Newsletter Volume 5 March 2000
American Otological Society, Inc.
133rd Annual Spring Meeting
The American Otological Society, Inc., Annual Spring Meeting will be held at the Orlando World Center Marriott, Orlando, Florida, May 13-14, 2000. Enclosed with this newsletter is the program and abstract booklet for this meeting.
All members are encouraged to register for the Scientific Sessions. These will be held on Saturday and Sunday, May 13 and 14. The Saturday Scientific Sessions will be held in the Palms Ballroom-Sago beginning at 1:00 p.m. and concluding at 5:00 p.m. The AOS member group photograph will be taken immediately following the completion of the scientific sessions. The Sunday Scientific Sessions will begin at 7:30 a.m. in the Palms Ballroom-Sago. Dr. Gary Jackson and the Program Advisory Committee have planned an excellent program. Featured on this year’s program will be a panel discussion on Saturday and Sunday. The Saturday panel discussion topic will be “Cholesteatoma Surgery: Canal Wall Up/Canal Wall Down Revisited” with Dr. Bruce Gantz as moderator and Drs. Paul R. Lambert, Joseph B. Nadol, Jr., and Simon C. Parisier as panelists. The Sunday panel discussion topic will be “ The Acoustic Tumor Management Conundrum” with Dr. D. Bradley Welling as moderator and Drs. Derald E. Brackmann, John C. Flickinger and Kevin X. McKennan as panelists.
 The President’s Annual Reception and Dinner Dance will be held at the Orlando World Center Marriott on Sunday evening, May 14, 2000. This gala affair will begin with a cocktail party at 6:30 p.m. in the Sago Foyer and dinner will follow at 7:30 p.m. in the Palms Ballroom-Sago. Following dinner you will be able to dance the night away to the “Big Chill” dance band. This band, including a male and female vocalist, will get you and your guest “rocking and rolling” the night away! They recreate the Big Band Sound of the 40s, the classic rock n’ roll of the 50s and 60s, Motown, Blues Brothers, and much more. The Big Chill is an unforgettable musical group that will give you an unforgettable evening!!
AOS Council Update: The Council of the American Otological Society, Inc., met on February 12, 2000, in Key Largo, Florida. The Council members present included Drs. C. Gary Jackson, A. Julianna Gulya, Horst R. Konrad, Sam E. Kinney, Charles M. Luetje, Gregory J. Matz, Richard A. Chole, and Jeffrey P. Harris.
Dr. Jackson appointed Drs. Donald B. Kamerer, John R. E. Dickins and Gordon B. Hughes to serve on the 2000 Audit Committee. The Committee will review the financial statements and give a report at the Annual Business Meeting.
Dr. Jackson received 46 abstracts for the 2000 Annual Meeting. These abstracts were reviewed by the Program Advisory Committee who rated the abstracts on a score of 1-5 with one being the highest score. 30 abstracts were selected for the Scientific Sessions.
Dr. Derald Brackmann will be the Guest of Honor at the Annual Meeting and William B. Williams III will receive the Presidential Citation.
Dr. Charles M. Luetje serves as Chairman of the Award of Merit Committee and will announce the committee’s choice at the Sunday evening AOS banquet.
 Call for Papers

The COSM secretaries approved a common abstract deadline of October 15th. The deadline for submission of abstracts for the year 2001 Annual Meeting to be held in Palm Desert, California, will be October 15, 2000.
The Council approved the AOS going to electronic submission of abstracts. The abstract submission for the year 2001annual meeting will request electronic format, e-mail or web submission, and for the year 2002 all abstract submissions will be required to be submitted electronically.

Website
Look for AOS on the World Wide Web.
http://itsa.ucsf.edu/~ajo/AOS/AOS.html
The above address is the AOS home page. To view the abstracts and program for the 2000 Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida, click on 2000 Abstracts and 2000 Annual Meeting Program.
If you have a problem logging onto the web site go to the AJO Home Page and link to AOS.

CME Reaccreditation
The Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education will conduct an onsite reaccreditation survey for the American Otological Society, Inc. This will take place in May.

American College of Surgeons
 Dr. Gregory Matz reported the American College of Surgeons continues to take a proactive role in the area of how we relate to HCFA and Medicare financing. The ACS has $125 million worth of assets and management of their endowment is very conservative. Otolaryngology is ranked No. 2 in new members. Dr. Richard Wiet was elected to the Board of Governors of the American College of Surgeons as a Specialty Society Governor from the American Otological Society.

COSM 2001
The 2001 Combined Otolaryngology Spring Meeting will be held at Marriott Desert Springs, Palm Desert, California, starting on Friday, May 11th and concluding on Wednesday, May 16th . More societies will be meeting on the same day; however, AOS will have their Scientific Sessions on Saturday and Sunday.

Enclosures
Included in this mailing is an abstract form for the 2001 Annual Meeting in Palm Desert, California.
An order form for the Transactions of the American Otological Society, 1998, Volume 86 (current volume). Please note Volume 87 (1999) will not be available until February 2001.
E-Mail
In building our membership database, please send your e-mail address to segossard@aol.com so we can add to our database. If you have a change of address, Phone number or other pertinent information, you may e-mail changes to Shirley Gossard, Administrative Assistant to the Secretary-Treasurer, at segossard@aol.com

We look forward to seeing you in Orlando, Florida.

Horst R. Konrad, M.D.
Secretary-Treasurer
Membership: The current membership totals 268: 126 Actives, 70 Seniors, 6 Emeritus, 43 Associates, 13 Corresponding and 10 Honorary members.
Ballots were sent to the Active and Senior members in November to vote on the proposed candidates for membership in the American Otological Society. 125 ballots were returned. Drs. Stephen P. Cass, Saumil Merchant, Lorne S. Parnes, Debara L. Tucci will be inducted into Active Membership. Drs. Vicente G. Diamante, Takeshi Kubo and Thomas P. U. Wustrow will be inducted into Corresponding Membership at the Annual Meeting.
Drs. Michael M. Paparella, Robert W. Cantrell and Mansfield F. W. Smith have requested Senior status. Dr. B. Hill Briton has requested Emeritus status.

Membership Development Committee:
Dr. Julianna Gulya, chairperson of the Membership Development Committee reported there are 21 potential members to date. Each potential member has a mentor who works with him or her to become qualified candidates.

Treasurer’s Report
The balance on hand in the AOS Treasury as of January 31, 2000 was $105,412.44. As of December 31, 1999, the research fund portfolio was $9,751,469, which was an increase of $1,097,118 since September 30, 1999. The current asset mix is primarily in common stocks and the remainder in various investments.