Minutes of the ISPAR Annual General Meeting 202

Minutes of the ISPAR Annual General Meeting 2024 online meeting at 12:00-13.40 CET on 6. December 2024.

Apologies from Board: none.

• • Board members present: Lene Heise Garvey (ISPAR chair), Sarah Green (ISPAR vice chair), Phil Hopkins (chairing the nomination committee), Peter Cooke, Jerry Volcheck, Michel Mertes, Tomo Takazawa, Didier Ebo, Anna Littlejohns, Kung Krikeerati, Anita Spindola.

    Apologies from Membership, various countries: 6 [see appendix 1]

    Approximate number of attendees: 34-38 ISPAR members.

    Key Points of the AGM

    • The meeting minutes from the 2023 AGM were approved.

    • A resolution was passed to allow ISPAR to affiliate with selected organisations formally.

    • Working group reports were presented, including updates on service development, education and training, data and research, and website and technology.

    • A resolution was passed to continue with no membership fee for the next calendar year.

    • Four departing board members were thanked and farewelled from the board: Peter Cooke, Phil Hopkins, Michel Mertes, Anita Spindola.

    • Four new board members were elected: Liana Azi, Jose Julio Laguna, Louise Savic, and Charles Tacquard.

    • The possibility of having the next ISPAR meeting in Europe in 2025 or 2026 was discussed.

    • The opportunity for wider involvement from members who were not elected to the board was highlighted.

    • Expanding ISPAR's global reach and fostering partnerships with underrepresented regions was emphasised.

    • The challenges of finding suitable meeting times across different time zones were acknowledged.

    1. The group expressed gratitude for Philip Hopkins' contributions in establishing and leading ISPAR. Confirmation of 2023 minutes
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    3. The 2023 AGM minutes were approved without any comments or discussion. Chair and Management Board Report (chair Lene Heise Garvey)
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    5. The current ISPAR board, which includes founder members and junior members who joined in 2023, was introduced.
    6. The board typically holds four meetings per year, with working groups meeting in between. There are two junior members.
    7. Several board members were leaving and were thanked for their contributions to ISPAR: Michel Mertes, a founder member who headed the GERAP network in France; 
    Peter Cooke, founder member of both ISPAR and the the ANZAAG group; Anita Spindola from Brazil, who has done significant work in getting allergists and anaesthetists to work together in Brazil and a special thanks to Philip Hopkins, who was instrumental in starting ISPAR and organising meetings.
  • Membership Growth and Interactive Map Membership has grown to 435 members from 60 countries, representing various fields, including allergy, immunology, anaesthesia, paediatrics, pharmacy, nursing, and medical students.
  • Kung created an interactive map of global membership, which is available on the ISPAR website, perioperativeallergy.com
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  • Overview of Working Groups and Database Template Initiative. Established working groups focus on service development, education and training, data and research, website and technology.
  • A template for a database was recently sent to all ISPAR members to facilitate multinational collaborations and projects. The idea with this template is not for ISPAR to own or gather data but to develop similar data sets in different countries and centres so we can collaborate and work on multidisciplinary and multinational projects together.
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  • Collaborations and Meetings Collaborations were noted, including work with the World Allergy Organization on a guidance document for organising perioperative hypersensitivity investigations.
  • The joint ANZAAG/ISPAR meeting was held 15-17 November 2024 in Melbourne with participation from several ISPAR members as invited speakers or attendees. Access to plenary lectures from this meeting was available for a fee of 220 Australian dollars until 31 December 2024, with content accessible for one year.
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  • Malcolm Fisher Prize Competition ANZAAG/ISPAR Joint Scientific meeting November 2024 The inaugural Malcolm Fisher prize competition was held with 5 abstracts selected from the meeting abstract submission and adjudicated by a panel of experts. Professor Fisher attended to present the prize donated by the Briess family, who lost their daughter to perioperative anaphylaxis.
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  • Resolution for Formal Affiliations [see appendix 2, agenda item 2a for full wording of the proposal] A resolution was passed to allow ISPAR to form formal affiliations with selected organisations as affiliated societies.
  • This will facilitate easier access to collaborations with large societies interested in perioperative anaphylaxis and allergy.
  • Working Group Reports:
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  • Service Development Group
  • The group is led by Dr Jerry Volcheck, Dr Peter Cooke, and Dr Tomo Takazawa, with five anaesthesia and eight allergy/immunology members combined in 2024 from

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  • -existent working groups: Sharing Best Practice and Service Development and Guidelines and Patient Information groups.
  • They are reviewing and planning to finalise the document "Perioperative Allergy Investigation clinics-ISPAR recommendations" as a reference tool for perioperative allergy expert centres. This document evolved from an initial project entitled Qualifications for a POA Expert Centre.
  • The group has also analysed existing published POH investigation guidelines from various organisations around the globe.
  • Other pending projects for the group are: Develop a survey of anaesthetists and allergists (possibly ISPAR members) regarding funding, staffing, patient numbers, and issues with POH clinics.
  • Consider the development of an audit tool for clinics based on published standards for POH.
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  • Education and Training Group
  • The group is led by Professor Lene Heise Garvey, with a new chair to be appointed at the next board meeting. • They have made quite a bit of progress with planning core curriculums for perioperative allergologists and anaesthetists, trying to differentiate between basic and advanced levels. They have also come up with suggestions for implementing these guidelines.
  • They plan to collaborate with other specialist societies on implementation because some experts have already worked on this, especially in France and in the UK.
  • Data and Research Group
  • The group is led by Professor Didier Ebo, who outlined that Dr Nils Vlaeminck and others are working on the ISPAR data collection tool and a Redcap database.
  • Ongoing projects and collaborative publications by ISPAR members were summarised
  • The proposed new consensus score for tryptase evaluation in children could be validated by ISPAR members who see paediatric POH patients.
  • Website and Technology Group
  • The group is led by Dr Sarah Green, Dr Anna LittleJohns and Dr Kung Krikeerati make up the group.
  • They are maintaining and updating the ISPAR website
  • They plan to update the website and seek volunteers with web skills to join the group.
  1. A regular e-mail newsletter is planned. Future
  2. 
     
  Meetings
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• No firm plans for future meetings were announced. However, the board are considering a meeting in Europe, possibly in autumn 2025 or spring 2026 with coordination with other relevant conferences to maximize attendance.

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• Membership Fees:
• Election of new ISPAR board members
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1. A resolution was passed to continue with zero membership fees for the next year.
2. The limitations of not having a membership fee were acknowledged, including the inability to create a closed membership area on the website and the board will discuss the potential implementation of fees in the future.
3. Philip Hopkins chaired the nominations committee.
4. Dr Liana Azi Anaesthesiologist from Brazil automatically filled one position to maintain geographical representation.
5. Nine eligible candidates presented themselves for the remaining three positions.
6. Each candidate gave a 90-second introduction.
7. Voting was conducted via Zoom; only members online at the meeting were eligible to vote
8. The newly elected board members are Jose Julio Laguna Allergist [Spain], Louise Savic Anaesthesiologist [UK], and Charles Tacquard Anaesthesiologist [France].

The six candidates who were not successful on this occasion were all very well qualified and the board hope that they will contribute in others ways to the activities of ISPAR

• Nils Vlaeminck - anaesthesiologist, Belgium
• Aurelie Gouel - anaesthesiologist, France
• Philip Li - allergist/immunologist, Hong Kong
• Salma Alamin - immunologist, Ireland
• Kim Phillips, anaesthesiologist, New Zealand
• Christina Petrisor, anaesthesiologist, Romania Other Business Arising, questions from members
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• Suggestions were made for improving communication, including a potential WhatsApp group or an email forum for asking questions, which would likely incur administrator fees and is a key part of future discussions on membership fees.

Conclusion of meeting

1. There was an emphasis on the importance of international collaboration in perioperative allergy and acknowledgment of the high quality of all board member candidates.
2. The meeting concluded with thanks to all participants and outgoing board members, and a commitment to continue ISPAR's important work in perioperative allergy research and practice.
3. The next ISPAR board meeting is on January 22nd 2025 at noon CET for both newly elected members and the members who are leaving the board

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Appendix 1:

Apologies received:

1. Dr Luis Felipe Ensina, Brazil.

2. Dr Helen Kolawole, Australia.

3. Dr Buff Maycock, Australia.

4. Dr Marie Alnæs, Norway

5. Dr Sebastien Franchina

6. Dr Emilia Maria Antunes Gomes De Faria, Portugal.

Appendix 2:

ISPAR AGM 2024 Agenda item 2a

Resolution: The ISPAR Management Board will seek to form affiliations with selected organisations to be known as Affiliated Societies.

Collaboration with Affiliated Societies

The ISPAR Management Board recognises the potential mutual value in collaborating with national/regional and multinational societies whose objectives overlap with those of ISPAR. To maximise the benefit of such collaborations, ISPAR will have a formal process for recognising Affiliated Societies.

An affiliated society will meet the following criteria:

1. The purpose of the society must have some relation to perioperative allergy/anaphylaxis.
2. It operates at a national or multi-national level.
3. It should have a minimum of 20 registered members.
4. There is evidence of the existence of the society in the public domain, e.g., on a website.

Applications for Affiliated Society status must be made in writing (email is acceptable) to the Chair and Vice-Chair of ISPAR. The applicant society should provide evidence that it meets the criteria for Affiliated Society status. The ISPAR Management Board has sole discretion in approving an applicant society.

Each Affiliated Society should nominate a member (usually the President, Chair, or equivalent) to serve as its liaison representative with ISPAR.

Liaison representatives can be invited to attend ISPAR Management Board meetings and may propose agenda items for such meetings, but their attendance will be in a non-voting capacity.

Affiliated societies and their liaison representatives will be posted on the ISPAR website.Enter your text here...