zylber-Katz. The Committee received three applications to host the Congress in 2003, and the Meetings Committee met with each applicant during this Congress. The Committee will make a recommendation to the First Meeting of the 1999-2001 Council, which meets later this afternoon. The decision of Council will be announced at the Closing Ceremonies.
      
      
   3. Appointments and Committees
      Dr. Shaw reported that two new committees have been formed: Certified Reference Materials, chaired by Dr. I.D. Watson, and AIDS Drugs Committee chaired by Dr. S. Soldin. Dr. Shaw is currently confirming the appointments of the chairs of all 1999-2001 committees to report to the First Council Meeting. Dr. Shaw encouraged members to become involved in the committees and noted that they form a key component of the association because the committee serves as a think-tank for the scientific area they represent.
   
   
5. Secretary's Report
   
   Dr. A.D. Fraser, Secretary, presented an update to the figures on membership in the report. There are now 291 paid members and 83 paid subscriptions, with 48 countries represented by the membership. Members in arrears total 136. One of the goals of the association is to increase the membership.
   
   
6. Treasurer's Report
   
   1. 1998 Financial Statement (unaudited)
      Dr. T.C. Kwong, Treasurer, reviewed the 1998 financial report. The major revenue was the surplus realized from the 1997 Congress of $82,860. Dr. Kwong noted that if it were not for this surplus the association would have a deficit. He will present an audited statement at the 2000 AGM.
      
      
   2. 1999 Interim Report
      Dr. Kwong reported that the association is running an operating deficit of around $15,000 and that the association is very dependent on a generous surplus from the Congress. He will be recommending an investment strategy to the First Council. The 1997-99 Council has approved that the association strike a budget and that it be adhered to.
      
      President Oellerich thanked Dr. Kwong on behalf of IATDMCT for his work as the Treasurer.
   
   
7. Reports of Administrative Committees
   
   1. Awards Committee
      Dr. S. Soldin, Chair of the Awards Committee, reported that the members of his committee were Drs. P. Jatlow, USA and F. Sjöqvist, Sweden. The committee considered the nominees and the winners were presented with their awards at the Opening Ceremonies. The awards presented were:
      - C.E. Pippenger Award, Dr. Les Shaw
      - I. Sunshine Award, Dr. Gideon Koren
      - Young Investigator Award, Dr. Ekkehard Schütz
      
      
   2. By-Laws Revision Committee
      Dr. Philip Walson, Chair of the committee, reported that the major changes dealt with by his committee were the changes voted in by ballot of the membership in 1998. He stated that the Past President is the chair of this committee, and he will therefore be stepping down from this position.
   
   
8. 1999 Congress Planning Committee
   
   Dr. Susan Tett, Co-Chair, reported that things were going as planned for the Congress and that the registration numbers were good. She acknowledged the generous support of the sponsors and exhibitors and encouraged members to make their appreciation known by visiting the Exhibits.
   
   
9. 2001 Congress Planning Committee
   
   Dr. S. Soldin, Congress Chair, reviewed the members of the committee:
   • Symposia Committee
     Co-Chairs: Dr. A.D. Fraser, Dr. R.W. Yatscoff
     Members: Drs. S. Soldin, L.M. Shaw, D.W. Holt, S. Tett, I.D. Watson
   • Workshop Committee
     Chair: Dr. T.C. Kwong
     Members: Drs. R. Schmid, R.H.B. Sample
   • Roundtable Committee
     Chair: Dr. M. Linder
     Member: Dr. M.A. Lefebvre
   • Contributed Papers Committee
     Chair: Dr. N. Rifai
     Members: Drs. V. Armstrong, U. Christians, R. Morris
   • Exhibits/Sponsors Chair: Dr. S. Soldin
     Members Drs. L.M. Shaw, R.W. Yatscoff
   
   It is planned to have 12 symposia and the Chairs of the Symposia have been chosen. Members are encouraged to bring their families as there are many exciting galleries, museums, tours, and activities of which to take advantage in Washington. A number of sites are under consideration for the social events, including the Smithsonian Aerospace Museum, the National Gallery, and the George Washington Home in Mount Vernon. Dr. Soldin invited all members to attend the meeting in Washington which will take place Saturday September 1 to Thursday September 6, 2001.
   A number of comments were received from the floor.
   
   • The extra fees for workshops should be reconsidered. It was proposed that the fees be abolished since many delegates were unable to afford to pay these fees on top of the registration fee; that attendance, if limited, be on first come, first served basis.
   • Workshops should be practical sessions rather than mini-symposia.
   • The topics of the contributed papers, especially the oral presentations, be put on the web page prior to the Congress.
   • Avoid workshops that are repetitive of the symposia topics; or, if the topic is similar, the workshop should be used to develop a consensus of the matters presented in the symposia.
   
   
10. Reports of Scientific Committees
    • Chiral Pharmacology Committee
      Dr. Perel, Committee Chair, reported that the main activity for the committee was the development of a workshop for the Congress.
      
      
    • Clinical Pharmacokinetics Committee
      Dr. R.G. Morris, Chair, invited interested members to attend the general meeting of the committee. Key activities of the committee have been publishing the international perspectives of several committee members on their approach to aminoglycoside monitoring in the extended dosing interval era; and presentation of a workshop during the Congress.
      
      
    • Drugs of Abuse
      Dr. H. Maurer, Chair, reported that one goal of the committee is to increase the input of clinical toxicology in association activities. The committee will be sending recommendations to the Executive in this regard. The committee developed several workshops for the Cairns Congress and developed a list of suggested topics for the symposia for the 2001 Congress.
      
      
    • Immunosuppressive Drugs Committee
      Dr. S. Soldin, Chair, reported that the committee had developed the 3 symposia to be presented during the Cairns Congress. He encouraged interested members to provide input to the Washington Congress. Dr. Julia Potter will become the Chair of this committee for 1999-2001.
      
      President Oellerich announced that a new committee, Certified Reference Materials Committee, chaired by Dr. I.D. Watson, had been formed. Dr. Watson announced that the committee would hold its first meeting at the Cairns Congress and invited all interested members to attend.
      
      
    • Impact of TDM on Pharmacoeconomics
      Dr. A.A. Vinks, Chair, reported that the main activity of the committee would be to produce general guidelines for the important considerations when initiating TDM studies.
      
      
    • Pharmacogenetics Committee
      Dr. K. Okumura, Chair, was not present at the Congress, and no report was available.
      
      
    • Standards of Practice Committee
      Dr. Ester Zylber-Katz, Chair, reported on the results of the survey conducted by the committee. The committee now has a number of regional representatives who have agreed to gather more data on this subject, and to increase membership on the committee. The committee will also try to gather data at future regional meetings where IATDMCT is involved. The next survey will be available through the web page.
    
    
11. Publications
    1. Therapeutic Drug Monitoring
       Dr. S. Soldin, Co-Editor-in-Chief, reported that the Editorial Board met during the Congress. The goal is to continue to improve the impact factor of the TDM journal, which has risen steadily from 1.3 in 1991 to 1.9 in 1998. The Board has decided to return back to 100 pages instead of the current 120. Dr. David Holt will be in charge of including a review article in each issue. Dr. L.M. Shaw will be in charge of including a case report in each issue.
       
       President Oellerich thanked Co-Editors S. Soldin and F. Sjöqvist for their work as editors of the journal.
       
       
    2. IATDMCT Newsletter
       Dr. I.D. Watson, Editor, reported that an Editorial Board had been appointed with members Drs. Potter, DasGupta, Ashavaid, and Mimaki. He encouraged members to submit articles to the news page and to Member Affairs.
       
       
    3. IATDMCT Web Page
       Dr. Alain Verstraete, Editor and Webmaster, reported that there have been 3,000 visits to the web page over the past year. The goal is to increase the number of visits by increasing the scientific content.
       Dr. S. Tett, Co-Chair of the Cairns Congress Organizing Committee, thanked Dr. Verstraete for his work on the Congress web page that had allowed them to promote the Congress widely.
       President Oellerich thanked Dr. Verstraete on behalf of the association for the development of an excellent web page, and encouraged members to make suggestions for items to add to the page. Suggestions from the floor included:
       
       
       • Hyperlink to TIAFT and the reference list that is on the TIAFT website
       • Exploration with Lippincott, Wilkins and Wilson to see if members could download PDF documents from past issues of Therapeutic Drug Monitoring, a benefit AACC members are granted for Clinical Chemistry.
    
    
12. Transfer of Office
    
    President Oellerich congratulated the new officers of the association on their election and wished them success. He thanked all members of the out-going Council for their contributions to the association and presented each with an award from the association. Awards were also presented to Drs. S. Soldin, I.D. Watson, S. Tett, R.G. Morris, and E. Hooper. Special thanks for their work were extended to Drs. Tett and Morris for the development of an excellent Congress. President Oellerich thanked the Head Office staff for their work.
    Prof. Dr. Oellerich then stepped down and the 1999-2001 President, Dr. L.M. Shaw assumed the chair. President Shaw introduced the 1999-2001 Council. Dr. Shaw acknowledged the great leadership of Prof. Dr. Oellerich, especially in development of regional educational initiatives, and thanked him for his dedication and determination. Prof. Dr. Oellerich was presented with a certificate noting his contributions to the association as President. President Shaw expressed his deep commitment to IATDMCT and encouraged members to provide input to Council and to support the organization.
    
    Dr. Shaw declared the meeting adjourned at 12h20.

1. SECRETARY'S REPORT ATTACHMENT
   2^nd QUARTER REPORT - IATDMCT MEMBERSHIP
   June 30, 1999
   
   

   CURRENT STATUS REPORT - IATDMCT Membership
   	Paid to Date			Unpaid	Total
   Member Type	2000	2001	2002
   Active	284	130	26	66	350
   Honorary	2	2	2	0	2
   Total	286	132	28	66	353
   Subscriptions to Therapeutic Drug Monitoring Journal
   2000 Subscriptions	82

   
   
   

   Membership Update Report	2000 Q1	2000 Q2	2000 Q3	2000 Q4
   Total Members - Start of Quarter	319	332	414
   Resignations, Deletions, Lost Trails	(1)	0
   New Members	14	20
   Total Members - End of Quarter			0	0

   
   
   

   TDM Subscription Update Report	2000 Q1	2000 Q2	2000 Q3	2000 Q4
   Total Subscriptions - Start of Quarter	51	51
   Cancellations/Suspensions		(3)
   New Subscriptions		34
   Total Subscriptions - End of Quarter	51	82

   
   
   
2. GEOGRAPHIC REPORT – 46 countries represented
   
   

   Argentina 4 Australia 22 Austria 2 Belgium 6 Brazil 2 Bulgaria 1 Canada 24 Chile 2 China 3 Czech Republic 1 Denmark 2 Finland 1 France 7 Germany 24 Greece 1 Guadeloupe 1 Hong Kong 2 India 1 Ireland 1 Israel 7 Italy 4 Japan 6 Korea 1 Kuwait 1 Luxembourg 1

   Kingdom of SA 1 Malta 0 Moldova 0 Netherlands 23 New Zealand 2 Nigeria 0 Norway 1 Poland 5 Portugal 2 Russia 0 Saudi Arabia 3 Singapore 1 Slovakia 2 Slovenia 2 Switzerland 8 Sweden 4 Spain 9 South Africa 2vThailand 2 Turkey 0 United Kingdom 22 Uruguay 2 USA 67 Vietnam 1

   
   
   
3. PRESIDENT'S REPORT
   
   Membership: A major focus of the efforts of the Executive Committee and the Council of IATDMCT are the activities which relate directly to our membership.
   
   IATDMCT News. Our new IATDMCT News publication under the editorial stewardship of Ian Watson published its first issue this July and we look forward to future issues on the most timely topics for our members.
   
   IATDMCT Web Page. The primary focus of our May Executive Committee teleconference was our Web site. We are all the beneficiaries of the successful work of Dr Verstraete our webmaster and we want our Web site to flourish as we go forward in this first year of the new millennium. The Executive and Council, together with Dr Verstraete are working on plans for new and expanded Web site capabilities. We plan to use the Web site to the maximum for our 7^th Congress acitivities including abstract submission. We invite and encourage our members to submit ideas on how to use our Web page to promote the interests of IATDMCT.
   
   Exhibit Booth. Our booth at the AACC Exhibition, assembled and organized by Liz Hooper, will provide the latest information regarding the Washington Congress and will provide access to our updated Web page.
   
   Joint Meetings and Activities: Since the Cairns Congress our Association has collaborated with other societies with whom we share common interests. A two-day symposium, organized by Dr Michael Oellerich, together with Dr Do dinh Ho, was presented October 29-30 as part of the 9^th Masean conference in Hanoi, Vietnam, in collaboration with the Vietnamese Association of Clinical Biochemistry. The symposium on Drug Monitoring and Clinical Toxicology consisted of lectures presented by Drs Phil Walson, Vic Armstrong, Michael Oellerich, Tai Kwong, and Alexander Vinks. Please visit our Web site for further description and pictures of this successful meeting by Dr Ho, President of the Vietnamese Association of Clinical Biochemistrymore details of this successful meeting. Dr Ho has indicated that a Vietnamese TDM society has formed as a result of this meeting.
   
   A symposium, entitled "Laboratory Evaluation and Monitoring of Transplant Recipients" was presented at the Analytica Conference 2000. This symposium was developed jointly by the German Society for Clinical Chemistry, the American Association for Clinical Chemistry TDM/Clinical Toxicology Division and the IATDMCT and was co-chaired by Drs Les Shaw and Michael Oellerich. Speakers included Drs Burkhardt Ringe, Les Shaw, Vic Armstrong, Andrew Tull, Malek Kamoun and Chris Herring. A series of peer-reviewed papers based on this program will be published in an issue of Clinical Biochemistry in the near future. A detailed review by Dr Oellerich and pictures can be found on our Web site.
   
   We have cooperated with the Therapeutic Drug Monitoring & Clinical Toxicology Division of AACC and the American Pharmaceutical Association in developing the EduTrak, "Getting Ready for Pharmacogenetics: Contribution to Evidence-based Medicine." This will be presented at this year's AACC meeting. At the Cairn's Congress there was a joint workshop developed with the Division on mass spectrometry in clinical toxicology in which Drs Larry Bowers and Hans Maurer were participants and organizers.
   
   "Advances in the Science and Practice of Therapeutic Drug Monitoring and Clinical Toxicology" is a symposium which is being developed for presentation at a meeting this September (21-23) in Warsaw, Poland. This meeting is being organized by Dr Dagna Bobilowicz and the Polish Laboratory Diagnostics Society, IATDMCT members who will participate in this include Drs Maciel Bogusz, Michael Oellerich, Phil Walson and Les Shaw.
   
   Dr Phil Walson will present a lecture on TDM in the pediatric population at the annual meeting of the Czechoslovakian TDM Society to take place in Roznov, Czech Republic, September 28-30, 2000. IATDMCT is a cooperating Society for this meeting. Dr Milan Grundmann is organizing this and has expressed serious interest in future expanded collaboration. Each speaker for all of our regional meetings provides their airfare, no Association funds are used for this purpose.
   
   The organizing committee of the 2001 TIAFT meeting in Prague, August 25-30, invited Dr Hans Maurer to chair and organize a symposium on Clinical Toxicology during their meeting. This will be done as a joint activity of IATDMCT and TIAFT. The IATDMCT Clinical Toxicology/Drugs of Abuse Committee will work with Dr Maurer in developing this symposium. The chair of the organizing committee of the TIAFT meeting is Dr Marie Balikova of Prague.
   
   Drs Michael Oellerich and Albert Fraser will co-chair a symposium on TDM/Clin Toxicology at the 2001 WASP meeting, which will be held in Dusseldorf, Germany, November 20-23, 2001. This will be a collaborative effort for IATDMCT in this international meeting.
   
   Dr Fernando Foradori of Santiago Chile has requested that we develop a program in TDM as part of a meeting he is developing in Chile sometime in 2001. We look forward to meeting with our colleagues in South America soon.
   
   ew Ventures: A collaboration which is in development is the exploration of joint efforts with the Society of Toxicology. Preliminary discussions have been held with that organization's leadership and we are exchanging ideas for ways to collaborate at each others' congresses and in other venues. Among the areas for possible development of joint programs include environmental/occupational toxicology, all aspects of toxicokinetics, the applications of new technologies for speciation of trace metals, oxidant stress, apoptosis and genomics/proteomics.
   
   Submitted by Leslie M. Shaw, President
   
   
4. PRESIDENT-ELECT'S REPORT
   The major responsibilities of the President-Elect from 1999-2001 are to chair the Nominations and Elections Committee and to coordinate the Congress Site Selection Process for the 2005 Congress.
   A call for nominations for the vacant positions on the next Executive and Council will be announced in the next issue of the IATDMCT Newsletter. The deadline for nominations is 31 October 2000. The goal of the Nominations and Elections Committee is to present a slate of nominees reflecting the geographic diversity and expertise of our membership in therapeutic drug monitoring and clinical toxicology. The vacant positions for the 2001-2003 Council/Executive includes:
   
   1. President-Elect
   2. Secretary
   3. Treasurer
   4. Directors of Education (3)
   5. Councillors (4)
   
   Members can hold the same council position for two consecutive terms.
   It is our intention to complete the nomination process by 28 February 2001 and send out the ballots no later than 30 April 2001.
   
   The President-Elect and four association members coordinate site selection for the IATDMCT Congress held four years after Washington (2005 Congress). An application form, congress planning manual and site selection criteria are available for anyone interested in applying to host the 2005 Congress. The site selection committee recommends a site to the first 2001-2003 Council for acceptance after interviewing representatives of each site at the Washington Congress. The selected site will be announced during closing ceremonies at the Washington Congress in September 2001. Further information on applying to host the 2005 Congress is available from Head Office (Elizabeth Hooper) and from Albert D. Fraser.
   
   Submitted by Albert D. Fraser, President Elect
   
   
5. SECRETARY'S REPORT
   As of June 30, 2000, 286 members are paid in full for 2000. Of those, 46% have paid for 2001 and 10% have paid for 2002. This compares to 247 paid in full by June 30, 1999 and 271 by June 30 1998. Thus, Association membership remains stable and the flexibility to pay in advance for multiple years is attractive to a high percentage of members.
   
   In March 2000, a letter requesting membership renewal was sent to 203 unpaid members. As of June 30, 2000 only 66 members remain unpaid for 2000. This compares to 165 unpaid by June 30, 1999 and 120 by June 30, 1998. Thus, our current letter writing campaign was quite successful in securing stability of Association membership.
   Recently the Association lost a significant number of members from the United Kingdom (37). This is due to loss of former members of the Clinical Pharmacokinetics Society whose dues to IATDMCT were previously paid by their organization. Another 41 members have been lost from the USA due to unknown causes. Therefore, stability of the association membership comes from the addition of new members from outside of the two countries who previously comprised the majority of the membership.
   At this time the USA still leads in numbers of members with 67, with several other countries tied, for all practical purposes, for second place. Those countries are Canada (24), Germany (24), the Netherlands (23), Australia (22), and the UK (22). Countries with membership approaching 10 members include Spain (9), Switzerland (8), France (7) and Israel (7). All members are encouraged to solicit new members from their countries of origin.
   Subscriptions to the Association's official journal, Therapeutic Drug Monitoring, remain stable with 82 members currently subscribed.
   The secretary, through activities with the Executive, is working to increase participation in the Association through increased visibility on the Internet and in joint meetings with other professionally related organizations.
   
   Respectively submitted,
   Kimberly L. Napoli, Ph.D.
   
   
6. MEMBERSHIP STATUS REPORT
   
   

   Year	Paid	New	Unpd	Total	Final Unpd	Journal
   	(06/30)	(06/30)	(06/30)	(06/30)	(12/31)	(06/30)
   98	273	33	120	393	96	77
   99	247	57	165	412	119	59
   00	286	34	66	352		>82

   
   
   
7. REPORTS OF ADMINISTRATIVE COMMITTEES

   7.1 AWARDS COMMITTEE
   The Awards committee has been appointed, comprising Drs. William Evans (chair), Ed Cone and Steve Soldin. The committee will review nominations for each award (Pippenger, Sunshine, Young Investigator) after they have been received, and will forward their recommendations to the Board, no later than June 2001.
   
   Respectfully submitted, William E. Evans, Pharm.D., Chair Awards Committee.
   
   

   7.2 AWARDS FUNDRAISING COMMITTEE
   Following the decision of the Council at the Cairns Congress to have commercial sponsor names associated with the 3 Awards of the Association, the 4 major diagnostic companies were approached. The outcome being that Dade-Behring have sponsored the Charles Pippinger Award for outstanding contributions to TDM, Roche Australia have sponsored the Irvine Sunshine Award for outstanding contributions to Clinical Toxicology, and Microgenics have sponsored the Young Investigator Award. No response was received from Abbott. In each case the amount of sponsorship was sufficient to cover the full 6 year period (ie., 3 congresses), namely US$5,000 for the Pippinger and Sunshine awards, and US$3,500 for the Young Investigator. The Business Office is currently receiving these funds and letters of appreciation sent.
   
   Submitted by Ray Morris
   
   

   7.4 1999 CONGRESS PLANNING COMMITTEE
   This very successful congress was held in September 1999. Delegates attended from all areas of the world and a lot of very positive feedback was received about the venue, programme and conference ambience. It was a great opportunity to share knowledge and expertise. The final attendance/registration figures were 433 (379 delegates, 54 partners).
   The congress perpetuated many of the missions of the Association through a program of 11 Symposia from international experts in their fields, 12 Workshops and 26 Breakfast Roundtables. Free communications from registrants (including 167 posters and 77 oral presentations) were very popular and allowed registrants from all around the world to display and discuss their recent work and the significant advances in the area. A well attended trade exhibition was also a highlight of the congress, as well as the extensive social program.
   In the area of new challenges for TDM & CT, the Plenary Lecture by Prof David Back (UK) challenged registrants to consider a newer pharmacotherapeutic area, that of the anti-retroviral drugs used in people with HIV infection. A particular focus of this Congress (as with the previous congress in Vancouver) was the field of immunosuppressant drug monitoring which continues to expand. Whilst cyclosporin remains the mainstay and still presents many challenges to TDM laboratories, the Congress focussed on the newer agents like mycophenolate mofetil, sirolimus, and 2 symposia presenting "clinical management" and "recent advances" in the immunosuppression field, the latter including the drugs leflunomide and FTY-920.
   To present a particular flavour of the Australian landscape, a "stings and bites" toxinology symposium told delegates that Australia has the largest number of poisonous snakes in the world and killer spiders! Latest research about these toxins and modes of clinical treatment were presented. Indeed, some "lucky" delegates also got to meet some of these creatures during an interactive "Toxic Breakfast" session. Despite this (or perhaps because of it!) registrants did still venture outside to enjoy some of the extra-curricular activities to be found in Far North Queensland. One symposium presented exciting discussion about the pharmacological library of toxicological and therapeutic opportunities for drug discovery and challenges associated with the aquatic environment.
   With pharmacogenetics representing a growing area, Profs Folke Sjoqvist and Phil Walson delivered a symposium exploring relevance of pharmacogenetics in new and upcoming areas.
   The free communication abstracts from the Congress are published in the journal of the Association; Therapeutic Drug Monitoring (21(4):428-486, 1999) and the symposia presentations have also been published in the February 2000 issue.
   We would like to really thank our Local Organising Committee who did an outstanding job for the Association. We would also like to thank our conference organisers, CIM, who really kept us all in line and ensured the smooth and effective running of the Congress. Also – thanks to the Executive, Council and Secretariat of IATDMCT for their help and support during the planning and running of the meeting.
   We look forward to the next congress of the Association to be held in Washington DC from 1^st to 6^th September 2001, organised by Dr Steven Soldin and his Committee. We certainly wish Steve and his team every success with this planning and feel sure that the Washington Congress will prove to be another important contribution to TDM & CT internationally.
   
   Submitted by Sue Tett and Ray Morris
   
   

   2001 CONGRESS PLANNING COMMITTEE
   Planning for the Congress is well underway. The Scientific Program is in the last stages of development. All of the symposia topics are in place as well as the speakers in each symposium. Roundtable and workshop sessions are being finalized.
   The Social Program promises to be an exciting one – Washington is a city of never-ending things to do and see. The Opening Ceremonies will feature a keynote address as well as the presentation of the IATDMCT Awards. Options for the optional evening include a visit to Mount Vernon Estate (George Washington’s home), a tour of the Smithsonian, or a visit to the National Gallery. The banquet at the hotel will be a very special evening.
   Promotion is an extremely important component of the planning process. A primary focus of promotion will be the web page which will be updated regularly and a primary source of information. As well, the Congress is being advertised through a brochure and large colourful posters. The International Advisory Committee has the job of ensuring that potential attendees in their country are well informed about the Congress. A booth is present at the 2000 AACC meeting in San Francisco.

   
   
8. REPORTS OF SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEES

   8.1 CERTIFIED REFERENCE MATERIALS
   Due to ill health I had indicated to the President that I would not form this Committee until I felt able so to do. I am hopeful that I will be able to initiate the Committee in the coming year.
   There will be some data available from UKNEQAS project, the successors to the project of the now defunct IATDMCT IFCC-CDM Committee looking at primary calibration of anticonvulsants. This data will help inform any activity of the group. Other information which I am obtaining as Chair of UKNEQAS for Drug Assays indicates that CRM is very much an issue in relation to particularly quantitative toxicology but also is an issue in relation to TDM. I would ask the Council to bear with me in this Committee, I am hopeful of commencement in the Fall of this year.
   
   Submitted by Ian D. Watson, Chair
   
   

   8.2 CHIRAL PHARMACOLOGY COMMITTEE
   Dr. Perel and members of this committee have communicated among themselves and Dr. Leslie Shaw, President, and decided to organize two workshop proposals for the 7th International Congress, September 1-6, 2001, in Washington, D.C.

   1. Educational/Didactic Issues of Chiral TDM.
      Leader: Dr. Wayne D. Hooper, Australia
   2. Utilization of Chiral TDM for Patient Management, with Illustrative Cases.
      Leader: Dr. Rob Ledger, New Zealand.
   3. Depending on Dr. T. C. Kwong's approval, we are also considering submitting a proposal for either a round-table discussion or workshop on Analytical Methodologies for Chiral Drug/Metabolites.
      Leader: Dr. Helle Angelo, Denmark

   
   Respectfully, James M. Perel, Ph.D., Chair
   
   

   8.3 CLINICAL PHARMACOKINETICS COMMITTEE
   There has been limited activity within the Clinical Pharmacokinetics Committee over the last few months, however, it is hoped that there will be some developments over the next few weeks. Sander Vinks and Roger Jelliffe are preparing a workshop submission for the 2001 Washington meeting and Alison Thomson is working on draft clinical pharmacokinetic drug monographs in collaboration with Daan Touw. These monographs are intended for publication on the Web site following discussion with the rest of the Clinical Pharmacokinetics Committee and approval by the IATDMCT
   
   Respectfully submitted, Alison Thomson
   
   

   8.5 CLINICAL TOXICOLOGY/DRUGS OF ABUSE
   During the Cairns meeting, the committee met twice for discussion on future activities and especially on how to increase the input of toxicology into the IATDMCT.
   It was confirmed, that the name has changed from the committee on Drugs of Abuse to Committee on Clinical Toxicology/Drugs of Abuse. The members recommended not to found further toxicology committees. It would be better to focus the toxicologists influence than to divide it. The following topics were discussed in detail.

   • Workshops
     Recommendations for Workshop organization were discussed and the result was sent to the President. In the meantime, some of these recommendations were accepted and included in the new Workshop Guidelines.
   • Young scientists
     A further discussion applied to the promotion of young scientists. The poster area should be developed. To increase the interest of young toxicologists in IATDMCT, one young scientist award in Clinical Toxicology and one in TDM should be awarded.
   • Guidelines
     All felt the need to define clearly what is meant by clinical toxicology. There was unanimous agreement on the need to develop guidelines. Codes of practice and guidelines are to be gathered from the different countries and associations. Andre Scholer has agreed to synopsise these and to prepare a report which will be circulated and discussed in the Helsinki meeting in 2000.
   • Joint meetings
     During the 2001 TIAFT meeting in Prague, a Joint Symposium on Clinical Toxicology will be organized by Hans H. Maurer.
   • Washington 2001
     The committee has sent detailed suggestions for Workshops and Roundtables.
   • TDM Journal
     The chairman suggested to the editor Steve Soldin to publish invited reviews on clinical and forensic toxicology to increase the interest of toxicologists to submit orginal papers. In the meantime, Hans H. Maurer and David Holt were invited to edit a special issue. All the contributors invited by the guest editor have accepted to write a review until end of 2000. The special issue will be published in 2001.
   • IATDM-CT Newsletters
     The Committee chairman was invited to write a column for the inaugural issue. The title will be "What are the appropriate analytical methods in clincal and forensic toxicology?"
   • Next committee meeting
     During the TIAFT meeting in Helsinki August, 14, 2000.

   
   Homburg (Saar), June 2000
   Submitted by Hans H. Maurer, (Committee Chairman)

   8.6 STANDARDS OF PRACTICE COMMITTEE
   In the last few months we became very active in the planning of the new questionnaire which will be introduced into the web site of the IATDM-CT. I have been working very closely with Dr. Alain Verstraete, and we are trying to find the best way to allow the colleagues that answer the questionnaire to do it on the web and send directly the reply to me. We have to solve still some technical problems in order to have the reply in the original form.
   In addition I made frequent contact with the committee members in order to have their input for the best way to do the work in the different countries.
   For the Washington meeting in 2001, we will be having a workshop on the situation of the practice of TDM-CT in Europe.
   Today Europe has the largest IATDM-CT membership (48.8%), and it would be of interest to find out from the experts that started TDM-CT how it was done and what is the situation today and the plans for the future. This may allow colleagues from other countries that are just starting with the TDM-CT, to learn about the best way to do it.
   An important aspect would be the comparison between the services provided in the hospital-academic setting and those given in the community or in the primary health care centers and how to make a bridge between them.
   For this purpose I have the acceptance of the following colleagues to participate at the workshop:
   Dr. Daan J. Touw, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
   Dr. Lars Stahle, Huddinge, Sweden
   Dr. Pierre Marquet, Limoges, France
   Dr. Cecilia Manzanares Secades, Madrid, Spain
   
   I will be working with Dr Verstraete on the committee-updated information once we will be able to go out with our plans.
   All the best and regards to all the members present at the meeting.
   ESTER ZYLBER-KATZ, E-mail: esterzk@hadassah.org.il
   
   

   8.7 IATDMCT/IFCC JOINT WORKING GROUP ON IMMUNOSUPPRESSIVE DRUGS
   Most members of the Joint Working Group will meet for half a day before the AACC meeting to discuss the style of the report which will be used for each of the drugs we intend to cover. We will be joined by Tom Moyer, who has been appointed IFCC liaison. A report will be sent to Julia Potter, who will not be attending the AACC meeting.
   A call for suggestions has been placed on the IATDMCT web site but, I regret, we have had no responses to date. The IATDMCT site is also directly accessible from the Analytical Services International site. This, latter, site now carries the latest information on sirolimus monitoring, including the recent monograph edited by Les Shaw.
   
   Dr David W Holt PhD, DSc (Med), EurClin Chem, FRCPath, ASI Ltd

   
   
9. PUBLICATIONS

   9.1 THERAPEUTIC DRUG MONITORING The journal continues to thrive and draw many important and outstanding papers. The Symposia papers from the Cairns meeting were published in record time in the February issue of TDM. A special review issue on clinical and forensic toxicology is being prepared.The guest editors will be Dr Maurer and Dr Holt. We have raised the acceptance level for manuscripts and have significantly increased our rejection rate in an attempt to improve further on our citation index.
   
   Respectfully submitted, Steve Soldin, Co-editor.
   
   

   9.2. IATDMCT NEWSLETTER
   In line with resolutions taken at the Cairns Congress an Editorial Board has been established for the Newsletter led by the Editor representative of geographical regions. The members are:
   - I. Watson (UK) (Editor)
   - J. Potter (Australia)
   - T. Ashavaid (India)
   - A. Dasgupta (USA)
   - T. Mimaki (Japan)
   
   Sponsorship has been obtained for a new four-page format two-page colour Newsletter with common front mask. This has been sponsored by Dade Behring and has been made possible through their generous support. The general format of the Newsletter which will commence issue in Summer 2000 is a front-page main article and internal Regional news, an Editorial and we are seeking to develop correspondence, advertising, case discussions etc. on page 3, page 4 is devoted to our sponsors advert.
   This reformed Newsletter will be mailed to all current members. It is anticipated that sponsorship will last for 3 years and then be subject to review by both parties, therefore some resilience needs to be developed into the Newsletter such that we can continue. Progress should be reviewed at the next Congress in Washington. The publication frequency of the Newsletter is anticipated to be three per year, hopefully rising to four as material is available.
   The one-page format Newsheet in the TDM Journal will be retained and will generally reflect the first page article in the sponsored Newsletter as this is a means of communication beyond the IATDMCT membership. With the re-formatting of the Newsletter the Members Affairs sheets which had previously been distributed will cease. This policy should be the subject of review.
   It is always a problem to obtain articles from members and Liz Hooper does an excellent job in persuading people to give reports. The Council and Executive are requested to ensure that their activities are well publicised including committee reports, meetings attended etc. perhaps not just a dry report on who was present at the meeting and what they presented but some background information makes for more interesting reading.
   
   Respectfully submitted,
   Ian D Watson PhD FRCPath, Newsheet Editor
   
   

   9.3 IATDMCT WEB PAGE
   The website has received a steady number of visits in the last year, approximately 3100 per 12 months, or 8 – 9 per day.
   There have been visitors from 75 countries (counting .net, .gov, .org or .mil as a 'country'). Twenty-seven percent of the traffic comes from North America, 24 % from Europe, 10 % from .net .gov, 7 % from Asia, 5 % from Australia, 1.3 % from Latin America, 0.3 % from Africa and 23 % is unknown.
   The visitors seem to come from many different sites, with Yahoo, Altavista and Excite being the most frequent referring sites.
   The site ranks number 1 when searching for therapeutic drug monitoring in Altavista, MSN, Netscape Netcenter and Excite, number 2 in Yahoo, number 3 in Lycos and number 10 in Infoseek. It was recently (re)submitted to snap.com, Infoseek and Webcrawler.
   The major changes since the last AGM were the additions of the pictures of the Cairns and analytica meeting (with abstracts), changes to committee pages and links.
   The future of the website was discussed at the Executive teleconference of May 17 which addresses the following topics: major objectives, content of the website and congress page. The suggestions made during this meeting will be implemented as soon as possible (e.g. when the content is available).
   There has been interaction with Dr. Zylber-Katz for adding a form that can be filled in on-line. A form was developed, but Dr. Zylber-Katz would prefer that the results are presented in a format similar to the written questionnaire, and we are searching for a solution. A shell for the congress websites will be developed soon.
   There has been in improvement in electronic submission of files and pictures, which makes my task much easier.
   
   Dr. Alain Verstraete, Webmaster