International Federation of Associations of Anatomists (IFAA)

Minutes of the General Assembly (1994), Lisbon, Portugal

The General Assembly of the International Federation of Associations of Anatomists was convened according to the Constitution of the IFAA and held during the XIV Federative International Congress of Anatomy, on Wednesday, July 27, 1994, in Room 3 of the Convention Center of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, in Lisbon, Portugal.

At 15:30 hours, President Prof. M.Moscovici (Brazil) called the meeting to order, inviting to take a seat at the headtable Past President and Honorary President Prof.Liberato J.A.Di Dio (USA/Brazil), the Secretary General Prof. W.Kühnel (Germany), the Treasurer Prof. Robert D. Yates (USA), the Secretary Prof. G. Grignon (France), the Secretary Prof. D.B. Thomas (United Kingdom), and Prof. J.A.Esperança-Pina, President of the XIV Federative International Congress of Anatomy.

The Secretary General requested that all delegates, representing the voting members of the IFAA, sign the attendance sheet, which was circulated and returned to the headtable.

The officers and delegates of the associations of anatomists, whose names and signatures are contained in the attendance document, were the following:

1. Prof. D.J. Riches (Anatomical Society of Great Britain and Ireland)
2. Prof. M. Herrmann (Anatomische Gesellschaft, Germany)
3. Prof. Colin Wendell-Smith (Anatomical Society of Australia and New Zealand)
4. Prof. A.B. O. Desain (Anatomical Society of West Africa)
5. Prof. P. M. Motta (Italian Society of Anatomy)
6. Prof. R. Barone (World Association of Veterinary Anatomists)
7. Prof. She Pu-Xue (Chinese Society on Anatomical Sciences)
8. Prof. A. Dionyssopoulus (Greek Anatomical Society)
9. Prof. A.J. C. Bezerra (Sociedade Brasileira de Anatomia)
10. Prof. José C. Prates (Luso-Brazilian Society of Anatomy)
11. Prof. R. Cruz-Gutierrez (Costarrican Anatomical Society)
12. Prof. Chaudrama Anand and K. Garg (Anatomical Society of India)**
13. Prof. Kyung Ah Park (Korean Society of Anatomy)
14. Prof. G. Teofilovski-Parapid (Association of Yugoslav Anatomists)
15. Prof. A. Ruiz-Liard (Sociedade de Anatomia de Uruguay)
16. Prof. Dr. Domingo Ruano-Gil (Sociedad Ibero-Americana de Anatomia)
17. Prof. E. Arené R. (Bolivian Society of Anatomy)
18. Prof. O. Narkiewicz (Polish Anatomical Society)
19. Prof. J. A. Esperança-Pina (Portuguese Society Anatomy)
20. Prof. A. Dhem (Belgian Society of Anatomy)***
21. Prof. S. Uchino (Japanese Association of Anatomists)
22. Prof. C. Foroglou (Greek Society of Morphology)
23. Prof. J. Drukker (Nederlandse Anatomen Vereniging)
24. Prof. V.Niculescu (Societatea Anatomie din Romania)
25. Prof. L. J. A. Di Dio (Colegio Anatomico Brasileiro)
26. Prof. P. V. Tobias and Prof. K. S. Satyapal ( Anatomical Society of Southern Africa)**
27. Prof. Dennis G. Osmond (Canadian Association of Anatomists)
28. Prof. Robert D. Yates (American Association of Anatomists)
29. Prof. S. Nilsson (Swedish Anatomical Society)
30. Prof. A. Dhem (SocietE Suisse d'anatomie, d'histologie et d'embryologie)***
31. Prof. G. Grignon (Association des Anatomistes, France)

** Onevote

*** Prof. A. Dhem had credentials to represent both the Belgian Society of Anatomy and the Societé Suisse d'anatomie, d'histologie et d'embryologie.

The agenda for the General Assembly of the IFAA, prepared by the Executive Committee of the IFAA and distributed by the Secretary General, was the following:

1. Call to order and opening remarks by the President - Prof. M. Moscovici
2. Discussion and approval of the minutes of the previous General Assembly (1989)
3. Secretary General report - Prof. W. Kühnel
4. Treasurer report - Prof. R. D. Yates
5. Report of the Federative Committee on Anatomical Terminology - Dr. Ian Whitmore
6. Report of the ad hoc Federative Committee on Education in the Anatomical Sciences - Prof. D. B. Thomas
7. Report of the ad hoc Federative Committee on Anatomical and Scientific Press - Prof. Liberato J. A. Di Dio and Prof. David Riches
8. Vote on amendments to the IFAA Constitution
9. Ratification of ad hoc Federative Committees
10. Selection of the year and site for the XV Federative International Congress of Anatomy and its President
11. Admission of new members
12. Election of the President and Executive Committee of the IFAA
13. Other Business
14. Adjournment

1. After calling the meeting to order, President Moscovici reported on the multiple activities of the Executive Committee of the IFAA. He began with a warm welcome to all delegates who came to participate in this Congress, then expressed his appreciation and gratitude to both the members of the Executive Committee and the Federative Committee on Anatomical Terminology for their cooperation toward reaching the IFAA goals.

He spoke about the plan presented upon his election, in 1989, to the presidency of the IFAA. His most ambitious ideas were the "Federation Newsletter" and to carry out a comprehensive study on anatomy teaching in each country. He regretted that the two projects did not come to fruition because of well known hard facts, such as political changes and their influence in most countries, increasing inflation and creating economic difficulties, all over the world. He mentioned that mailing costs alone for the two projects and the expense of regular correspondence were so high that were not affordable owing to the IFAA limited funds. He further reported that UNESCO was unable to provide a financial aid requested by the IFAA. He emphasized, however, that the Secretary General, Prof. Kühnel, had succeeded in publishing the IFAA Directory, containing a historical introduction and its constitution, thanks to the University of Lubeck support. The President ended his report by thanking for the collaboration he had received from all members, promising to go on cooperating with the next President and the Executive Committee.

The report was approved by acclamation.

2. The next order of business was the discussion and approval of the minutes of the most recent General Assembly session, held at the Riocentro Convention Hall in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, during the XIII Federation International Congress of Anatomy (1989). The minutes, which had been distributed soon after the Congress and which are published in Acta Anatomica, 138: 273-278 (1990), were read, discussed and submitted to a vote.

The minutes were approved without amendments by unanimous vote.

3. The report of the Secretary General followed. Prof. Kühnel mentioned the updating, printing and mailing of the Directory of the IFAA as well as the preparation of the questionnaires for the periodical updating of this document containing valuable information. He regretted to add that he was very sorry for not having been informed by the national societies on their current data and that most societies did not take any notice of his letters, preventing him to prepare the updated version of the IFAA Directory. He requested that all members send to his address the information necessary to publish as soon as possible the new IFAA Directory to facilitate the exchange among associations of anatomists.

His report was discussed by several delegates, who emphasized the importance and the need to provide the information requested by the Secretary General. The willingness of Prof. Kühnel to prepare and publish the next Directory, with the financial support of his University of Lubeck, prompted Prof. Di Dio to thank the Secretariat for such a meaningful cooperation, an appreciation which was seconded by all members.

The report was unanimously approved.

4. The Treasurer, Prof. Robert D. Yates, reported on the finances of the IFAA, after distributing the summary of his presentation, which follows.

Prof. Yates asked those societies which cannot pay the membership dues, owing to national legislation, to write a letter to the Treasurer. He proposed that the membership annual dues be kept at the same level of those approved in the previous Congress (1989), effective January 1, 1995, as follows:

Annual dues approved by the General Assembly of the IFAA, effective January 1, 1995

The Treasurer motion, seconded by Prof. D. B. Thomas, was approved by unanimous vote.

In the discussion, Prof. Di Dio made a motion to propose that the allowance to the FCAT be doubled in the next budget in order to provide necessary funds for the preparation of the new "Terminologia Anatomica, Systemica et Topographica". The proposition was seconded by Prof. A. Dhem and was unanimously approved.

The Treasurer ended his report with a recommendation to supplement Article l5 of the Constitution of the IFAA, as follows:

Article 15, (c): Approximately three months prior to the General Assembly of the IFAA, the President shall appoint two (2) members of the Federation as auditors to examine the financial statement prepared by the Treasurer.

Followed a long discussion, during which Prof. Yates received many compliments for his time and effort in managing the treasury of the IFAA, and the report was approved unanimously.

5. Doctor Ian Whitmore, Chairman, reported on the activities of the Federative Committee on Anatomical Terminology (FCAT).

In 1989 the General Assembly of the International Federation of Associations of Anatomists (IFAA) created the Federative Committee on Anatomical Terminology whose objectives were defined:

To present the official terminology of the anatomical sciences after consultation with all the members of the International Federation of Associations of Anatomists, thus ensuring democratic input to the terminology.

The General Assembly appointed 12 members to the FCAT.

FCAT met on several occasions since its inception:

At the first two meetings considerable discussion took place concerning the relationship between FCAT and the International Anatomical Nomenclature Committee (IANC). Despite many conversations between the officers of FCAT and IANC, FCAT has been unable to establish any working relationship with IANC. Following the realization that collaboration was impossible, FCAT embarked on the production of a new terminology.

The new draft terminology on gross anatomy, which incorporates both Latin and English terms, is currently in the final phase of work by the members of the FCAT, who hope to assemble their final versions at their meetings in Lisbon in July 1994. Later in 1994, a single copy will be sent to each of the contacts for terminology (representing the member societies of IFAA) for consideration by their society. Draft texts for embryology, histology and cytology are also in preparation, but are at an earlier stage. They will also be sent to member societies when ready.

Members:

Prof. G. C. Balboni, Italy

Prof. D. Brynmor-Thomas, United Kingdom

Prof. A. Dehm, Belgium

Prof. L. J. A. Di Dio, USA/Brazil

Prof. J. Drukker, The Netherlands

Prof. G. Grignon, France

Prof. E. Klika, Czechoslovakia

Prof. G. Martin, USA

Prof. K. Moore, Canada

Prof. J C. Prates, Brazil

Prof. D. Ruano-Gil, Spain

Prof. G. Satjukova, Russia

Prof. P. Sprumont, Switzerland

Prof. P. V. Tobias, South Africa

Prof. L. Vollrath, Germany

Prof. C. Wendell-smith, Australia

Dr.I. Whitmore, United Kingdom

Prof. K. Yasuda, Japan

officers:

Chairman: Dr. I. Whitmore

Vice-Chairman: Prof. K. Moore

Secretary General: Prof. L. J. A. Di Dio

Secretary: Prof. G. Grignon

Secretary: Prof. L. Vollrath

FCAT is near to the completion of its initial task, which should be completed with the publication of a democratically accepted terminology. In order to succeed in this task FCAT asks that its current members and officers be reappointed.

All members were elected and the report was unanimously approved.

6. Prof. D. B. Thomas, Chairman, reported on the ad hoc Federative Committee on Education in the Anatomical Sciences (FCEAS) which will meet during the congress. He also drew attention to the fact that there will be a Symposium on Medical Education in the forthcoming International Symposium on Morphological Sciences to be held on September 22-27, l995, in Thessaloniki, Greece. At this Symposium long range plans will be presented and discussed to gather useful information from leaders of the Anatomical Sciences, to be later disseminated worldwide.

He indicated that the members of the FCEAS are Professors R. Cruz-Gutierrez, A. Dhem, L. J. A. Di Dio, J. A. Esperança-Pina, W. Kühnel, P. M. Motta, J. C. Prates, D. B. Thomas, A. Ladman, M. Moscovici, D. G. Osmond, C. Slonecker, I. Whitmore and She-Pu Xue. The Chairman ended by requesting that the FCEAS be made official by the IFAA.

The report was approved by unanimous vote.

7. The report of the ad hoc Federative Committee on Anatomical and Scientific Press (FCASP) was made by Prof. L. J. A. Di Dio, Chairman, and Prof. David Riches, Secretary. The development of such a Committee, according to Prof. Di Dio, originated during the International Symposium on Morphological Sciences held in Barcelona, in 1993. Initially, the main goals of the FCASP are to improve anatomical articles, to recognize journals, the editors of which would be interested in obtaining certification, to encourage young scientists to familiarize themselves with proper style and format of publications.

The submission and evaluation of manuscripts was discussed in the first meeting and the uniformity of the instructions to authors was considered. The possibility of preparing uniform scientific, particularly anatomical manuscripts, arose for submission to all journals adopting similar instructions for eventual publication. A system of periodicals accepting uniform style and format would render easier, less expensive and more rapid publication, reducing the waiting time for resubmission and shortening the process of evaluation and editing of manuscripts.

The advantages, such as reducing the time, the re-writing or re-editing (new format, style, illustrations, legends, bibliographic references, citation of authors) for submission to another journal overwhelm the disadvantages. Thus, a concerted effort will be made to organize a list of the "uniform system of journals" to be available to all interested scientists. The FCASP will prepare, after ample consultation, a set of instructions to authors of manuscripts acceptable to as many scientific periodicals as possible, to overcome the format and style that differ from one periodical to another.

The FCASP will receive an application from the interested managing editor of each scientific periodical for inclusion in the "uniform system of journals". Once approved by the Committee, the journal would be allowed to publish in the front page the resulting indexation or certification.

During the meeting, many editors or representatives of scientific journals presented several suggestions, which are being considered by the FCASP.

The participants in the first meeting elected the following officers for the FCASP: Prof. L. J. A. Di Dio, chairman, Prof. D. Ruano-Gil, vice-chairman, and Prof. David Riches, secretary.

The recognition of the Committee by the IFAA was requested.

The report was approved unanimously.

8. The amendments to the IFAA Constitution were the following:

Articles l4 and 15 (proposed by Prof. L. J. A. Di Dio, seconded by Prof. David Riches)

Article 14

(1) The Executive Committee is made up of the President, the Vice-President, the Secretary General ...

Article 15

The duties of the President and, in her/his absence, of the Vice-President shall be: ...

Article 16

(a) To substitute for the Vice-President in her/his absence.

Article 19

... the President, the Vice-President, the Secretary General,...

Article 23

(1) ... temporarily by the Vice-President. The same applies applies to the Vice-President, who shall be represented by the Secretary General. The same applies ...

(2) ... In case of the resignation of the President, her/ his function will be taken over by the Vice-President. In case of the resignation of the Vice-President, her/his function will be taken over by the Secretary General. In case...

After Prof. Di Dio's justification, the amendments were submitted to a vote and the result was unanimous approval.

Article 15 (proposed by Prof. R. D. Yates, seconded by Prof. A. Dhem):

(c) Three months prior to the General Assembly of the IFAA, to appoint two members of the IFAA as auditors to examine the financial statement prepared by the Treasurer.

Following the justification by Prof. Yates, the amendment was voted upon and approved unanimously.

Prof. D. B. Thomas moved and Prof. R. D. Yates seconded the motion that the amended IFAA Constitution be published with these minutes and distributed by the Secretary General.

The motion was carried by unanimous vote.

9. Ratification of Federative Committees

According to Article 10 (c), the folllowing ad hoc Federative Committees were up for ratification, all proposed by Prof. D. B. Thomas, seconded by Prof. A. Dhem:

• Federative Committee on Education in the Anatomical Sciences (FCEAS)

Officers: Prof. D. Riches, chairman, and Prof. D. B. Thomas, secretary

• Federative Committee on Anatomical and Scientific Press (FCASP)

Officers: Prof. L. J. A. Di Dio, chairman, Prof. D. Ruano-Gil, vice-chairman, and Prof. D. Riches, secretary

• Federative Committee on Comparative and Applied Morphology (FCAM)

Officers: Prof. Wesley Anderson, chairman, and Prof. Bernard Moxham, secretary

The ratification of the Committees was approved by unanimous vote. They will be added to the Federative Committee on Anatomical Terminology (FCAT).

10. The next item of the agenda was the selection of the year and site of the XV Federative International Congress of Anatomy and of its President.

The Secretary General informed that invitations to host the XV Federative International Congress of Anatomy came from Montreal (Canada), Rome (Italy), Beijing (China) and Tokyo (Japan).

The President informed that Japan application had been submitted after the deadline and could not be considered as a candidate at this time. He then invited Prof. D. G. Osmond (Canada) to present the plans for the organization of the next Congress in Montreal, in 1999. He was followed by Prof. Pietro M. Motta who, on behalf of the Italian Society of Anatomy, described his planned organization of the Congress to be held in Rome, in 1999, and by Prof. She-Pu Xue, who spoke for the Chinese Society of Anatomical Sciences, to describe the plans for the Congress in Beijing (China), also in 1999.

In the discussion several members asked for clarification and some congratulated the candidates for their presentations.

The 31 members voted by secret ballot and the results were the following:

Canada - 10 votes Italy - l6 votes China - 5 votes

The President announced the result: Italy was elected by majority vote and Canada as the alternate site, for the XV Federative International Congress of Anatomy, to be held in July 1999, in Rome, and to be presided over by Prof. Pietro M. Motta.

11. The Secretary General announced that there were two candidates for membership in the IFAA:

• Croatian Society of Anatomists, Histologists and Embryologists

President: Prof. Zelimir Bradamante, MD, PhD

• Czech Anatomical Society

Secretariat: Prof. MUDr. Pavel Petrovický, DrSc

Prof. L. J. A. Di Dio moved that the two Societies be admitted as members of the IFAA, Prof. D. B. Thomas seconded.

The motion was unanimously approved.

12. The next item concerned the election of the next President and the members of the Executive Committee of the IFAA for the quinquennium 1994-1999, ending at the last day of the XV Federative International Congress of Anatomy.

By secret ballot, Prof. J. A. Esperança-Pina, was elected unanimously.

The nomination of the new officers was included in the following slate:

Vice-President: Prof. David B. Thomas (United Kingdom) Secretary General: Prof. Wolfgang Kühnel (Germany) Treasurer: Prof. Robert D .Yates (USA) Secretary: Prof. Georges Grignon (France) Secretary: Prof. Pietro M. Motta (Italy)

By secret ballot the candidates obtained 30 votes. The President announced the result of the election by majority vote of the new Executive Committee.

13. Other business: On behalf of the members of the General Assembly, Prof. Di Dio congratulated Prof. I A. Esperança-Pina, President of the Lisbon Federative International Congress of Anatomy, for the successful international event and thanked the Organizing Committee for the warm welcome and the many courtesies extended to all participants.

14. Adjournment: As there was no other business, President Moscovici congratulated the new elected officers, reiterated his gratitude for the collaboration of the members of the Executive Committee, for the presence of all participants and adjourned the General Assembly at 18 : 40 hours.

Lubeck, Germany, October 16, 1996

Prof. Dr.med. Wolfgang Kühnel

Secretary General

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