Bone Marrow Adiposity Society (BMAS)

Minutes of the

CONSTITUTIVE ASSEMBLY

 

Lausanne September 1^st 2017

Table of Contents

• Abbreviations
• CONTEXT
• BACKGROUND

• STATUTES: AIMS / GENERAL ASSEMBLY/ EXECUTIVE BOARD / SCIENTIFIC BOARD  / PROCEDURE FOR CANDIDATURES TO THE BOARDS / LEGAL STATUS and ORGANISATION of the SOCIETY
• LOCATION OF UPCOMING BMA MEETINGS
• WORKING GROUPS

 

 

 

Abbreviations:

BMA: Bone Marrow Adiposity

BMAS: Bone Marrow Adiposity Society

CA: Constitutive Assembly

GA: General Assembly

EB: Executive Board

SB: Scientific Board

 

Context

The CA was held in Lausanne, in the amphitheater of the Olympic Museum, during the BMA2017 meeting. The CA was mainly led by Olaia Naveiras, organizer of the meeting, with the help of William Cawthorn, Pierre Hardouin and Bram van der Eerden.

The CA started at 12:15 and ended at 13:00. It was included in the program of the meeting “An International Society for BMA research: Constitutive Assembly » (Friday September 1^st, 2017, 12:15-13:00).

The CA had been announced the day before to introduce the points that would be discussed, and all participants of BMA2017 were invited to the CA. This announcement was also included in the official program of the meeting “An International Society for BMA Research: Introduction”  (Thursday August 31^st, 2017, 14:00-14:30). It was specified that all persons registered for the BMA2017 meeting were invited and will constitute the GA.

 

BACKGROUND

Opportunity. The creation of a scientific society dedicated to bone marrow adiposity (BMA) was envisioned as early as 2015. The question was posed during the final discussion of the 1^st BMA meeting in Lille (28-29 August, 2015). It was evoked again during the 2^nd BMA meeting in Rotterdam (25-26 August, 2016).

Preparative work.

• BoneAHeaD group (“Bone Adiposity in Health and Diseases”). At the end of 2015 a first group was formed (BoneAHeaD group)  coordinated by Pierre Hardouin and funded by the French Research Agency, with the goal of building a European network and applying to international funding calls. The main organizers of the three BMA meetings were included in this group. It is composed of: William Cawthorn (Edinburgh), Christophe Chauveau (Boulogne), Eleni Douni (Athens), Claire Edwards (Oxford), Pierre Hardouin (Boulogne), Olaia Naveiras (Lausanne), Guillaume Penel (Lille), Antonella Poloni (Ancone), Mara Riminucci (Roma), Jeroen van de Peppel (Rotterdam) and Bram van der Eerden (Rotterdam). The last meeting of the group took place in March 2017 in Boulogne-sur-Mer, and a session was devoted to the modalities of creating an international society.
• CA preparatory meeting. This meeting was organized by Olaia Naveiras at EPFL (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) and took place on Wednesday September 30^th, 2017 (15:30 – 20:00). The following people were invited to this meeting: members of the BoneAHead group, invited speakers of the 3 BMA meetings (BMA2015, BMA2016 and BMA2017) and other researchers having expressed an interest in a BMA international society. Invitees to the preparatory meeting were encouraged to share the invitation with other interested people. The purpose of this preparatory meeting was to discuss a pre-proposal (including the name, aims, statutes and organization of the society) and to discuss the possible options, in order to present a consensus proposal at the CA.

It is the proposal resulting from this preparatory work that was presented by Olaia Naveiras at the CA.

During this presentation she evoked the spirit of consensus that animates the group – “We respect diversity of opinion,
but ultimately we speak with one voice” – and she illustrated this spirit with an image of the Olympic flame permanently ignited at the entrance of the museum.

 

 

STATUTES

 

Name of the Society

Bone Marrow Adiposity Society

Aims of the Society

Advancement of knowledge on BMA, through:

1) Organization of the BMA meetings


2) Research and Training

• Training of young researchers 

• Data sharing 

• Establishing of common research standards 

• Foster collaborations (e.g. collective grant writing) 


3) Public engagement 


• Advocacy and outreach 

• Working with other societies


4) Any other means decided by the society to promote the aims of BMAS


 

Voting on the name and aims of the society: unanimous approval.

General Assembly

The GA is held at least once a year. It is composed of all active members of the society. The regular GA is organized during the scientific BMA meeting. An exceptional GA may be decided upon by the president of the executive board, or on written request of at least 30 members, or a third of the members. The agenda must be sent to the members by email at least 15 days prior to the GA.

Composition of the GA :

• All BMA 2017 attendees will automatically become BMAS members (no fee for 2017).
• Non-attendees can join for annual fees (20 euros for 2018). 

• Membership will be renewed upon registration to BMA 2018 for the same fee (20 euros). 

• Members will benefit from a reduced registration fee for the annual meetings. 

• Presence at the GA is required for voting (procurements/electronic vote may be approved by the GA at a later date, upon consolidation of the society)
• Members of the EB cannot be simultaneously be members of the SB. 


Missions of the  GA: 
          

• To elect the EB (members of the EB cannot be simultaneously be members of the SB)
• To approve the minutes of the previous GA 

• To validate the actions of the EB 

• To approve the financial accounts 

• To decide the location of the future BMA meetings 


 

 

 

Executive Board (EB)

Composition of the EB:

• Six to 12 members, elected for 3 years (twice max), striving for demographic and
geographical diversity 

• At least: a president, vice-president (not from the same country as the president), secretary, treasurer, young
investigator representative, and a webmaster 

• « Founders’ Executive Board » (8 members) to receive candidatures for the 2018 
definitive EB

Missions of the EB:

o To run the society


o To propose meeting locations

o To conduct the GA


o To designate the SB

 

Founders’ EB:

• Pierre Hardouin -> President
• Olaia Naveiras -> Vice-president
• William Cawthorn -> Secretary
• Bram van der Eerden -> Treasurer
• Eleni Douni
• Claire Edwards
• Antonella Poloni
• Mara Riminucci

 

 

 

 

Scientific Board (SB)

Composition of the SB :

• Ten to 14 members striving for demographic & geographical diversity
• Renewal of 1/3 every 2 years (i.e. each member will serve 6 years; this will be shorter for 2018 SB members)
• It is recommended for the president of the local organizing committee of the next BMA meeting(s) to be an SB member


Missions of the SB: 


– To score the abstracts of the meeting


– To select oral communications


– To select scientific prizes


– To write (with aim to publish) a report of the meeting (in collaboration with the local organizing committee)

– Any other scientific missions decided by the society

 

Founders’ SB:

• Local committee 2018:
  • Christophe Chauveau 

  • Guillaume Penel

• Local committee 2019: 


Moustapha Kassem

Ad hoc members as per candidature letter

• Boneahead member :

Jeroen van de Peppel

Procedure for candidature to the EB and SB

Procedure to elect the 2018 definitive EB and SB:

• Candidature letters from any member could be sent to the « Founder’s Executive Board » from December 2017
• Ad hoc EB positions required for a functional board (e.g. webmaster…) will be incorporated during 2018 and voted in the 2018 GA.

 

Legal status and organization of the Society

Criteria: To fit with the aims and rules of the society ; To be flexible and simple; To allow international members (including the president).

OPTIONS: 1) French 1901 Association 2) Swiss statutes
3) British statutes
4) Other

A decision will be taken by the Founder’s EB upon further legal advice. The GA mandates the EB to deposit the statutes according to the principles mentioned.

 

Voting on the boards and status: unanimous approval.

 

 

Location of upcoming BMA meetings

• 2018: Lille, France (Christophe Chauveau and Guillaume Penel)

• 2019: Odense, Denmark 
(Moustapha Kassem)

Voting: unanimous approval.

2020 onwards:
to be voted at the 2018 GA and so forth from candidatures submitted to the EB

The suggested possibility that a NorthAmerican edition takes place every X number of years in association with the ASBMR will be investigated.

 

WORKING GROUPS

This part was mainly led by Bram van der Eerden.

Three working groups are already decided:

– Nomenclature

– Methodologies

– Biobanking

 

and three others are planned:

– Public Engagement

– Data Repositories

– Sponsorship

 

To join any of the workgroups, attendees at the GA were asked to contact

• W.Cawthorn@ed.ac.uk

• b.vandereerden@erasmusmc.nl

 

Attendees:

Nathalie Al Rassy Ulco University, Boulogne-sur-Mer , France   Thomas Ambrosi German Institute of Human Nutrition, Nuthetal, Germany       Camille Attane           University of Toulouse, Toulouse, France       Sammy Badr  University of Lille, Lille, France            Sarah Beck-Cormier INSERM, Nantes, France   Kerensa Beekman VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, Netherlands   Vasco Campos EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland   William Cawthorn     University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK   Christophe Chauveau Ulco University, Boulogne-sur-Mer, France   David Benson Chou Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA   Aline Clabaut  Ulco University, Boulogne-sur-Mer, France   Alessandro Corsi Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy   Xavier Coutel University of Lille, Lille, France   Clarissa Craft Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, USA   Eleni Douni University of Athens, Athens, Greece   Micha Drukker Helmholtz Institute, Munich, Germany   James Edwards University of Oxford, Oxford, UK   Claire Edwards University of Oxford, Oxford, UK   Bernhard Fasching Endogena Therapeutics inc., Zurich, Switzerland    William Ferris  Stellenbosch University, Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa   Angelica Giuliani Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona, Italy   Louise Grahnemo University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden   Pierre Hardouin Ulco University, Boulogne-sur-Mer, France   Tanja Hausherr EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland            Mark Horowitz Yale University school of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA   Xavier Houard University Pierre and Marie Curie, Paris, France   Moustapha Kassem University Hospital of Odense, Odense, Denmark   Greet Kerckhofs KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium   Thibaut Klein Universität Basel, Basel, Switzerland   Rosella Labella Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy   Marie Hélène Lafage-Proust University of Lyon, Saint-Etienne, France   Beata Lecka-Czernik University of Toledo College of Medicine, Toledo, Ohio, USA   Kaiyan Liu Peking University Institute of Hematology, Beijing, China   Domenico Mattiucci Università Politecnica Delle Marche, Ancona, Italy   Maria Moreno-Aliaga University of Navarra, Pamplona, Spain   Emma Morris University of Oxford, Oxford, UK   Teruyo Nakatani NYU College of Dentistry, New York City, USA   Olaia Naveiras EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland   Biagio Palmisano Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy   Guillaume Penel University of Lille, Lille, France   Alessia Perino EPFL, Lausanne,Switzerland   Francoise Pflumio INSERM, Fontenay-aux-Roses, France   Domenico Raimondo Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy   Benjamin Rappaz R&D and marketing, Lausanne, Switzerland   Jaime Reina Sysmex,Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland   Laurent Renou IRCM, Montpellier, France   Mara Riminucci Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy   Maria Rita Rippo Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona, Italy   Azaam Samad Taylor & Francis, San Diego, USA   Erica Scheller Washington University School of Medicine, Saint Louis, Missouri, USA   Tim Schulz German Institute of Human Nutrition, Nuthetal, Germany   Frederica Schyrr EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland   Aneka Sowman Univeristy of Oxford, Oxford, UK   Karla Suchacki University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK   Shanti Sutterlin EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland   Naveed Tavakol EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland   Michaela Tencerova (Short Oral 17, O17) University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark   Josefine Tratwal EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland   Bram Van der Eerden Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, Netherlands   Andre van Wijnen Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA   Virag Vas Hungarian Academy of Sciences Budapest, Hungary   Annegreet Veldhuis-Vlug Academic Medical Center Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands            Anne Wilson University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland   Gina Woods University of California, San Diego, California, USA   Laura Wright Indiana University Indianapolis, Indiana, USA   Natalia Zapata University Pierre and Marie Curie, Paris, France   Bo Zhou University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China   Gabriele Zuchtriegel University Children Hospital of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland