William M. Kuzon, Jr., M.D., Ph.D.

Greetings. I hope you’ve all had a nice summer and fall, that you had a super Thanksgiving, and that you have great plans for the December holidays. Since our meeting in Boca Raton last spring, the AAPS has been actively working on multiple initiatives and I’m glad to be able to report that we’ve made progress on all fronts.

Most importantly, I hope that you plan to join us April 14-17 for the 91st Annual Meeting of the American Association of Plastic Surgeons at the Westin St. Francis in San Francisco. The now-traditional pre-meeting AAPS Aesthetic Symposium will be held on Saturday, April 14. Under the direction of Bahman Guyuron and now Bill Little, the aesthetic symposium enjoys a well-earned reputation as a unique opportunity to have in-depth face time with the leaders of aesthetic surgery. To build on this success, for the first time this year we will hold a ½ day reconstructive symposium on Sunday morning, April 15. Under the direction of Chuck Butler and Paul Cederna, the AAPS Reconstructive Symposium will examine several critical questions in reconstructive surgery by asking the experts in each area to present their view during a point-counterpoint discussion We will examine the pros and cons of using ADM when performing breast reconstruction, the pros and cons of immediate breast reconstruction and various surgical options in the face of planned radiotherapy, the place of microsurgery in “everyday” practice, and the revenue and business realities of a reconstructive practice. This should prove to be a unique and highly valuable program that will give participants an in-depth analysis of these controversial topics that they can take home to their practices. Please plan to attend.

Under the direction of our program chair, Paul Cederna, the program for the AAPS meeting should prove to be spectacular. This year’s program will feature a special 1-hour long panel to celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the American Board of Plastic Surgery. A large team of your peers are working to ensure that this event pays proper tribute to the ABPS, is informative, and is entertaining. It will be unique and memorable - don’t miss it.

2012 Schedule at a Glance

The three additional panels during the meeting will feature discussions of international issues in Plastic Surgery (led by Mike McGuire), of medicolegal issues in our specialty (led by Morty Kasden), and of the challenges of training plastic surgeons today (led by ACAPS president-elect, Nick Vedder). We received a record number of abstract submissions this year and the program committee will be hard at work in the next months to construct a well-balanced and superlative series of scientific sessions. The Welcome Reception that follows the opening ceremonies on Sunday afternoon will again host our scientific poster session and award competition. This lively venue is a great way to present outstanding material at our meeting. And, of course, our Annual Meeting will feature our President’s Banquet and other social events that mark the fellowship of AAPS meetings. I hope to see you there.

Through the spring, summer, and fall, we have worked to implement the goals of the AAPS Strategic Plan developed under the leadership of Larry Ketch last year. Jim Zins has been hard at work organizing and energizing the Development Committee to work towards fully endowing our Academic Scholars program. Expect to hear from Jim or a Development Committee member soon. Steve Ariyan is leading our first-ever Expert Consensus Conference on antibiotic use in Plastic Surgery. The diverse and highly accomplished work group will meet this winter and will present their consensus conclusions in San Francisco, to be followed by publications on this important topic. The production of consensus documents on the critical controversies in our specialty will be a unique signature of the AAPS. To ensure and improve the quality of our Annual Meeting, Arun Gosain is leading the Education Task Force. Elizabeth Beahm is leading the Membership Task Force to examine and make needed changes to our membership process. As chair of the Investment Oversight Committee, Tom Lawrence has been hard at work ensuring that we have a solid foundation moving forward. We continue to expand our collaboration with EURAPS. All of our standing committees are hard at work evaluating Academic Scholar applications, vetting Constable Traveling Fellow candidates, scrutinizing candidates for AAPS membership, and choosing our annual awardees. I could go on and on. We are an active Association with many, many members working hard for the betterment of our Association and of our specialty. Our website lists all our committees – let me know if would like to get involved.

So, we are working hard and making progress. Please let me know your thoughts, please get involved, and please plan to be in San Francisco in April. Thanks, Bill

1. Dr. Ketch welcomed the members to the 90th Annual Business Meeting of the American Association of Plastic Surgeons and called the meeting to order.

Dr. Ketch reminded members that the membership ballots had been distributed and he asked all members to complete the ballots. He appointed Drs. Richard Warren, Chris Tzarnas, McKay McKinnon and David Larson as tellers to collect the membership ballots. Dr. Larson was asked to serve as Head Teller. It was noted that at the time the membership results will be read only; there will be no discussion on individual membership candidacy issues.

Dr. William Kuzon, Parliamentarian, declared a quorum present.

2. Approval of the Minutes of the March 23, 2010, Annual Business Meeting

Dr. Ketch called to members’ attention the Minutes of the March 23, 2010, Annual Business Meeting, which had been summarized in the President’s Newsletter that is available on the AAPS website as well as distributed electronically to all members.

VOTED to accept the Minutes of the March 23, 2010, Annual Business Meeting as presented.

3. Report of the Officers

A. Report of the President Dr. Ketch thanked everyone for the privilege of presiding as President of the Association for the past year and expressed his deepest gratitude to the Board for their hard work and support.

Dr. Ketch summarized the results of the Strategic Planning Session conducted last October pointing out the revised vision and mission statements.

• Vision Statement: Scholarly leadership in Plastic Surgery.
• Mission Statement: Providing a forum for scholarly activities to advance Plastic Surgery.
• He also reported the continuation of the Education Task Force chaired by Dr. Arun Gosain focusing on evaluating the Annual Meeting and making recommendations to the Board for future meetings.
• The reciprocal agreement with EURAPS whereby a representative from EURAPS will sit on the AAPS Board and a representative from AAPS will sit on the EURAPS Board.
• The Development Committee chaired by Dr. James Zins will raise $5 million dollars over the next 5 years, to help make the Academic Scholar Awards self-sustaining, and also allow the Association to raise the amount given to each awardee.
• The Expert Consensus Panel Conference planned on the use of antibiotic prophylaxis chaired by Dr. Stephan Ariyan which will produce a white paper for publication.
• The formation of a Centennial Committee to begin formulating plans for the Centennial Meeting in 2021 with Drs. Tom Lawrence, Barry Noone and Joseph McCarthy.

B. Report of the Secretary

Dr. Stephan Ariyan, Secretary, reported that the AAPS membership continued to grow. The current membership included: 228 Life Fellows and 544 Active Fellows for a total of 772 members of which 18 are Honorary and 24 are Distinguished Fellows.

The following members had left the active practice of plastic surgery and requested transfer to Life membership:

Dale C. Birdsell, MD, Calgary, Alberta
Bruce F. Connell, MD, Santa Ana, CA
Robert S. Flowers, MD, Honolulu, HI
Ian T. Jackson, MD, Southfield, MI
J. Michael Kelly, MD, Oklahoma City, OK
James W. May, Jr., MD, Boston, MA
John H. Robinson, MD, Hilton Head, SC
Linton A. Whitaker, MD, Philadelphia, PA

VOTED to approve the requests for transfer to Life Membership.

Dr. Ariyan asked members to observe a moment of silence for the following members who passed away since the last meeting:

Harry J. Buncke, Jr., MD, San Francisco, CA
Robert M. Goldwyn, MD, Brookline, MA
Richard F. Greminger, MD, Leesburg, FL
Bernard L. Kaye, MD, Jacksonville, FL
James W. Kelley, MD, Topeka, KS
Frederick McCoy, MD, Four Seasons, MO
Jeff R. Moore, MD, Fredericksburg, TX
John B. Patterson, MD, Tucson, Arizona
James W. Smith, MD, New York, NY

Dr. Ariyan reported that there are 46 applicants for membership including 10 second-time applicants and 2 third-time applicants that had completed their applications in a timely manner and fulfilled all the membership qualifications. In accordance with AAPS By-Laws all prospective candidates were presented in the Fall Newsletter and presented to the Board for information and formal ranking prepared and distributed to all Active and Life Fellows. Based on membership scoring and Board recommendation, a slate of 30 candidates was selected for inclusion on the membership ballot. Dr. Ariyan thanked the members present for their vigorous efforts to continue to seek out the highest and best-qualified candidates for membership in AAPS.

C. Report of the Treasurer

Dr. Lin Puckett reported that the Association is in solid financial position with total assets as of December 31, 2010, of $3,110,554 and total liabilities of $237,075. With total revenues of $650,068 and total disbursements of $572,431, the Association had a Net Cash Operating Total of $77,637. Dr. Puckett iterated that the Association has made a significant recovery from the economic downturn and investments continue to be strong.

D. Report of the Historian Dr. Nicholas Vedder, Historian, reported that with the agreement finalized with the National Archives of Plastic Surgery at the Countway efforts are progressing to get the collection cataloged and material compiled for the 100th Anniversary. He also asked if anyone has any items to contribute to the Library to please contact him or the Association offices.

4. Report of Committees

A. Academic Scholar Committee

Dr. Mary McGrath, Chair, thanked KLS Martin for their continued support of the Academic Scholar Award and PSF for their collaboration in funding Academic Scholars. She stressed the importance of everyone’s contributing to the Endowment fund and encouraged 100% participation.

B. Constitution & ByLaws

On behalf of Dr. Scott Levin, Dr. Ketch presented the proposed bylaw amendments creating three new standing committees of the Association:

- John D. Constable International Traveling Fellowship Committee
- Development Committee
- Joint AAPS/EURAPS Committee

VOTED to approve the bylaw amendments as presented.

Dr. Ketch then presented a bylaw amendment altering the composition of the Board to include a EURAPS member bringing the total number of Board members to 13.

VOTED to approve the bylaw amendment as presented.

C. Membership

Dr. Larson reported that all the ballots had been counted and the membership had VOTED to elect the entire slate of 30 members. This Class of 2011 will be formally inducted at the 2012 Annual Meeting in San Francisco. Dr. Larson encouraged all of the newly elected members to participate actively in the Association.

D. Research and Education

Dr. Charles Verheyden, Chair, expressed his thanks to the Research Committee for their excellent participation in the activities of the committee this year. He reported that the Research Committee had received 13 applications this year for the Academic Scholar all of which were excellent projects with the majority of them being translational. The committee selected two for funding:

Daniel J. Ceradini, MD, New York University (AAPS/KLS) “Novel Stem Cell Immunotherapy in Composite Tissue Allotransplantation”

Timothy W. King, MD, University of Wisconsin (AAPS/PSEF) “The Use of Notch Mediating Compounds to Improve Cutaneous Wound Healing”

Dr. Verheyden informed the membership of two Researcher of the Year Awards – one basic/translational and one clinical. The two Researchers of the Year this year were:

Kevin Chung, MD – Clinical Geoffrey Gurtner, MD – Basic Science

D. Program Committee

Dr. Lawrence Colen, Chair, thanked his Program Committee for their hard work this year. He reported that 303 abstracts were received this year and they were able to accept 47 papers for oral presentations and 48 for poster presentations. This represented a total acceptance of 31% of the abstracts submitted.

He reported pre-registration of 403 professional attendees and 30 guests/spouses with 25 professional and 3 guests/spouses onsite for a total of 428 professional and 33 guests/spouses, with total meeting registration of 461.

Dr. Ketch thanked Dr. Colen and his committee for their excellent work this past year and the excellent program they had put together.

8. Report of the Nominating Committee

Dr. Bahman Guyuron presented the report of the AAPS Nominating Committee. He reported that after careful consideration, the AAPS slate of officers for the year 2011-2012 was as follows:

President-Elect	David L. Larson, MD
Vice President	John A. Persing, MD
Past President	Lawrence Ketch, MD
Secretary	Stephan Ariyan, MD
Treasurer	Michael L. Bentz, MD
Historian	Nicholas Vedder, MD
Trustees	Arun Gosain, MD W. P. Andrew Lee, MD

Dr. Ketch thanked Dr. Guyuron for the Report of the Nominating Committee and asked the membership for other nominations from the floor. Hearing none, it was

VOTED to approve the report of the Nominating Committee as presented.

Dr. Ketch then asked for nominations from the floor for the two positions on the Nominating Committee for next year.

VOTED to elect Drs. James Bradley and Dennis Lynch to serve on the Nominating Committee for 2012.

Dr. Ketch congratulated Drs. Persing, Gosain and Lee on their election. He then asked Dr. William Kuzon to come to the podium to accept the AAPS gavel. Dr. Kuzon thanked Dr. Ketch for his service to AAPS as President during the past year and expressed sincere gratitude for the honor to serve as President of the AAPS.

Dr. Kuzon presented the Presidential Plaque to Dr. Ketch commemorating his year as AAPS President.

Dr. Kuzon indicated that he is looking forward to carrying the Strategic Plan forward over the next year as it sets the course for the next 5 years. He thanked the membership for their dedication and involvement in helping to carry out the 5-year strategic plan.

9. Adjournment

There being no further business to come before the 90th Annual Meeting, Dr. Kuzon adjourned the meeting to a close at 1:00 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Stephan Ariyan, MD
Secretary