From the ASTDA President: ASTDA Bylaw Changes

The below letter went out to the ASTDA membership. However, if this email peaks your interest in ASTDA, please visit www.astda.org and find out more about our organziation. We would love to have you join as a member!

October 12, 2015

To: Membership of the American Sexually Transmitted Diseases Association

Dear Colleagues,

Our Association is a very dynamic organization and periodically we need to ensure that our activities are in line with the Association’s bylaws. There have been a number of developments this last year that in the opinion of the ASTDA Executive Committee requires changes to the bylaws. I am writing you to inform you about these changes and to request your input and vote. 

Formalizing the relationship between ASTDA and the International Union Against Sexually Transmitted Infections (IUSTI)

For many years, ASTDA has represented the North American (NA) Region of IUSTI.  All members of ASTDA are automatically members of IUSTI at the associate level with the option to become full members.  The regional structure of the IUSTI recognizes a dual leadership structure:  a regional chair (appointed by the region) and a regional director, appointed by the IUSTI World Executive Committee.  Historically, the ASTDA president has functioned as the IUSTI NA regional chair, but the regional director is not a member of the ASTDA executive committee.  None of these arrangements have been formally addressed in the ASTDA bylaws. 

A recent development provides further rationale for a change in our bylaws to address our relationship with IUSTI. At the IUSTI World EC meeting in Brisbane last September, IUSTI Canada was formally recognized by IUSTI as a branch of the NA IUSTI region. This is a very welcome development, and we are very much looking forward to having our Canadian colleagues be a formal part of our organization.

Thus, the ASTDA EC proposes changes to the bylaws that a) formally address the fact that ASTDA and the NA IUSTI region are functionally identical and that the NA IUSTI regional director should be an “ex officio” member of the ASTDA EC, and b) formally address the relationship between ASTDA and IUSTI Canada, including the creation of an “ex officio” position on the ASTDA EC for the president of the IUSTI Canada branch. 

Formalizing the relationship between ASTDA and the American Sexual Health Association (ASHA) and the National Coalition of STD Directors (NCSD)

The ASTDA does not function in a vacuum and has, over the years, collaborated with sister organizations to further its mission. The importance of the American Sexual Health Association (ASHA) as a collaborator has been recognized historically and the ASHA executive director has been an ex officio member of the ASTDA EC for many years, albeit a non-voting member. More recently, the National Coalition of STD Directors (NCSD) has become an increasingly important player in the national STD prevention arena and ASTDA has effectively worked with NCSD as well as ASHA in responding collectively to requests on STD policy and setting research agendas. The collaboration with NCSD was significantly enhanced with the election of the NCSD executive director to the ASTDA EC last year. However, this position is term limited and bound to the person who currently holds this seat. In recognition of the importance of our mutual mission and specifically the effectiveness with which ASHA and NCSD exert their influence in Washington, the ASTDA EC proposes an “ex officio” membership of the NCSD executive director on the ASTDA EC, to continue the ex officio membership of the ASTDA executive director on the ASTDA EC and to give both voting rights on the EC. 

Other housekeeping changes

There are a number of factual inconsistencies and changes in ASTDA operations that require adjustments in the bylaws. 

The above proposed bylaw changes are open for comment by the ASTDA membership for the next 4 weeks.  Feel free to contact me at the below email address. After this period, we will send out a survey where you will be asked to vote on each of the above three changes.

Finally, I want to point out that elections for positions on the ASTDA Executive Committee, and for the positions of president-elect, and secretary-treasurer are coming up in the spring of 2016 and we encourage you to start thinking about being a candidate. More about this in a future communication. 

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Very best regards, 

Kees Rietmeijer, MD, PhD

President, American Sexually Transmitted Diseases Association

Please follow me on twitter: @keesrietmeijer