March 23, 2010

Location

Ballam Room, 21 Penn Tower

Present

Drs. Asbury, Downes, Goldfine, Hess, Kefalides, MacGregor, Meadows, Meyers, Nachmias, Schleyer, Steinberg, Rachael Berget from the Office of Faculty Affairs and Professional Development 

Absent

Drs. Dalinka, Heppenstall, LaRossa and McCarthy

Minutes

Dr Goldfine called the meeting to order at 12:06.  The agenda for the meeting and other documents were distributed.  Dr. Steinberg pointed out that he had corrected the dates of the terms of Drs. Downes and LaRossa, which end in 2009 and 2010, respectively. Dr. Goldfine noted that he asked Dr. Downes to continue to attend meetings until the end of this year. A motion was made and seconded to approve the minutes of the last meeting as corrected.

Dr. Goldfine gave an update on the Research Faculty.  He had met with Dr. Ana Lia Obaid on 3/8/10 to discuss the formation of a committee of Research Faculty to press for changes in the current policies with respect to granting of emeritus status and other matters of concern. She agreed to do this and will consult with the Research Faculty representative on University Council, Dr. Ellen Giarelli.

As noted above there is a need for two new members of Council to serve from 2010 to 2013. Several names were suggested and these will be brought to the nominating committee.

Dr. Goldfine reported on a meeting of the steering committee with Michael Dandorph, Vice President, Business Development, UPHS on March 12, 2010 to discuss the possible participation of ASEF in efforts to bring foreign patients to UPHS.  We encouraged Mr. Dandorph to develop a plan for the participation of our members.  Council concurred with this proposal. Dr. MacGregor suggested we encourage the Development people to compose a one-page description of UPHS, its programs and strengths. Other issues concern how the health insurance programs of other countries affect the use of our facilities.

Dr. Goldfine reported on a meeting on March 19, 2010 of the steering committee with William Green and Vanessa Marinari, Development Office, UPHS to discuss the establishment of an ASEF Scholarship Fund for medical students. We were encouraged by them to explore the establishment of this fund and we will work with them in implementing this proposal. We and they believe that there will be no conflict with existing fund-raising and could increase the pool of potential donors.

Dr. Meadows reported on the recent tour of the Proton Therapy Center for members of Council which was attended by 5 of us. She suggested that we arrange for a future lecture by someone from the Center which would be open to the university community. There was general agreement with this proposal. Dr. Nachmias suggested that for other future lectures we consider staging debates which would engender more interest.

Dr. Meadows also mentioned efforts to bring to the attention of our membership the excellent programs of the College of Physicians by providing a link on our website. Dr. Goldfine mentioned the excellent website of the Philadelphia Area Center for History of Science.  Dr. Meadows also discussed the proposal of the Program Committee that for the October event honoring new retirees to use a new format. Instead of dinner, the talk by a speaker to be chosen and the presentation of the honorees would be followed by a reception open to all which would feature “heavy” hors d’oeuvres and beverages.  There was unanimous agreement with this proposal.

Dr. MacGregor reported for the Service Committee since Dr. McCarthy was unable to attend.  Plans for a Patient Advocacy program are moving forward slowly at present.

Dr. Schleyer presented an update on the website, which continues to provide more information of interest to our members.  He suggested that we broaden our programs by sponsoring informal lectures/discussions to be held in our Headquarters.  Council encouraged him to develop this idea further and work with the Program Committee to try it out.

Dr. Kefalides mentioned the two upcoming luncheon talks, Dr. Hefti on 3/26 and Dr. Rybczynski on 4/27.

Dr. Goldfine reported for Jim Saunders on the usage of our headquarters during the past month.  There were 5 committee or board meetings, a video taping of the Oral History for Anesthesia project, 2 lunches by members and 1 interview. There were 12 individual visits for writing, reading, lunch, etc. These data show increased usage as more members begin to take advantage of this wonderful facility.

Dr. Goldfine distributed a proposal by Jay Zemel to PASEF concerning patent policies at Penn. Dr. Asbury noted that Penn’s allocation of patent income to inventors and their labs is more generous than most other institutions and that the proposal by Dr. Zemel, would put Penn at the top of the league, if implemented. Dr. Goldfine noted that distributions to the University Research Foundation come back to the faculty in terms of research grants and bridge funds.

Dr. Goldfine asked if someone would be willing to represent ASEF at a dedication of Sayre Health Center, March 30, 10:00 AM in memory of the late Dr. Bernett L. Johnson, Jr. He will ask David McCarthy if he can do it, if not Rob MacGregor volunteered to be there.

New Business

There was no new business.

At 1:30 p.m. the members adjourned to the headquarters to have their photograph taken by Julian Pugh.

Respectfully submitted,

Howard Goldfine