It is always a joy to renew friendships from far and near at the Annual College meeting. There are numerous highlights for the Alliance members and their guests.

The singular most noteworthy event was the presentation by Dr Charles Banov, past president of the College, of his book entitled “Office Upstairs”. It was a real treasure to have such a distinguished and humane physician share special moments with us. Dr Banov generously donated a number of copies of his book to the Alliance. The proceeds of the sales will further fund future Alliance activities.

The hospitality suite was once again a success. We hosted almost 500 members and their families. Many thanks to Janie Herold-Olsen and her wonderful helpers.

Our annual luncheon held at the Dallas Museum of Art was an outstanding social and educational event. Members enjoyed a special opportunity to view the museum’s fine collection of art and artifacts. Thank you to Sandy Lanier for the beautiful “Texas sunflowers” that decorated our tables. At our luncheon we elected our new officers and board of directors. Besides Randee Mansfield as President, Rebecca Goldberg is President-elect, Diana Bahna, Secretary, and Carolyn Dolen, Treasurer. Our new directors for the period 2007-2010 are Ilona DuBuske, Cheryl Gerardi, and Kavita Kumar. I look forward to working with them.

The proceeds of this year’s silent auction, under the direction of Marcee Claflin and her committee, exceeded the previous years total. This event is a huge undertaking, but Marcee and her wonderful ladies always do a magnificent job. As always, the auction   benefits the Foundation of the ACAAI.

 
The International Tea gave us a chance to interact with friends from across both oceans and from the North and South of the United States. Our sincere appreciation to goes to Barbara Finegold and Ilona DuBuske for their hard work.

One of our special pleasures is to provide entertainment and activities for the children who accompany their parents to the meeting. This year’s program was a well received success. We provided “Balloon Betty”, who delighted both young and old with her creative balloon fantasies, and a strolling Magician, who had many of us asking “How did he do that? We appreciate both Tina Funkhouser and Terri Kanter for being on hand to greet our children and for making sure that coloring books and crayons were available for our youngest members.

At our pre-board meeting this year the Alliance leadership voted to increase our monetary support of travel grants for Fellows in Training. We recognize that travel costs have increased and how very important it is for these physicians in training to attend such a high quality meeting. We also continue our commitment of the Clements Von Pirquet awards.

This past year was truly a learning experience. Past president Jeanne Zitt was always there to help with her advice and laughter. I know that our friendship will continue to be a highlight of my life. Heidi Smith is our new liaison to the College. She came on board late into the year, but managed to come up to speed quickly and she was and is a great help.

President-elect Rebecca Goldberg and I will be traveling to Seattle at the end of January for a site visit. We will be visiting venues and interviewing destination companies to ensure an outstanding meeting in 2008. Both Rebecca and I look forward to seeing you there.