Movement Disorders Vol. 7 , No. 4 , 1992, pp. 305-310. 0 1992 Movement Disorder Society

Report to the Members of the Movement Disorder Society

The first business meeting of the new Movement Disorder Society [following a merger of the International Medical Society of Motor Disturbances (ISMD) and the Movement Dis- order Society at the Second International Congress of Movement Disorders, June 19921 was held on June 26, 1992, in Munich, Germany.

The President of the new, merged Society, C. David Marsden, announced the tallies of votes within each former Society that permitted the merger to go forward. In the former Movement Disorder Society, 493 members (69%) responded to the vote, and 491 were in favor of accepting the proposed constitutional amendments that would permit a merger to go forward. Within the ISMD, 113 members (51%) responded, and 110 were in favor of accepting the proposed merger. Thus, members of both Societies were overwhelmingly in favor of merger, and therefore a new, merged Society has been formed, to be called The Movement Disorder Society. The Constitution and By-Laws of the new Society are pub- lished in the current issue of Movement Disorders. With the merger of the two Societies, the new Movement Disorder Society will have approximately 1,000 members.

The President announced that with the enlargement of our Society, it has become es- sential to form standing committees that will take up issues that need attention. A Strategy and Planning Committee will consider the initiatives our Society should make to utilize best our fiscal assets for the furtherance of our goals. A Membership Committee will be formed to oversee applications for the Fellow category of membership and to consider policies for other alternate membership categories. An Education Committee will consider our role in furthering education in movement disorders, and will formulate initiatives.

It was announced that our Second International Congress was highly successful, with 1,400 registered attendees. The success of our Congress and the growth of our Society will make it possible for us to keep our fee for membership constant in 1993.

Plans for future Congresses were announced. The 1994 Congress will be held in Orlando, Florida, on November 9-13. The Local Organizing Committee will be chaired by Dr. W. Olanow, and will include Drs. A. Lang, R. Watts, and J. Jankovic. For 1996, two possible sites were proposed: Vienna, Austria and Goteborg, Sweden. (Note from the Secretary: in the Executive Meeting that immediately followed the General Business Meeting, Vienna was selected.) The 1996 Congress will be in June.

There being no further new business, the meeting was adjourned.

Robert E. Burke Secretary, The Movement Disorder Society

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