Rocky Mountain Neurosurgical Society 

Winter Executive Meeting Minutes

January 18, 2025

 

The meeting was called to order by RMNS President Erik Parker at 1210. The meeting was held virtually with the following board members present: Erik Parker, Ramesh Grandhi, Brad Duhon, Shervin Rahimpour, Joel MacDonald, John Clough, Brad Lega, Justin Davis, Allie Whipple and Jessie Tarnow. 

Report of the President: Dr. Parker announced this year’s honored guest speakers; Dr. Russell Lonser, chair of the Ohio State Department of Neurosurgery and Dr. Howard Weiner, Chief of Neurosurgery at Texas Children’s Hospital and Vice Chair of Neurosurgery at Baylor College of Medicine. 

 

Report of the Vice President: Dr. Rahimpour has already reached out to several vendors and received some early interest from Integra and Alphatec Spine. Kuros Biosciences will be unable to participate at this year’s meeting. Dr. Duhon has also been in contact with several companies who have expressed an intent to sponsor this year’s meeting; FND Medical, Stryker (Colorado territory), Spine Art, Providence Medical and Western Microsurgical. Stryker has been a large sponsor at prior meetings, but it is uncertain what level of sponsorship they will have at this year’s meeting due to changes within the company structure. The RMNS board was hopeful to have sponsorship from Globus, as well as Abbott. Sonopet was also recommended as a potential sponsor to investigate. Dr. Clough discussed that his local Stryker Rep has also expressed interest in attending this year’s meeting as well. It was recommended to also seek sponsorship from the neuromodulation department of Medtronic. Allie indicated that representatives from AstraZeneca and Zap Surgical have also reached out to her. She will follow up after today’s meeting. Gamma Tile was not in attendance at last year’s meeting and it was recommended to reach out to the company again regarding sponsorship. SI Bone has been a prior sponsor, however they have changed their focus to spine meetings and will likely not support neurosurgical meetings at this time. Dr. Parker recommended Dr. Rahimpour provide periodic updates regarding the sponsor list for this year’s meeting among the executive board. He also recommended that the board members push their local representatives to promote participation at this year’s meeting. Sponsorship packages were discussed and it was recommended to keep pricing for all packages the same this year. It was predicted that there would be less sponsorship this year due to the meeting being at an international location. A target goal of 15 -20  vendors was discussed. It was discussed that the vendor representatives attending the meeting need to sign up on the website to provide an accurate attendance for meeting planning. 

 Report of the Treasurer: Dr. Davis reports that the financials of the group have improved since last year. Due to cutbacks at the 2024 meeting, we were able to recapture approximately $36,000 in refunds from La Cantera. Several members have paid back dues recently. The 2025 meeting will be an overall lower cost and should help capture additional funds to build the account balance.  

  1. Current Account Balances
    1. Wells Fargo $41,308.00 ($10,978.72)
  2. Membership Dues
    1. 69 Active and 2 Associate Member(s) (67 and 1)
    2. 23 Members 3+ years behind in dues (16)
    3. 31  Members Paid Dues (33)
      1. 2025 dues collected $5,275
    4. Unpaid Dues $19,525 (Includes past years unpaid dues)
  3. 2024 Annual Meeting
    1. Attendees
      1. 15 Members (20)
      2. 2 Non-members (8)
      3. 9 Residents (7)
      4. 5 Allied Health Professionals (4)
      5. 14 Exhibitors (16)
    2. Revenue: $96,041.50 ($112,148.00)
    3. Expenses: $106,873.94 ($132,514.45)
    4. Net: -$10,832.44   
  4. Overall Financials
    1. January 2024 $14,017.03
    2. January 2025  $41,308.00
    3. Net $27,290.97
      1. $5000 paid towards 2025 meeting
  5. Miscellaneous
    1. AANS NREF Funding
      1. $2500 annually x10 years (Paid 2017-2022 )
        1. This has been suspended
    2. Non-profit Corporation Status:
      1. Filed in Texas in 1974
      2. Reinstated in 2021
      3. Periodic Report Filing   “A nonprofit corporation is required by law to file an informational report not more than once every four years upon request by the secretary of state.”
        1. Working on filing 2025. Will be due again 2029
    3. Liability Insurance
      1. USLI (United States Liability Insurance Company)
        1. Annual Premium $1,726 paid for 2025
    4. Taxes
      1. Taxes filed for 2023 fiscal year
      2. 2024 taxes  in preparation

Report of the Secretary: Dr. Clough reports the Fall Newsletter was sent electronically this year for the first time. The electronic delivery was well received and it was decided to continue sending the Fall and Spring Newsletters via e-mail going forward. A rough draft of the save the date for the 2025 meeting was reviewed by the board members. This will be finalized once the meeting codes and resort booking information is available. It was requested that the contact information for the CNS be provided so approval of the flier can be obtained and the flier can be ordered and mailed to recipients as soon as possible. 

 

Report of the Website Administrator/Historian: Dr. MacDonald reports that he has spent time cleaning up the website and updating the content for ease of use. The abstract center is open, however, the disclosures link will need to be provided by the CNS as soon as possible so those can be captured at the time of submission, instead of trying to track them down later on. Dr. MacDonald is investigating ways to allow members to update their information on the website directly and will provide an update to the group once that capability has been established. 

Report of the Membership Committee: Dr. Mahan was unable to attend the meeting. Dr. MacDonald reports that no new membership applications have been received. It was recommended to investigate interest of any new and young surgeons in practice among the group’s acquaintances. 

 

2025 Meeting/Local Arrangements Report: Dr. MacDonald reports that planning is underway for this year’s meeting. The meeting will be held June 14-18, 2025 at the Marriott Puerto Vallarta Resort and Spa. The room rate will be $189/night for a standard room. There will be several room options, including suites, ocean view rooms and garden view rooms. There is a staff room rate of $94/night as well.  The room rate cut off date is 5/15/2025. The registration link is not live yet and he will work on obtaining this information in the near future. The room rate will be extended 3 days before and after the meeting. Dr. MacDonald felt the food and beverage rates were reasonable and he was hopeful to have the meeting room fees waived. He intends to have the main patio as the location for the opening reception with entertainment for the evening. There is a golf course across the street and pickle ball courts on site for the annual tournaments. Monday will be the golf tournament and president’s dinner, as usual. Tuesday will host the pickleball tournament and closing reception. Locations for the president’s dinner are being investigated and consideration is being made for an off-site venue in the Marina or Art districts. A final location will be announced at a later date. The Sunday night BBQ dinner was discussed. It was decided among the group to forego the BBQ dinner at this year’s meeting in order to save additional costs since this has been an expensive event at prior meetings. It was discussed and approved, to have a page on the website with links to local activities that can be booked by attendees on their own. 

Scientific Program Report: Dr. Grandhi asked insightful questions regarding the goals of the scientific program for this year’s meeting. Per usual, we hope to expect 2-3 talks per honored guest speaker, with an understanding that the quantity and days of their availability may vary and flexibility may be needed. The possibility of having a Mexican Neurosurgeon speak at the meeting was proposed by Dr. MacDonald and all were in agreement to this idea. Dr. Grandhi and Dr. Duhon both have connections for a potential speaker and will reach out to their contacts regarding availability. Increasing resident engagement and attendance was recommended. It was recommended to remove the option of “zoom” talks on the website abstract center to promote in person attendance. Zoom talks will be considered only if necessary.

CME Report: Dr. Lega reports he has been in discussion with the CNS regarding joint providership for the 2025 meeting. The cost to provide CME certification and joint providership for the meeting is $7000. It appears that this is likely the only option at this time and a signed contract is all that is needed to move forward. A unanimous decision was made to proceed with the CNS contract. Dr. MacDonald requested logos from the CNS contact to implement on the website, as well as for distribution on mailers and the meeting program. The secretary will need contact information in order to communicate and obtain authorization for mailers and the meeting program. Dr. MacDonald will also need the link for attendee and presenter disclosures for compliance. Dr. Lega will follow up with this information once available. 

 

Future Meeting Sites: 

    • 2026: Utah 
      • Dr. Parker has been researching venues in Utah – Snowbird, the Grand Hyatt and Canyons. The Grand Hyatt Deer Valley is a brand new hotel and is offering introductory rates at this time that may prove to be a good opportunity for the 2026 meeting. Room rates would be $309/night. There is a $50,000 food and beverage minimum. The venue is a 15 minute drive from Park City. It was recommended to decrease the normal room night counts due to the venue’s location and anticipation that many local Utah attendees may not stay at the hotel. Photos of the hotel were viewed and unanimous excitement was expressed among the board about this as a possible venue for the 2026 meeting. Dr. Parker has a site visit scheduled for next Tuesday and will provide an update as more information becomes available. 
    • 2027: Multiple locations were discussed, including; Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Canada. Dr. Clough and Dr. MacDonald expressed interest in Canadian locations – Kelowna and Whistler. Kelowna would be a new location for the group and has many opportunities for venues and activities in the region. Dr. Clough will investigate possible venue options and Dr. Duhon volunteered to be the local arrangements chair for the 2027 meeting. 
    • 2028: TBD

 

Old/New Business: No old or new business was discussed. 

A motion was made to adjourn the meeting at 1344 and agreed upon by the board.