The Board of Directors of R-AMA held its 5th meeting on September 10th and its 6th meeting on September 22nd of 2004

September 10th:
The meeting of September 10th was dedicated to single event – the 2nd National Conference of the Association in Boston, MA. The only issues discussed were organizational details of the conference.

September 22nd:
Dr. Boris Vinogradsky called the meeting to order. All members of the BOD were present except Drs. Julia Frantsuzov, Natalia Gorecki and Ivan Alpatov.

Health Magazine “Zdorovie”
Presented by Dr. Vinogradsky. There was a detailed discussion in regards to cooperation of R-AMA and Health Magazine “Zdorovie”, that is published in Philadelphia, PA. The question was whether or not the President of R-AMA should be on the Editorial Board of the magazine. The majority of the members’ opinion was that at this point we should start discussions of our cooperation with the magazine. The consensus was that the physician can subscribe to the magazine for his or her waiting room, and the patient will utilize or subscribe on their own. Also, we could have a column to submit with newly developed technology by any member of R-AMA. This way the responsibility is with the author alone. The present R-AMA Journal that we plan to publish twice a year would be sufficient for members of R-AMA to submit news, articles, and announcements of our meetings and status of our membership etc.

R-AMA Help Initiative
Presented by Drs. Bogin and Chernyak. Discussion of concern was the Russian underprivileged children with congenital heart disease that could be sponsored by R-AMA. These children could be operated on in the United States in places such as: Boston or Michigan Pediatric Surgical Centers. Unfortunately, at the present time we have no R-AMA funds available for this program, and we have to rely on the help from the sponsoring hospital. It is not easy, but is possible. Also, if funds will be made available, perhaps we would be able to subsidize a surgical resident or surgeon from Russia to receive training here in the United States for a variable period of time.

The 2nd National Conference of R-AMA in Boston, MA
Dr. Vinogradsky presented the results of the Boston meeting. It was a success. We had excellent speakers, interesting topics, and a wonderful facility at the Caritas St Elizabeth Hospital. Special thanks to our chairman in Boston, Dr. Michael Maysky. A lot of time, energy, and personal sacrifice went into this project. Please, refer to the separate page of the website for detailed account of the Conference.

The 3rd National Conference of R-AMA
Dr. Vinogradsky informed BOD members about the preparations for the meeting planned for late 2005 in Washington, DC

RAMA is growing, new members are joining and the future of the organization looks very bright. Together, our voices will be heard.

Next R-AMA Board of Directors meeting will take place in November of 2004