Previous Speaker’ Letters

PREVIOUS SPEAKERS’ LETTERS

2024 HOD

March 8, 2024

This letter deal with nominations process. The following is the report of the nominating committee that met last evening.

REPORT OF THE MSSNY NOMINATING COMMITTEE
Joseph Maldonado, MD, Chair

To the House of Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen: 

The Nominating Committee held a meeting on Wednesday, March 7, 2024. After careful consideration of the recommendations submitted by the district branches, county medical societies, the medical student, resident & fellow and young physicians’ sections, your Committee respectfully submits the following candidates for election.

Officers (Each for term of 2024-2025)

President
President-Elect
Vice-President
Secretary
Assistant Secretary
Treasurer
Assistant Treasurer
Speaker
Vice-Speaker

Jerome C. Cohen, MD, Broome
David Jakubowicz, MD, Bronx
Mark J. Adams, MD, Monroe
Howard H. Huang, MD, Jefferson
Bernadette Riley, DO Nassau
Gregory Pinto, MD, Saratoga
Frank Dowling, MD, Suffolk
L. Carlos Zapata, MD, Queens
Jane Simpson, DO, Jefferson

Councilors (Four for term 2024-2027)

Second District
Fourth District
Sixth District
Eighth District

David Podwall, MD, Nassau
Natalie Adler, MD, Saratoga
Celeste Johns, MD, Otsego
Mark Jajkowski, MD Erie

Young Physicians’ Councilor – Jocelyn Young, DO, Broome
Resident and Fellow Section Councilor (One year term 2024-2025) – Anna Heffron, MD, Queens
Medical Student Section Councilor (One year term 2024-2025) – Siddhi Modi, Nassau

Trustees (One Five Year Term 2024-2029) –

Robert Frankel, MD, Kings
Parag Mehta, MD, Kings

Delegates to AMA (American Medical Association) – Term of Office January 1, 2025, through December 31, 2026

The resident physician member, TBD, XXXX County, as full delegate, and the medical student member, Rohini Guin, Suffolk County, as an alternate delegate, will serve on the New York Delegation for one year only (2024).

At this time the prefatory nominations process may begin and will conclude on Monday, March 25^th at 9pm. No nominations will be accepted officers,  councilors, trustees, or for the AMA Delegation after that deadline for the MSSNY 2024 House of Delegates elections.

All nominees including those put forward by the nominating committee must complete the following forms. Click each of the links to complete online.

Conflict Of Interest Policy Form
Employment Disclosure Form
Candidate Statement and CV upload

 Prefatory nominees must also have ten delegate signatures supporting their candidacy and a CV supporting their professional status.

Candidate Endorsement Form

Shortly after the deadline, the rules committee will review all nominations and be certain that the above criteria have been met.

All the best,

March 1, 2024

The 2024 MSSNY HOD Is fast approaching, and your speakers wish to keep our delegation informed and up to date.

Item #1 is announcing our Reference Committee chairs & members as well as the dates and meeting times of the virtual meetings. The information is as follows:

Reference Committee on Governmental Affairs B
Virtual meeting date – Saturday 3/16 at 1pm
Bruce Molinelli, MD – Chair
Ellen Braunstein, MD
Tingyin(Tina) Chee, MD
Susan Emerson, MD
Malcolm Roth, MD
William Sellers, DO

Reference Committee on Public Health and Education
Virtual meeting date – Sunday 3/17 at 9am
Charles Lopresto, DO – Chair
Venkata Chintaluri, MD
Roy Korn, MD
Digant Nanavati, MD
Spencer Maranto  – med student
Monica Sweeney, MD

House Committee on Bylaws
Virtual meeting date – Sunday 3/17 at 1pm
Jerome C. Cohen, MD – Chair
Robert A. Frankel, MD
Timothy F. Gabryel, MD
Kira A. Geraci-Ciardullo, MD
Robert B. Goldberg, DO
Robert A. Hesson, MD
Nina Huberman, MD
Paul Pipia, MD – Ex-Officio
Howard Huang, MD – Ex-Officio
William R. Latreille, Jr., MD – Ex-Officio
David Vozza, Esq. – Ex-Officio
Troy Oeschner, Ex-Officio

Reference Committee on Socio-Medical Economics
Virtual meeting date – Monday 3/18 at 6pm
Maria LoTempio MD – Chair
Georges Akl, MD
Inderpal Chhabra, MD
Liana Leung, MD
Suganya Mahinthan, MD
David Zuckerman – med student

Reference Committee on Governmental Affairs A
Virtual meeting date – Tuesday 3/19 at 6pm
Janine Fogarty, MD – Chair
Connie DiMari, MD
David Eagle, MD
Jeffrey Jacobson, MD
Alex Shteynshlyuger, MD
Bartlomiej Szczech, MD

Reference Committee on Reports of Officers & Admin Matters
Virtual meeting date – Thursday 3/21at 7pm
Maria Basile, MD – Chair
Niraj Acharya, MD
Dan Gold, MD
Kent Hall, MD
Myrna Sanchez, MD
Alyssa Shannon – med student

Item # 2 deals with our CME programs scheduled for Thursday April 11 and will be held virtually. Click the name of each title to register.

Medical Matters 2023-2024
7:30am – What’s That Spot?
Faculty: William Valenti, MD & Kira Geraci-Ciardullo, MD, MPH

Veterans Matters 2024-2025
8:40am  – TBI in Returning Veterans
Faculty: David Podwall, MD

9:50am – Burn Pits: Psychological and Physical Impact on Veterans:
Faculty: Frank Dowling, MD; Mary Lee-Wong, MD

MLMIC Sponsored CME Events

1:00pm Common Claims Against Physicians: A Specialty Review

2:00pm Supply Chain and Medication Resource Challenges: The Risk to Patient Safety

3:00pm 2024 Healthcare Law Review

Item # 3. Concerns the election process. We are still waiting on the Nominating Committee Report which we are told will be available in two or three days. Once available, prefatory nominations may be submitted for all Officers, Trustees, Councilors, and the 2025-2027 Class of AMA Delegates (i.e. ½ of the delegation). After careful review of our Bylaws, it is clear that the only protected office is that of the president. Therefore, prefatory nominations may be submitted for all other positions by 9 p.m. Monday, March 25. Following that deadline, the Rules Committee will review each prefatory nomination to be sure that the required information has been properly submitted.

All candidates must submit 10 delegate signatures of support, complete the conflict-of-interest statements (Conflict of Interest Form and MSSNY Disclosure Form ) and submit a brief candidate statement with a copy of their C.V. These forms will be available on the MSSNY website at www.mssny.org/hod once the Nominating Committee Report is released.  All candidate names will be posted on the HOD website after the vetting process.

About 100 resolutions have been submitted by the February 28th deadline and are currently being assigned to the appropriate reference committees. They will be posted on the website will no later than Wednesday, March 6th.

As an additional reminder delegates wishing to stay at the Long Island Marriott must make reservations by Thursday, March 21st. Please click the following link to reserve your room.

Book your group rate for Medical Society of the State of New York House of Delegates.

All the best,

February 20, 2024

We are now less than two months from the opening of the 2024 MSSNY House of Delegates which will occur at 8 a.m. on Friday, April 12 at the Long Island Marriott in Uniondale, New York. This letter attempts to detail important dates leading up to the House, as well as outline the daily schedule of House activities.

The deadline for submission of resolutions is Wednesday, February 28 at 5 p.m. Resolutions are to be sent to Melissa Hoffman at [email protected] . Any resolutions received after the deadline will be considered late resolutions. The Rules Committee will meet before the House opens and decide whether the late resolutions could have been submitted by the deadline. Late resolutions will not be judged by the Rules Committee on their merit, but only on their timeliness.

Reference committee appointments have been made and Michael Reyes has sent emails to those who have been chosen to serve. There is still time to indicate that you would like to serve because some of those who have been chosen may have declined and will need to be replaced. Please note that there are many criteria that are reviewed in an effort to be fair and inclusive. Diversity in terms of geographic location, specialty, and many other criteria are considered.

Reference committees will hear testimony, both virtually and live at the House. With input pending from reference committee members, our staff has chosen to hold the virtual reference committee meetings between Saturday, March 16 and Wednesday, March 20. Weekday meetings will occur in the evening with daytime and afternoon meetings on the weekend. The in-person reference committee meetings will be held on Friday morning, April 12, after the opening of the House. There will be executive committee sessions after the virtual meetings and again after the live sessions to discuss testimony and come up with final language and decisions regarding what will be presented to the House.

All elections will occur at the House by secret ballot, facilitated by electionrunner.com. The nominating committee will have its final meeting on February 27 and present its proposed slate of nominees for Officers, Councilors and Trustees, and AMA delegates by February 28. This information will be available on the MSSNY House of Delegates website at www.mssny.org/HOD. Once posted, other nominations considered “Prefatory Nominees” may be put forward for any position except President Elect and must be forwarded to Michael Reyes [email protected] by 9 p.m. Monday, March 25. Potential nominees must have the signed support of at least 10 fellow delegates, provide a CV, indicate any potential conflict of interest, and provide a brief statement supporting their candidacy. All prefatory nominees will be reviewed by the Rules Committee to ensure proper vetting. (i.e. that above conditions have been met). The nominees must be from the delegation.

The House agenda is as follows-

Thursday, April 11:
CME programs will be presented virtually. The programs will be finalized soon and will be available on the MSSNY HOD website.

Friday, April 12:
House opens at 8 a.m. District/County caucuses may occur before the House opens each morning, and at noon time on both Friday and Saturday. Groups planning to caucus should inform Michael Reyes so that room arrangements can be made.
Live reference committee hearings will occur after the House recesses on Friday morning.
Friday afternoon is reserved for meetings that will be scheduled such as MSSNYPAC, AMA delegation meeting, New Delegate orientation, etc. as traditionally have been held.
The MSSNY poster symposium will begin at 12 p.m. Delegates wishing to be judges should contact Kathy Rohrer at [email protected]
Friday evening is reserved for a cocktail reception provided by MLMIC at 5:30 p.m.

Saturday, April 13:
The opening of the house will begin at 8 a.m. with a hard stop at around 4-4:30 p.m. Election voting will begin at 5 p.m. and conclude at 8 a.m. Sunday. Should a run-off vote be required, voting will occur Sunday morning. Specific election runner voting instructions will follow.
The ceremony of presidents will begin at 6 p.m. followed by the Presidents dinner dance.

Sunday, April 14:
The House will open at either 8 a.m. or 9 a.m. depending on the amount of business that remains. The House must conclude all business by noon. Election results will be announced on 9 a.m. on Sunday

Hotel reservations – Delegates wishing to stay at the Long Island Marriott must make their reservations by Thursday, March 21. Please click the following link to reserve your room.

Book your group rate for Medical Society of the State of New York House of Delegates.

You can also call 1-800-228-9290 to reserve a room. Please mention you are with MSSNY or The Medical Society of the State of New York.

All the best,

January 3, 2024

I hope this letter finds everyone in the MSSNY delegation to our 2024 House of Delegates in good spirits and ready to go to work! Welcome, and I look forward to working with you all to make this House (my last as Speaker) the best ever! This letter will, among other things, outline timelines on the various activities that precede the House including deadlines for completion. The HOD will be held at the Long Island Marriott in Uniondale from April 12 to 14.

I continue to search for Delegates who are interested in serving on our reference committees. Those who are interested should contact Michael Reyes and indicate their preference for committee involvement. Serving on a reference committee is not only interesting and educational but also an opportunity to introduce yourselves to your fellow Delegates. Leadership roles in MSSNY often begin as a Reference Committee member or Chair. I hope to have a complete list of those who are interested by Monday, January 8, and have the reference committee members assigned by Friday, February 9.

Folks interested in submitting resolutions to our 2024 House should be working on them as soon as possible. The Deadline for Resolution submission will be 5pm on Wednesday, February 28. Any resolutions submitted after that time and date will be considered late resolutions and will only make it to the House floor if the Rules Committee decides that the given resolution could not have been submitted by the deadline because of its timeliness. The merits of the resolution are not considered by the Rules Committee. That committee will meet prior to the house to consider late resolutions and details will follow on that process.

The Nominating Committee will provide a slate of potential officers that reflect input from the Counties, District Branches, Specialty Societies, and Sections. Nominations outside of the slate presented by the Nominating Committee will be accepted as “Prefatory Nominations” with a deadline for submission of 9pm on Monday March 25. Requirements for eligibility will be detailed in a later letter. All elections will occur at the HOD.

Circling back to the Ref Coms, the plan is to have both virtual and on-site Ref Com sessions. Several years ago, the long range planning committee recommended that the House be shortened from three days ( Friday to Sunday) to a two-day meeting (Saturday and Sunday). At our last House, however, the House voted to return to a three-day meeting. Because of Covid, your speakers were forced to adapt to a virtual platform for both reference committee hearings and the House itself. The house returned to a live two-day event in 2022, but Ref Coms have been virtual since 2020. The goal is to give every Delegate the opportunity to engage in the process of shaping the resolutions, which reflect MSSNY policy. Two Ref Com sessions (one virtual and one live) may prove to be unworkable, but we won’t know unless we try. Having said that, I believe that the virtual platform is here to stay. The virtual sessions will be scheduled from Saturday, March 16 until completed before Friday, March 22. That schedule will be announced after reference committees have been chosen. Details of how reference committee reports will be completed have not been finalized.

Hopefully the above information will help everyone to get started on thinking about our 2024 House of Delegates.

I would like to wish everyone a great holiday season, and a healthy and prosperous New Year.