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• Mission
• Who we Are
• Our Collaboration with UICC
• What we Do
• Our Strategic Plan 2008-2010
• President's Reports
• Governance
• Board of Directors
• Working Groups
• Minutes of Meeting/Conference Calls

INTERNATIONAL CANCER INFORMATION SERVICES GROUP
Conference call
December 10, 2003
8:00-9:30AM (EST)

Present:
Catherine Dickens (Chair)	Cdickens@macmillan.org.uk
Cora Honing	choning@kwfkankerbestrijding.nl
Chris Thomsen	thomsenc@mail.nih.gov
Anne Vinkel	avs@cancer.dk
Mary Anne Bright	brightma@mail.nih.gov
Doreen Akkerman	Doreen.Akkerman@cancervic.org.au
Monika Preszly	m.preszly@dkfz.de
Anne Vézina	avezina@cancer.ca
Regrets:
Marion Morra	morram@earthlink.net
Claudia Di Loreto	aimac@tin.it

MEETING

1. Opening remarks
Catherine welcomed everyone and introduced the agenda. She thanked Marion and Cora for developing the CIS course outline, which was sent to Robert Burton.

2. Action arising out the meeting in September 2003
Catherine referred to the draft minutes of the meeting held in September. Progress was reported as follows (see italics)

2.1 Actions arising from the Annual General Meeting

• Catherine and Anne Vz will draft a paragraph for the Governance Terms of Reference to address the resignation and replacement of Board members during the term in office.
  Catherine and Anne will draft this in January.
• Catherine will coordinate the development of a draft partnership agreement between ICISG and UICC.
  Catherine will begin this work in January.
• Anne Vk, Monika and Cora will send a letter to members of ECL, which will include an invitation to join the ICISG. Monika will forward a copy of the letter to post on the ICISG listserv and website.
  Cora announced that she is on the Board of the ECL. Cora, Monika and Anne Vk will discuss the ECL’s plans regarding the European Cancer Information Services in January. They will send a letter to the ECL members to let them know about the ICISG and include an invitation to join if appropriate. CH will send her new email address to ICISG Board members (see above list).
• Marion will send the article on the collaboration between US and Germany, and Monika will send the article on the collaboration between German CISs to Anne Vz for posting on the website.
  Mary Anne will follow up with Marion. Monika will send the article.
• Doreen offered to start a log of “who helped who’.
  Doreen has completed the first draft and will distribute it for comments.
• Anne Vz will test the draft Assessment Tool and the outline for the How To manual during the visit with the Korean National Cancer Centre and the Ligue nationale de lutte contre le cancer.
  Anne reported back to Marion after the visits. The Assessment Tool will be most useful on the website as it can assist organizations in the early stages. Doreen will be able to test the Assessment Tool with a group from Singapore and Catherine will introduce it to a New Zealand group. It was noted that Marion is collecting documents that could be shared with others as part of the How to Manual.
• Anne Vz will invite the Korean and French groups to join ICISG.
• Chris will send a draft questionnaire of the CAM survey to Doreen, Monika, Cora and Catherine for comments.
  Anne is planning to include questions as part of an upcoming survey on CAMs
• Catherine will start a discussion paper on the desirability of ICISG becoming a non-for-profit organization with implications on membership, sustainability and legal requirements.
  This is a longer term project - Catherine will keep this in mind as our relationship with UICC unfolds.

2.2 Actions arising out of the ICISG workshop

Presentation on cancer organizations

• Catherine will distribute the Macmillan cancer website evaluation.
  The study is not completed yet.
• Claudia will distribute the iMAC evaluation of cancer education delivery to patients (verbal, print, audio/video).
  To be followed up with Claudia
• Chris will post the link to Cancercare internet lectures and to the NCCAM factsheets for cancer treatment on the listserv.
  Chris will post the links on the list serv shortly.
• Marion will post the result of the NCI survey on CIS caller needs for other types of service on the listserv.
  To be followed up with Marion
• Anne Vz will post the highlights of the Canadian Cancer Society’s CIS user survey on the listserv.
  Anne Vz will post shortly.

UICC conference

• Doreen and Catherine will lobby their contacts for a UICC conference to be held in 2004.
  The conference has been confirmed for Dublin in November 2004.
• Catherine, Marion and Cora will submit a course outline for track 3 and 4 of the 2006 conference. Board members will sign-up with Marion for a specific topic before the end of November.
  Marion submitted the revised course outline and Catherine has submitted this on behalf of the ICISG to Robert Burton for discussion about participation at the Dublin conference. . Marion will follow-up with Board members to identify interest in the various parts of the course.
• Catherine will inquire about the membership of the Planning Committee for the 2006 UICC conference. She will ask Robert Burton to be the presenter for the ICISG plenary session.
  Catherine had met Robert Burton in December and will follow up these issues with him.
• Marion and Mary Anne will update the How To Manual with comments and send an electronic copy to Anne Vz for pilot testing with Korean and French visitors.
  This was done prior to the visits.

Logo design

• Board members will discuss logo #4 with their respective team and provide feedback to Chris.
  Chris did not receive comments from anyone following the meeting and will proceed based on input received in September.
• Chris offered to draft logo guidelines and design a ICISG power point template.
  Chris will send the proposed guidelines and template before the end of the year. Anne Vz will include the logo in new website.
• Doreen will inquire about registering the logo.
  Doreen will discuss further with Catherine regarding who will be identified as the owner. Registration will be made for Australia, Asia, North America, Europe and UK.

Website

• Catherine will arrange for the registration of the ICISG website URL www.icisg.org .
• Catherine has registered the new URL. Anne/Irene will coordinate with Ruben at UICC to ensure that old address redirects to the new address.
• Chris will supply picture of CIS information specialists for the website.
  Mary Anne will forward pictures to Anne Vz.
• Board members were reminded to send their bio with a picture to Anne Vz.
  Anne Vz will identify the missing bios.
• Doreen will send suggested disclaimer for linking to other websites and how to get back.
  Doreen will send to Anne .
• Anne Vz will develop the content for the website for the launch date in January 2004.
  Anne and Irene have completed the documentation. They will send it to Jasper for uploading.
  Jasper will confirm the launch date. Anne will ask Jasper to post the new design and content on a private website for review and comment by the group.

Achieving our goals

• Mary Anne will submit the members list to Anne Vk, who will communicate the latest instructions to members on how to subscribe and unsuscribe.
• In progress – there was difficulty with the listserv address. Mary Anne will check with support and send instructions through the list serv and ensure that the listserv address is clearly stated.
• Anne Vk will cross-reference listserv subscribers with the ICISG members list.
  This will be done after the technical difficulties are resolved. It was recommended that the listserv be reserved for ICISG members only. The general public will have access to the website.

Sponsorship

• Catherine will prepare the next draft of the sponsorship proposal.
  Catherine has drafted a short proposal. This will be distributed to all members as a template for seeking sponsorship.
• Doreen will approach the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for an organizational grant.
  Doreen reported that international projects, especially those with developing countries, are of great interest to the Foundation. She will follow up. Catherine reported that the Foundation is currently seeking invitations for funding, see www.grandchallenges.org

3. Comments and approval of minutes September 2003
As the minutes were distributed a few days prior to the conference call, members are asked to send comments to Anne in the next week, especially regarding the updates on their respective organizations.

4. Update on UICC relationship
Catherine reported on her meeting with Robert Burton. The UICC is in transition so it is important for ICISG to ensure that mutual expectations are very clear. Cora’s membership on the ECL Board of Directors will facilitate the coordination between the different groups. Catherine will continue to draft a proposal for collaboration with UICC.

5. Update on 2004 conference
Catherine confirmed that the UICC conference will be held in Dublin in November 2004. The draft program has not been distributed yet. Catherine requested that Board members who are planning to attend the conference submit an abstract for a presentation and/or poster. Doreen suggested all Board members submissions include their own organizations and ICISG. Board members should promote ICISG as much as possible. Catherine, Anne Vz, Cora, Monika, Anne Vk, Doreen, Mary Anne, Chris and Marion are planning to attend. Catherine will meet with Robert Burton on December 15. She will discuss the possibility of having a plenary session. Catherine is seeking sponsorship for promotional materials. Members will send suggestions to Catherine, Marion and Cora for the program.

6. Nomination and election process for November 2004
Catherine and Anne will think through the election process, especially regarding the timing for nominations. Nominations will include those for the Vice-President position as well as for at least 2 new Board members. Board members will refer to the governance paper and send suggestions to Catherine and Anne. Regarding nominations, although the governance suggests rotation of Board members after a period of office, Catherine reminded all to keep in mind the importance of continuity and capacity to support ICISG during its early growth.

7. Approval of ICISG logo
The ICISG logo was approved by all present. Chris will send it to Monika for information and to Anne for inclusion in the new website design.

8. Progress on website
Anne Vz reported that the content for the new website is well under way. Members will send publications, bios and articles.

9. Other Business
Doreen will submit abstracts for the Dublin Conference program and, if accepted, will seek co-presenters from the group.Chris reminded Catherine to schedule the Annual General Meeting of the ICISG membership in addition to the Board meeting in Dublin.

10. Next conference call and adjournment
Anne Vz will organize a call for the end of February to discuss the process regarding the election, nominations and progress on the UICC conference. The conference call was adjourned at 9:30AM (EST)

Prepared by Anne Vézina, December 11, 2003

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