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Fall 2007 President's Message

Changes at the IAEMS

Submitted by
David DeMarini, IAEMS President

Demarini

The International Association of Environmental Mutagen Societies (IAEMS) has an exciting future based on some new developments. First, we have incorporated the IAEMS as a tax-exempt, non-profit organization (for the first time) as of March 17, 2006, in the State of North Carolina. This puts IAEMS on a sound structural footing and permits it to receive financial support from foundations as well as a variety of other entities.

Another development is that on January 17, 2007, we signed a contract with Association Innovation & Management, Inc. (AIM) for AIM to be the management company for IAEMS. As you know, AIM manages the EMS, SOT, and other societies. As part of this contract with AIM, IAEMS now has an Executive Director, Dr. Betty Eidemiller. This is the first time in the 35 year history of IAEMS that IAEMS has been incorporated, had a management company, and an Executive Director and all that with a very reasonable use of our resources. We welcome Betty on board and look forward to working with her in the coming years.

As part of hiring AIM, the IAEMS will have a new Web site that will be based in the US and also new bank accounts, which will also be US-based.

We are pleased to note that the 9th International Conference on Environmental Mutagens (9th ICEM) and the International Workshop on Genotoxicity Tests (IWGT) that was held in conjunction with the ICEM made a substantial profit, and a significant portion of those funds will soon be deposited in the IAEMS treasury. The IAEMS also has received several generous donations recently; thus, the IAEMS is positioned to have sufficient resources to help sponsor upcoming IAEMS events, such as the 10th ICEM in Florence, Italy in 2009.

I want to take this opportunity to thank my predecessors, especially Jim Gentile and George Douglas, for their help in the transition, as well as the current officers of IAEMS, Wagida Anwar (Secretary General), Lutz Mueller (Treasurer), and Leona Samson and Angelo Carere (Vice-presidents) for their help and support. We look forward to the coming years and to reaching out to the IAEMS-affiliated societies as we help promote understanding of genetic toxicology and environmental mutagenesis as part of the preservation of public health worldwide.

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