Although the Lansing area received more rain in May than I remember over the past several years, Spring is finally here MIDS members! The relatively warm days and cool nights are nice for all outdoor activities.

For the first time in 3 years my daughter was not playing in a school or club volleyball tournament and I was able to go to the MIDS Business and Scientific meeting on March 24th in Ann Arbor. Our President, Don Batts, ran a very well organized Business meeting and members had an ample amount of time for discussion. The minutes from this meeting can be found elsewhere in this Newsletter. As the guest speaker, Dr. Jay Keystone, Unit Director, University of Toronto Tropical Medicine, presented “New Prophylaxis and Treatment of Malaria”. Dr. Keystone is an excellent speaker. He gave a very informative and “fun” presentation. In fact, Dr. Keystone was so good, he returned to Michigan in May as one of the featured speakers at our yearly pediatric infectious diseases meeting (see below). Following Dr. Keystone’s presentation, various scientific presentations, both orally and by poster, completed the Scientific Meeting. Thanks to Dr. Engleberg and others at the University of Michigan for hosting and organizing this year’s conference — a job well done.

Last month, Dr. Dale Bergamo (HFHS) and I organized and moderated the 4th Annual Michigan Pediatric Infectious Diseases meeting. This year’s speakers were Dr. Jonathan McCullers from St. Jude Children’s Hospital (Memphis, TN), Dr. Dwayne Newton from MDCH, Dr. Adrian Dana (formerly at Spectrum Health, Grand Rapids, now with Wyeth-Ayerst) and Dr. Keystone. Dr. Keystone gave one of those talks that I always wished that I could give: “Tropical Dermatology”. My personal thanks to all who came, both speakers and participants. A special thanks to Glory Havlin, Wyeth Lederle Vaccines, for sponsoring this worthwhile, education opportunity over the past 4 years.

Lastly, I regret I must inform you that as of August 2001, I will be moving to Augusta, Georgia. I have enjoyed my “second chance” as the MIDS Newsletter Editor and hope that my quarterly contributions of “From the Editor” and “You’ve Got Mail” made you think, smile, or merely made you more informed. On August 15th, I will be assuming the position of Professor, Department of Pediatrics and Chief, Pediatric Infectious Diseases Division, at the Children’s Hospital, Medical College of Georgia. While I will be doing a fair amount of non-ID related medical administration, I am planning, with my new colleagues, to continue to be involved in clinical research, especially research involving childhood vaccines. I will sincerely miss those of you I have gotten to know through MIDS and hope that we can renew acquaintances at the yearly IDSA meeting. I’ve come to realize that MIDS is a terrific organization, one of the best state societies in the IDSA, in large part because of you, the dedicated members. Thanks for many years of memories and allowing me to be your MIDS Newsletter Editor.

Regards,

Dennis L. Murray