2014 Annual Meeting
& President's Report
The annual meeting of SHR, Inc. was held at the MSU Livestock Pavilion, East Landing, MI at 1 PM, Sat. Nov. 29, 2014. Officers and board members attended either in person, by telephone or via the internet. Various discussions and actions included:
The corporate records for the year June 2013 thru May 2014 were approved.
All board members (Vicky Clarke, Linda Scanlon and Kathy Morton) and officers (Jim Steckley, Bill Schall and Linda Scanlon) agreed to continue in their positions and terms of office.
The Treasurer's report for the corporate year ending May 31, 2014 was approved.
The secretary's report stated that, unfortunately, Vicky Clarke has not had time to update the SHR web site, but hopes to in the near future. The domain name and hosting of the web site was renewed. The web site has facilitated dissemination of information much more quickly and with less mailing needed.
President's report:
Update of current projects:
Cancer DNA studies:
Dr. Sanders has completed the AKC/CHF Acorn Grant involving 7 day ambulatory ECG (Holter) monitoring of 25 normal Salukis, a report was sent to the CHF and the summary report was published in the SCOA Newsletter and ASA Newsletter. A large amount of data was recorded and analyzed which will be of value in assessing normal Saluki cardiac function. The manuscript was submitted to a peer reviewed journal and revisions are being done. Thanks to the Saluki Club of Canada and the Saluki Club of America for financial support of this important study.
AKC/Canine Health Foundation Grants:
Progress reports were received for cancer Grants #1759 and #1131 and #1429. Cardiac grant progress reports were received for #1760 and #1753. These summaries were published in the SCOA Winter 2014 Newsletter and ASA Newsletters.
$7500 was transferred to SHR's CHF Donor Advised Fund to support Grants #2052, #1994 and # 1889G.
Other Saluki studies:
I received correspondence from Dr. Guillermo Cuto, a Greyhound researcher, about the possibility of collaborating on further Saluki studies. He has included the results of the SPDBS/SHR sponsored Saluki blood typing study (including Courntry of Origin and AKC Salukis) in a manuscript comparing USA and Galgos Greyhounds and Scottish Deerhounds. Manuscript revisions are in the works.
We also discussed the possibility of including the AKC-COO complete blood count results in a similar comparison of results with Galgos and AKC Greyhounds and submitting a manuscript.
New business:
We need further discussion on how to more widely disseminate information on SHR, Inc. studies; whether a presence at the National Show as well as regional shows would be of benefit. I keep hearing of Salukis that have either been diagnosed as having some form of cancer or the mass was confirmed to not be cancer, but tissue samples have not been sent to SHR. We need make it more widely known to Saluki owners and their veterinarians, that biopsy samples will be analyzed and a histology report will be sent at no cost to the owners. Also, fund raising possibilities at Saluki specialties need to be considered.
Dr. Sanders has agreed to present his findings (both electrocardiograph, echocardiograph and Doppler) in the Saluki Holter Study and other Salukis that he as examined at the National Show in June. He will also hold another echo clinic at a reduced rate.
The board voted to fund CHF Grant #1771: Defining the Unique Genetic Markers in Dogs that Define Immune Function, Disease Resistance and Tissue Transplantation and Grant #1426: Personalized Medicine for the Treatment of Mast Cell Tumors in the next grant cycle.
Vicky Clarke, due to both time and financial restraints, has not been able to update the website at regular intervals. We need to consider some alternative.
Julian Bivins has graciously reviewed SHR's non-profit status. We have discussed changing the corporate year to align with the calendar year which would make records and accounting easier. I have contacted a lawyer with non-profit corporate expertise, but hopefully, this can be done without incurring excessive legal fees.