SNMMI Membership CommitteeApril 20, 2015

Minutes

Members in attendance: Vasken Dilsizian ,MD Chair, David Brandon, MD, Mehdi Djekidel, MD, Kathy Krisak, CNMT, FSNMMT-TS, Munir Ghesani, MD, FACNM, Helen Nadel, MD, Satoshi Minoshima, MD, PhD, James Galt, PhD

Members non in attendance: Jon Baldwin, DO, Valeria Moncayo, MD, Aaron Scott, CNMT, NMAA, FSNMMI-TS, Debbie Wilkinson, MS, CNMT, Todd Peterson, PhD

Staff: Virginia Pappas, Joanna Spahr, Lauren Collins

Welcome and Call to OrderVasken Dilsizian, MD, (Chair), called the meeting to order at 10:04am and a quorum was established.

Approval of MinutesThe Committee voted to approve the minutes from the March 6, 2015 conference call.

Emeritus Member RequirementsThe Committee reviewed the current bylaws for the Emeritus member requirements and voted to propose the following changes to the Board of Directors during their April 2015 meeting:

Individuals at age 70 upon their retirement and with ten (10) after at least ten (10) years of consecutive membership in the Society or any member who, by reason of permanent disability or undue hardship has been rendered unable to continue active membership, may apply for an be granted Emeritus Membership classification to the Membership Committee of the Society. Emeritus members have the full privileges of the membership category from which they entered the emeritus status except the right to be elected an Officer of the Society. A Member Emeritus, however, may be elected to the office of Historian of the Society.

Emeritus ApplicationsThe committee approved 4 Emeritus applications for: Calvin Lutrin, Alan Maurer, Mohammed Moinuddin and Michael Siegel

BundlingA discussion was held regarding bundling membership dues with Annual Meeting registration. Several options were discussed:

1. Some institutions felt that it would be easier to bundle membership dues and meeting registration fees together in order to be reimbursed.

2. Other felt wouldn’t work for their organizations3. Moving dues to coincidence with the annual meeting scientific sessions so that members

having an abstract selected could bundle dues with registration at that point.

The committee decided that self-bundling vs. required bundling would be the best way to move forward as it would be based on member’s specific needs. Dr. Dilsizian then reviewed the proposed

Annual Meeting registration chart below noting that the nonmember registration fee was comprised of the member registration fee plus the Full member dues (an additional $35). Nonmembers would then be automatically enrolled as a member unless they opted out. Their member year would begin as soon as they registered and then continued through the next fiscal year. This is for SNMMI only and would only be for new members joining.

Technologist representative Kathy Krisak on the committee commented that this bundling scenario would not be beneficial with the job shortage and transition dues structure coming out of their program. She will have the SNMMI-TS membership committee to review and make their own recommendation

 Early-Bird Registration Rates(on/before April

9, 2015)

Regular Registration Rates(on/before June

4)

Onsite Registration Rates(beginning June

5)

Registration Type Member Nonmember Member Nonmember Member Nonmember

Physician $605 $1,040 $710 $1,145 $810 $1,245 Scientist $605 $1,040 $710 $1,145 $810 $1,245 Industry $605 $1,040 $710 $1,145 $810 $1,245 Laboratory Professional $380 $509 $440 $569 $540 $669 Resident and Student $185 $403 $210 $428 $310 $528

Membership YearThe Committee discussed the possibility of changing the current membership year (Oct-Sep) to either a calendar year or an Annual Meeting year. The committee noted that they all had different fiscal years and that it would be difficult to find one common year to suit everyone. After a lengthy discussion it was decided to continue with our current year of October to September and re-evaluate next year.

Membership UpdateJoanna Spahr gave a brief update on membership as of April 14th stating that we are behind compared to previous years. Full member and Technologist members are at 90% of their budgeted goal.

Corresponding MembershipDr. Dilsizian gave a brief update on international members stating that only 9% of our membership is international. In reviewing the Corresponding member analysis we could potentially lose dues revenue from anywhere from $5,945 to $40,213 depending on the income category levels of the World Bank. Currently, SNMMI has 34 members in low income/lower middle income World Bank categories. The committee decided to continue this discussion at the June meeting and make a recommendation to the Board of Directors at that time.

Dr. Dilsizian noted that the society needs to determine if international growth is a priority and if so what they would want/need from us as members. There are many challenging issues outside of European countries such as: limited funds to travel to meetings, language barriers, VISA issues, etc. It was suggested that SNMMI offer low fees to lower income countries, or keep fees as is and give

complimentary access to web based education. The concept of open access education materials was discussed; however SNMMI could risk giving away member benefits without being a member. The committee decided to discuss further at the June meetings.

Ms. Pappas briefed the committee on her trip to the World Federation meeting and mentioned that attendees were very interested and aware of all our products and services; however a lot of them can’t afford to purchase them or become a member. Ms. Pappas also described our relationship with IAEA in that we offer them CT case webinars and significant discounts on with online programs.

Dr. Ghesani comments that our Annual Meeting is very rich in content and suggested that we reward those paying the Annual Meeting registration and offer them a limited number of sessions (2) in the virtual meeting for free. This would help if a member is attending conflicting sessions. The committee tabled for further discussion at the June meeting as staff would need to research this to see if it is feasible.

Dr. Dilsizian also gave a brief update on the CMSS membership survey results regarding international and resident members. The committee will review the results in more depth at their June meeting.

Topics for next meeting on June 5th in Baltimore, MD1. International (corresponding) membership2. Value and Perception 3. CMSS Survey review/discussion4. SNMMI needs assessment

AdjournmentThe Committee call ended at 11:00am.