Berlin - 2007

WMSG Annual Meeting
Monday 21 May 2007, 18:30
Hall 4/5 ICC-Berlin
Berlin, Germany

Board Members in Attendance: Greg Stanisz, Charles Guttman, Roland Henry, Corree Laule, Egill Rostrop, Stefan Ropele, Thor Bjarnason
Total number of voting members present: 30 (Quorum reached)
Total number non-voting members present: 84

Seattle - 2006

White Matter Study Group Annual General Meeting Minutes 7:30pm May 10th, 2006 Room 602-604, Washington State Convention and Trade Center Seattle, USA
Board Members in Attendance: Greg Stanisz, Charles Guttman, Roland Henry, Corree Laule, Victor Song, Egill Rostrop
Total number of voting members present: 22 (Quorum reached)
Total number non-voting members present: 24
Meeting was called to order at 7:35pm
Procedural Items
Approval of minutes from May 9th, 2005
Moved/Second: Charles Guttman / Alex MacKay Motion carried.
Items resulting from the previous minutes
No items were brought to the attention of the executive.

2.0 Workshop/Study Group Review Committee      Joe McGowan
Brief summary provided from workshop/ study group review committee meeting. Problems with workshop planning were identified in that only sponsored meetings are treated well by the society The study group committee has addressed sponsorship vs. endorsement of workshops for the past few years. The White Matter Disease study group has extensive experience with both types of conferences There are significant advantages and disadvantages associated with each type in the areas of convenience, promotion, and speaker reimbursement The Premise-Both types of conferences are recognized in the governance documents of the ISMRM. They both have their role and both should be viable. Endorsed conferences do not threaten the society but rather enhance it.
3 Motions were brought forth by Joe to the workshop/study group review committee:
The approval process for proposed workshops by study groups will include and be limited to: Scientific approval- identical for all workshops Financial/Administrative approval- for sponsored workshops only
Approved endorsed workshops organized by study groups will be promoted and listed on the ISMRM web site as exactly that.
There will be no stated or effective preference for either the sponsorship or endorsement option on the part of the ISMRM apart from anything enacted into bylaws.
Motion 2 was passed by the workshop/study group review committee.

3.0 Farewell to outgoing board members     Greg Stanisz
A heartfelt thank you to all outgoing committee members (Joe McGowan, Peter van Zijl, Frederik Barkhof, Douglas Arnold, Joseph Frank and Mark van Buchem).

4.0 Presentation of new governing committee     Greg Stanisz
Welcome to the new governing committee members:
Greg Stanisz, PhD - Chair (CANADA)
Charles Guttman, MD - Program Director (USA)
Corree Laule, PhD - Secretary (CANADA)
Roland Henry, PhD - Committee member (USA)
Victor Song, PhD - Committee member (USA)
Egill Rostrup, MD - Committee member (DENMARK)
Joe McGowan, PhD - Past Chair (USA)

5.0 Update on Membership     Greg Stanisz
We currently have 187 members. The membership category breakdown is as follows:
Full: 87
Student: 95
Technologist: 5
Associate: 2
Emeritus: 1

The membership nationality breakdown is as follows:
Australia 3    Japan 3
Austria 2    Netherlands 10
Belgium 3    Norway 1
Canada 23    Poland 1
China 2    Romania 1
Denmark 8    Russia 1
England 5    Scotland 1
UK 7    Singapore 1
France 3    Spain 1
Germany 3    Sweden 4
India 3    Switzerland 4
Ireland 1    Taiwan 7
Israel 1    USA 84
Italy 4    

7.0 Imaging Myelin: Formation, Destruction and Repair Workshop Report     Alex MacKay
119 attendees (37% MR technique, 27% clinical, 24% basic science, 12% pharmaceutical) Gratefully acknowledge the extensive sponsorship (Myelin Gold: Berlex, Biogen, Centocor, Roche, Serono Canada, Teva; Myelin Silver: BioMS, MS Society of Canada, Novartis, Serono International; Myelin Bronze: ICORD, Philips Canada, Vancouver Coastal Health; Myelin: Bruker)
Day 1: Background on myelin structure, development and pathology Overview of myelin biology (Bruce Trapp, Ian Griffiths, Ian Duncan) Clinical aspects of myelination (David Miller, Frederik Barkhof, Marjo van der Knapp, Steve Goldman) Discussion about fundamental questions in myelin & myelination (Douglas Arnold, Sam Ludwin)
Day 2: In vivo marker of myelin Magnetization transfer (Joe McGowan, Paul Tofts) Diffusion (Christian Beaulieu, Victor Song) Spectroscopy (Pan Narayana, Douglas Arnold) T2 relaxation (Corree Laule, Mark Does) Modeling (Greg Stanisz) Lively discussion (Peter van Zijl, Bruce Pike)
Day 3: The effect of myelination, dysmyelination and demyelination beyond white matter and therapeutic strategies for remyelination and neurorepair. White matter disease and cognition, dementia, cortical reorganisation (Christopher Filley, Franz Fazekas, Heidi Johansen-Berg) Spine studies (Lars Olsen, Federica Agosta) Strategies for remyelination and repair (Alastair Compston, Stephan Karlik, Jeff Bulte)
Poster Session winners: Dan Gochberg (Vanderbilt), Craig Jones (Kennedy Krieger), Donna Lang (UBC), Peder Larsson (Stanford), Burkhard Maedler (UBC)
for more information see www.myelinimaging.org

8.0 The Future of the White Matter Study Group     Roland Henry
What is the scope of the white matter study group? Aging & normal development MS (historical reasons) Other WM diseases (Trauma, Stroke) Traditional GM diseases (ALS, dementia) Outside of the brain ( Spinal cord, PNS)
What is the approach of the white matter study group? Methodologies include T2, T1, t1rho, MTR, DTI, Volumetry, MRSI, cell labeling
What are the goals of the white matter study group? Study degeneration/regeneration? Is MR a more sensitive tool for detecting disease? Does MR relate to pathology and clinical function? Is MR an improved endpoint for genetic studies?

9.0 White Matter Study Group Function Charles Guttman
In the past there have been 2 main emphasizes of the study group: annual meeting and workshop meeting. How do we want the future to look? Annual meeting, workshop meeting, and ….?
Historically, the emphasis was to look for surrogate markers of clinical outcome. Now we are moving more towards the pathological underpinnings and reflections of pathology related to genetics, immunology, etc.
Functions of the study group and how to accomplish them: To stimulate scientific discussion - interactive WIKI website (www.wmsg.org) To foster collaborative work - member initiated project cooperatives To share tools - free software downloads / open source development To enable a multidisciplinary forum - Expand study activities to other professional societies To provide educational programs To enhance student participation and impact - Autonomous Student Group with representation on board, Mentored Implementation of SG Initiatives, Small pilot grants program with annual review at meeting To provide a skills and job market - Jobs Board on the WIKI
Motion to submit for an education session at the next ISMRM (Barcelona, 2007) Motion/Second: Charles Guttman / Fred Barkhof Motion carried.
Motion to change the study groups official name to “White Matter Study Group” Motion carried.
Motion to invite a student voting representative to the committee that will be elected by the student members Motion carried.
Motion for the WMSG to cover the annual fee for the student representative. Motion carried.
Motion that the student representative will be elected for a term of 1 year. Motion carried.

10.0 Future WMSG Meeting     Charles Guttman
Next workshop will be in 2008 (location & date to be determined) Please get in touch with us if you wish to host the next meeting!
Motion for the membership to support that every workshop has to be approved using the same identical approval methods with same criteria. Motion carried.
Motion for the membership to support that there will be no stated or effective preference for either the sponsorship or endorsement option on the part of the ISMRM apart from anything enacted into bylaws. Motion carried.

Motion for the WMSG to present an award for the best student presentation at every annual ISMRM Motion carried.

11.0 Adjournment
Motion to adjourn.
Moved/Second: Corree Laule / Wilburn Reddick
Meeting adjourned at 8:55pm
Next meeting: May 2007, Barcelona

Miami - 2005

Welcome by Joe McGowan


Presentation by Alex MacKay (UBC, Vancouver) 
entitled “Myelin water imaging - the most direct MR measure of myelination”
brief description of myelin
 T2 relaxation measurement and analysis
 results from controls including comparison of myelin water fraction to MTR, FA, education and age; 
data from MS and PKU
 pathology validation.
 T2 is more than just a number!


2006 White Matter Study Group Workshop presented by Alex MacKay
 Advances in Myelin Imaging – Formation, Destruction and Repair
 Vancouver, Canada - February 8-10th, 2006
 Venue: The Westin Bayshore Resort and Marina (http://www.westin.com/bayshore) - rooms are being held from Feb. 4-12th and people can make reservations through: http://www.starwoodmeeting.com/StarGroupsWeb/booking/reservation?id=0505133843&key=EADA8
Gala dinner on Grouse Mountain (http://www.grousemountain.com/) at The Observatory (http://www.grousemountain.com/grousemountain-observatory-restaurant.cfm)
 Day 1 – Fundamentals of myelin structure, development and pathology with imaging applications 
Day 2 – In-vivo CNS and PNS myelin markers
Day 3 – Affects of myelination, dysmyelination and demyelination


Introduction/Review of Members of the Board by Joe McGowan
Joe McGowan, Doug Arnold and Massimo Filippi present
 Joe McGowan (chair), Peter Van Zijl (secretary) and Mark Van Buchem (member) to retire next year

Renewal of Study Group Charter
 Easy to justify
 4 international scientific meetings with posters and talks
 stable membership

Report to the ISMRM board
 to occur May 11th, 2005

Future workshop programs TBD
 Suggestions from the membership?

Name and focus of the group
 Suggestions from the membership for a new name to include more aspects of our members research (aging, development, myelin, grey matter…)

Membership
 Full: 86
 Student: 148
 Other: 5
 A poll of attendees was taken and it was determined that a quorum of voting full members (17 people, >10% of members) was present, rendering valid the following decisions of the group

Proposal #1 - Modify Election Procedures to elect new board members annually to three-year terms (17 votes (100%) in favour) 
Requires a one-time procedure for 2006 
Elect 5 new board members and one Chair
 Chair elected directly (2005 meeting decision) 
2 members elected to three year terms (highest vote totals)
 2 members elected to two-year terms (next highest) 
1 member elected to one-year term (next highest) 
Subsequent elections for members with expiring terms

Proposal #2 - Establish new procedures for the selection of officers (17 votes (100%) in favour) 
Secretary and Program Director chosen by Chairman from volunteers on the Board, to serve for the remainder of their terms on the Board

Revisit “big questions” and mission of WMSG
 papers/meetings on trial design, definitions, criteria, staging? Suggestions from membership solicited
get more involved in ISMRM program (propose speakers and topics for plenaries, suggest education courses)?
organize educational activities?
 production of a Journal supplement?
 open suggestions are welcome (e.g. via email to jmcgowan@usna.edu or to any board member)

Meeting called to adjourn (Greg Stanisz, Mark Van Buchem)
17 votes (100%) in favour)