Previous Speaker’ Letters

PREVIOUS SPEAKERS’ LETTERS

2025 HOD

March, 2025

Friends and Colleagues:

Thank you for your participation in the Virtual Opening Session and the Virtual Reference Committee Hearings. We appreciate the feedback we have received on how we can make our House run more smoothly. We would like to remind all of you to bring at least one electronic device to Tarrytown to use for our second practice session of electronic voting scheduled for Friday morning, the election session on Sunday morning, and any potential counted votes. If you missed the Virtual Opening Session, click here to view the recording

We want to remind all of you that the deadline for submitting any late resolutions is Monday March 31 at 5:00PM. Like all resolutions, they must be submitted to [email protected] and must be authored by a Delegate, Component County Medical Society, District Branch, Section, Committee, Recognized NY State Specialty Society, and/or NY State Medical School to be accepted. Authors of late resolutions have the option to testify before the Committee on Rules, Credentials, and Order of Business electronically via Zoom the evening of March 31 or submit written testimony to [email protected]. The committee will hear testimony only as to why the resolution was submitted after the deadline and/or why the resolution is timely and cannot wait until next year’s HOD.

Additionally, due to an unexpected Council vacancy due to the resignation of Mark Jajkowski, MD; there will be a special election this year to fill the remaining 2 years of Dr. Jajkowski’s unexpired term. The Nominating Committee held a special meeting on March 17 to consider nominations received from the districts for the newly vacant seat and nominations received from the sections who held their annual meetings after the first meeting of the Nominating Committee and has submitted a supplementary report.

As a reminder ALL candidates should submit a candidate statement, background information, and must submit a conflict of interest statement via these links.

Candidate Statement and CV upload

MSSNY Annual Conflict of Interest Statement

For your reference a complete list of the candidates placed on the ballot by the Nominating Committee can be found online: Report of the Nominating Committee

We are looking forward to seeing you in Tarrytown soon.

Best,

February 7, 2025

Friends and Colleagues:

We are pleased to announce that after receiving feedback from several delegates, the on-time resolution deadline has been extended to February 9, 2025 at 11:59 PM and the virtual opening session has been moved to Monday March 10. The late resolution deadline remains unchanged. An updated schedule is below, we will periodically release dates and times of other events on the House of Delegates website and future Speakers Letters.

Your Speakers would like to thank those of you who have already submitted resolutions. We would appreciate if you could ensure that your resolutions are practical, actionable, and feasible as we are on pace for a large amount of resolution submissions. Refer to the resolutions guidelines webpage for more information and a downloadable template. New this year, staff will be adding fiscal notes to all resolutions, like in many other medical organizations, to provide you with more information before you testify in reference committee and vote on each resolution.

This year we will be using Association Voting for our elections and any time a delegate requests a counted vote during the house. This means that every delegate MUST bring a device with internet access such as a laptop computer, tablet, or smartphone with them to Tarrytown to vote. Delegates will have opportunities to practice using this program during the Virtual Opening Session and the Second Opening Session.

Also, we would like to thank those of you who volunteered to serve on committees. We are pleased to announce that the delegates listed below have been appointed to serve on committees at the 2025 House of Delegates.

Please reach out to us with any questions you may have.

Best,

Important Upcoming Deadlines:

Resolution Submission (on-time): February 9, 2025 at 11:59PM ([email protected])

MSSNY Group Rate ($199/night) for Room Reservations at the Westchester Marriott: March 13, 2025 (800-882-1042)

Late Resolution Submission: March 31, 2025 at 5:00PM ([email protected])

House of Delegates Schedule Update:

Convention Committees:

The following Delegates have accepted appointments to serve on Convention Committees at the 2025 House of Delegates:

Reference Committee on Governmental Affairs A
Suganya Mahinthan, MD – Broome, Chair
Caleb Atkins, MD – Jefferson
Bruce Molinelli, MD – Westchester
Sophia Spadafore, MD – Queens
Wayne Strouse, MD – Yates
Myra Moghal – New York
Morris Auster, Esq. – Staff

Reference Committee on Governmental Affairs B
Tricia Greene, MD – Nassau, Chair
Susan Emerson, MD – Schoharie
Liana Leung, MD – Queens
Jeffrey Jacobson, MD – Westchester
Myrna Sanchez, MD – Franklin
Zina Cary – Staff

Reference Committee on Public Health and Education
Sohayla Rostami, DO– Queens, Chair
Richard Efem, MD – Jefferson
Gregory Threatte, MD – Albany
Katerina Paraskevas, MD – Kings
David Zuckerman – Nassau
Oksana Golovina – Staff
Melissa Hoffman – Staff

Reference Committee on Reports of Officers and Administrative Matters
Realba Rodriguez-Iglesias, MD – Bronx, Chair
Khameinei Ali, MD – Westchester
James Docherty, DO – Broome
Alan Klitzke, MD – Erie
Scott Landman, DO – Nassau
James Satterfield, MD – Queens
Valerie Cammiso – Staff

Reference Committee on Socio-Medical Economics
Toni-Ann Lewis, MD – Kings, Chair
Inderpal Chhabra, MD – Nassau
Alyssa Lee – Westchester
Rachana Tyagi, MD – Dutchess
Andrew Wackett, MD – Suffolk
Heather Lopez – Staff

Convention Committee on Rules, Credentials, and Order of Business
Jocelyn Young, DO – Broome, Chair
Janine Fogarty, MD – Monroe
Charles Lopresto, DO – Queens
Daniel Nicoll, MD – Nassau
Amanda Altman – Erie
Carlos Zapata, MD – Queens
Jane Simpson, DO – Jefferson
Nicholas Hospodar – Staff

House Committee on Bylaws
Melissa Grageda, MD – Richmond, Chair
Louis Auguste, MD – Nassau
Adolph Meyer, MD – Kings
Jane Simpson, DO – Jefferson
Stacey Watt, MD – Erie
EX-Officio – Jerome C. Cohen, MD – Broome
Ex-Officio – Howard Huang, MD – Jefferson
Ex-Officio- Carlos Zapata, MD – Queens
Ex-Officio – Thomas Lee, MD – Westchester
Ex-Officio- General Counsel, David Vozza, Esq.
Staff – Michael Reyes

Convention Committee of Tellers & Sergeant At Arms
Natalie Adler, MD – Saratoga, Chair
Niraj Acharya, MD – Kings
Daniel Choi, MD – Suffolk
Daniel Gold, MD – Westchester
Anna Heffron, MD PhD – New York
Hemant Kalia, MD – Monroe
Celeste Johns, MD – Otsego
Suresh Sharma , MD – Herkimer

September 9, 2024

Friends and Colleagues:

We hope you had an outstanding summer. Your Speakers and HOD Staff are hard at work preparing for the 2025 House of Delegates and we want to share with you the following updates to assist your preparation. We will be sending out more updates over the next few months as more details become available. Please reach out to us with any questions you may have.

Best,

House of Delegates Schedule:

The 2025 MSSNY House of Delegates will be held virtually via Zoom and in person at the Westchester Marriott in Tarrytown, NY. The House will open virtually via Zoom on the evening of Tuesday March 11^th (following the conclusion of MSSNY Lobby Day) to receive items of business; receive the reports from the nominating committee, officers, commissioners, and districts; initial extractions of items from the reaffirmation consent calendar; and practice electronic voting.

Virtual Reference Committee Hearings shall be held via Zoom on Sunday afternoons and evenings in late March. Each Virtual Reference Committee Hearing shall be preceded by an additional opportunity to extract items from the reaffirmation consent calendar that have been referred to that Reference Committee.

The Second Opening Session shall be held at the Westchester Marriott the morning of Friday April 4^th to consider acceptance of late resolutions and a final opportunity for extractions of items from the reaffirmation consent calendar.

In person Reference Committee Hearings shall begin after the conclusion of the Second Opening Session on Friday April 4^th and last throughout the morning.

Friday afternoon and evening are open for attendees to meet with our sponsors as well as delegation and other group meetings.

There shall be business sessions on Saturday and Sunday April 5^th and 6^th to hear reports of the Reference Committees.

The Ceremony of the Presidents and the Presidents Dinner Dance shall be held on Saturday evening.

The April 6^th business session will be preceded by the Election Session where any contested elections shall be conducted.

Convention Committees:

Your Speakers are actively soliciting Delegate volunteers to serve on the following Convention Committees:
Committee on Rules, Credentials, and Order of Business
Reference Committee on Governmental Affairs A
Reference Committee on Governmental Affairs B
Reference Committee on Public Health & Education
Reference Committee on Reports of Officers & Administrative Matters
Reference Committee on Socio-Medical Economics
House Committee on Bylaws

If you wish to volunteer, please fill out the following Google Form: https://forms.gle/ttCNpLx5KHoKCVP39 . You must be a credentialed delegate to serve. The deadline for volunteering is December 13, 2024. We strongly recommend all counties, districts, and sections submit their delegation rosters to the HOD office before this date.

Resolutions:

The HOD office is currently open for submission of resolutions to the 2025 House of Delegates. Resolutions may be submitted by e-mailing [email protected] . The deadline for receipt of on time resolutions shall be 5PM EST on Friday, February 7, 2025. The deadline for receipt of late resolutions shall be 5PM EST on Monday March 31, 2025. Any delegate can submit an emergency resolution up to the adjournment of the House of Delegates.

Elections:

The following positions are up for election at the 2025 House of Delegates:

• President-Elect
• Vice President
• Treasurer
• Assistant Treasurer
• Secretary
• Assistant Secretary
• Speaker
• Vice Speaker
• Trustee
• First District Councilor (Queens)
• Second District Councilor (Suffolk)
• Third District Councilor
• Ninth District Councilor
• Organized Medial Staff Section Councilor
• Medical Student Section Councilor
• Resident and Fellow Section Councilor
• Women Physician Section Councilor
• New York Delegation to the AMA
  • 10 Delegates
  • 10 Alternate Delegates
  • 1 Resident/Fellow Delegate
  • 1 Medical Student Alternate Delegate

The Nominating Committee will meet this fall to recommend candidates for election as per the recommendations submitted by the districts, counties, and sections.