IAPCD - International Association for Pain and Chemical Dependency

Chairman's Message: State of the Association Report - 2007 Highlights and Plans for 2008
At the end of the first quarter of the calendar year, it is customary for association leadership to report to its members on the outstanding accomplishments of the previous year and outline its plans for the current year. I hope as you review the following you will be motivated to renew your individual membership when the time comes and to spread the word about our good work to others working in this field.

2007 Highlights

2007 was a year of tremendous accomplishment for IAPCD. Following the International Conference on Pain and Chemical Dependency (ICPCD) last June, membership grew from 150 to 550 members. To sustain the momentum of that dramatic growth, the Board of Directors enlisted the assistance of the conference organizers, ROI Media Group, Inc. of Morrisville Pennsylvania, to assist with the development and management of the association and the conference.

While the 2007 ICPCD did not generate operating revenues for 2007, the Board and ROI have worked together to provide basic services to members and position the association for continuing advances over the next few years.

Specific accomplishments in 2007 included:

• Obtaining incorporation and not-for-profit status for the association in the United States
• Launching a member eNewsletter that was sent out three times to members following the meeting
• Building and launching the IAPCD.org website that is the hub of all member and association activities
• Developing a collaborative forum for the international Board of Directors to use in advancing the business of the association
• Securing a date, location, and venue for the 2008 ICPCD
• Building a database of members

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Plans for 2008

The main work of 2008 will be centered on building and supporting the community of members, and supplying the member community with mechanisms and opportunities for networking, sharing problems and solutions.

• Network Building Tools
• Early in 2008, the electronic member directory will be ready for members to use
• Later in the year, a discussion forum will be rolled out to enable topical conversations across many members
• A networking dinner will be held October 31, 2008 during this year's ICPCD, October 29 to November 1, 2008 at the Loews Philadelphia Hotel

• Membership Development
• From March through July there will be an ongoing campaign to secure membership renewal from existing members
• New member recruitment will be done in tandem with the promotions of the 2008 ICPCD
• The corporate member program will roll out and be implemented throughout the year

• Communications and Website Programs
• The eNewsletter will be published eight times - January/February,
  March/April, May, June, July/August, September, October, November/December
• IAPCD.org will be further enhanced to manage registrations and membership transactions for the 2008 ICPCD
• The member forum will be launched

• Education
• The 8th ICPCD annual meeting will be convened
• Selected content from past and current conferences will be posted to IAPCD.org

• Leadership and Governance
• The Board of Directors will hold a general meeting of members at the ICPCD
• By-laws will continue to be developed and adopted as needed
• A leadership plan for 2009 will be formalized, providing both continuity and transitioning new leadership into the association

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Leadership

IAPCD Endorses Recognition of Pain Treatment as a Fundamental Human Right
The Board of IAPCD has voted to join with other international organizations and health care providers in support of recognizing the Treatment of Pain and Palliative Care as Human Rights, which will be proclaimed December 10, 2008, on the occasion of the commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. To access the letter, please click here.

Individual IAPCD members who would like to support this initiative can address an email message to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, the delegate of your own country before the United Nations, and/or any other person, authority, or organization that can help to advance those imperative priorities to humanity. The following draft can be used:

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The IAPCD Board of Directors

	Ian Buttfield, MBBS, MD - Chairman  Drug and Alcohol Services Council of South Australia  North Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
	Joyce Lowinson, MD - Co-Chairman  Professor Emerita of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences  Albert Einstein College of Medicine  New York, New York, USA
	Howard Heit, MD, FACP, FASAM - Treasurer  Board Certified in Internal Medicine  Gastroenterology/Hepatology  Certified in Addiction Medicine and as a Medical  Review Officer  Chronic Pain Specialist  Assistant Clinical Professor  Georgetown University  Fairfax, Virginia, USA
	Doug Gourlay, MD - Secretary  Director, Pain and Chemical Dependency  Wasser Pain Management Centre  Mount Sinai Hospital  Toronto, Ontario, Canada
	Herman Joseph, PhD  Consultant  National Development and Research Institutes  New York, New York, USA
	Icro Maremmani, MD  Professor of Addiction Medicine  University of Pisa - University of Sienna  President of the European Opiate Addiction Treatment  Association (EUROPAD)  Editor of "Heroin Addiction and Related Clinical Problems"  President of the Association for the Application of  Neuroscientific Knowledge to Social Aims, (AU-CNS)  Scientific Director, "G. De Lisio" Institute of Behavioural  Sciences  Pisa, Italy
	Steven Passik, PhD  Associate Attending Psychologist  Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center  New York, New York, USA
	Russell K. Portenoy, MD  Chairman and Gerald J. and Dorothy Friedman Chair in Pain Medicine and Palliative Care  Department of Pain Medicine and Palliative Care  Beth Israel Medical Center  Professor of Neurology and Anesthesiology  Albert Einstein College of Medicine  New York, New York, USA
	Seddon Savage, MD  Director  Dartmouth Center on Addiction Recovery and Education  Associate Professor of Anesthesiology  Hanover, New Hampshire, USA
	M. R. Rajagopal, MBBS, MD  Professor  SUT Academy of Medical Sciences  Trivandrum, Kerala, India

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Meet an IAPCD Board Member
Dr. Steven Passik received his doctorate degree in clinical psychology from the New School for Social Research in New York City, and was chief fellow in the psychiatry service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. He is currently an associate attending psychologist, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, and an associate professor of psychiatry at Cornell University Medical College.

Dr. Passik was a faculty scholar for the SOROS Foundation's Project on Death in America. He has served on the editorial board of the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, and has been a reviewer for the Journal of Pharmaceutical Care in Pain and Symptom Control, Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, Psycho-Oncology, Agency for Health Care Policy and Research Cancer Pain Guidelines, Cancer Investigation, and Oncology. Dr. Passik has served as the president of the Indiana Cancer and AIDS Pain Initiative, and as editor in chief of the National Cancer Institute's PDQ Supportive Care Editorial Board. He is the author of numerous journal articles, book chapters, and abstracts. Dr. Passik was recently named a Fellow of DIV 28 of APA (Psychopharmacology & Substance Abuse), awarded a MayDay Fund Pain & Society Fellowship, given the academy of psychosomatic medicine 2007 Visiting Professor Award, the 2007 American Psycho-Oncology Excellence in Clinical Care Award, and received the Elizabeth Narcessian Award for Outstanding Educational Achievements.

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IAPCD Board In-Print
Director Dr. M. R. Rajagopal featured in New York Times

On September 11, 2007, the New York Times published an important article detailing the scarcity of morphine in India to manage the pain of patients dying in pain, citing IAPCD member of the Board of Directors, Dr. M. R. Rajagopal as "India's father of palliative care." The article is an excellent portrait of the prevalence of painful conditions and the challenges care providers face in trying to overcome layers of regulation and gaps in education to treat pain. According to Dr. Rajagopal, about 1.6 million Indians endure cancer pain each year and tens of thousands also die in pain from AIDS, burns or accidents, but only 0.4% get relief.

For the full article "NO RELIEF: In India, a Quest to Ease the Pain of the Dying" go to http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/11/health/11pain.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Directors Heit and Gourlay contribute chapter on Chronic Pain and Addiction published in 2006

Last year, two of the IAPCD Board of Directors, Drs. Howard Heit and Douglas Gourlay, contributed to the body of knowledge in our area of specialization with the publication of a section on Chronic Pain and Addiction in Chronic Abdominal and Visceral Pain: Theory and Practice, PJ Pasricha, WD Willis, GF Gebhart (editors). New York: Taylor and Francis, 2006:231-44. Visit www.iapcd.org/newsletter/2007-09-25/Chapter_excerpt_9-21-07.pdf to read an excerpt on Drug Addiction.

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