Ad hoc meeting of Officers of the IFAA with Members of the FCAT.

Advantage was taken of an opportunity for Officers of the IFAA to meet members of the Federative Committee on Anatomical Terminology (FCAT) at the Hotel Transamerica in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on the afternoon of Thursday 28th August 1997 at 4.30 pm.

The following officers of the IFAA were present - Professor L.J.A. Didio (Honorary President), Professor D. Brynmor Thomas (Vice President) and Professor Robert Yates (Treasurer). The chair was taken by Professor Thomas.

The following members of the FCAT were present - Dr Ian Whitmore (Chairman), Professor Lutz Vollrath (Vice Chairman), Professor Colin Wendell-Smith (Secretary), Professor Antoine Dhem, Professor Jan Drukker, Professor Raymond Gasser, Professor Jacques Gilloteaux, Professor Rolando Cruz Gutierrez, Professor Duane Haines, Professor Lev Kolesnikov, Professor Keith Moore, Professor Jose Prates, Professor Alessandro Riva and Professor Pierre Sprumont. Professor Helcio Arantes attended by invitation.

On this occasion the crisis which is threatening the viability of the IFAA was reviewed and the formulation of a programme for the revitalization of the Federation was discussed:-

• the concern of the Officers of the IFAA was shared by the members of the FCAT,
• the strategy envisaged by the Executive Committee for the revitalization of the Federation received the unanimous approval of the members of the FCAT,
• the members of the FCAT recognized the potential importance of the IFAA and expressed their willingness to be of service to the Federation,
• Professor Sprumont agreed to coordinate plans for the publication of a Newsletter in collaboration with Professor Moore and Professor Haines (the Editor of the newsletter published by the American Association of Anatomists),
• Dr Whitmore agreed to coordinate plans for the establishment of a Website in collaboration with Professor Gasser and Professor Wendell-Smith,
• Dr Whitmore sought - and was given - permission to use the Website in the first part of Terminologia Anatomica, which is now ready for publication,
• Professor Drukker agreed to discuss the urgent need to activate the Federative Committee on Medical Education (FCME) with Professor David Riches, the Chairman of the FCME,
• several Members of the FCAT emphasized the importance of ensuring that the agenda for Meetings of the General Assembly are circulated at least three months before the commencement of each Meeting, in conformity with Article 12.3 of the Constitution of the IFAA, and that participants who are entitled to vote on behalf of Constituent Societies should be issued with distinctive badges which will enable them to be identified readily and provided with voting papers which can be easily recognized,
• the Members of the FCAT agreed to urge the societies with which they are associated to pay their annual subscriptions to the Federation promptly,
• Dr Whitmore and Professor Vollrath agreed that time would be made available for a Meeting of the Executive Committee during the Meeting of the FCAT which will be held in Mainz during the week commencing on Saturday 14th February 1998. (This meeting has been held).

Professor Thomas thanked the members of FCAT for their helpful comments and for their willingness to be of service to the IFAA, which were much appreciated by him and by his colleagues on the Executive Committee. In doing so he promised to keep the Members of the FCAT fully informed about the progress of initiatives being undertaken by members of their Committee.

David Brynmor Thomas,

St Andrews,

6th September 1997.

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