Current Scientific Society Clients:

Managing Director since December 2016

The International Cytokine & Interferon Society, ICIS (formerly ISICR and ICS) is a non-profit organization of over 1,200 scientists devoted to research in the fields of cytokine, interferon and chemokine cell biology, molecular biology, biochemistry and the clinical use of these biological response modifiers. Bringing together scientists across many different research disciplines, the International Cytokine & Interferon Society is the premier organization promoting the field of cytokine biology, impacting all aspects of medicine, from cancer to autoimmune disease to neural development and function. A common ground where scientists interested in all aspect of cytokine biology can join and work together to better human health.

 
Managing Director since December 2017

International Society for Developmental Psychobiology (ISDP)  The International Society for Developmental Psychobiology (ISDP) is a growing international non-profit organization with just over 350 members, which encourages research on the development of behavior in all organisms including man, with special attention to the effects of biological factors operating at any level of organization. The society holds annual hybrid meetings to facilitate communication of research results and theory in the area of Developmental Psychobiology. The ISDP strongly supports and encourages young scientists with travel awards, networking and meeting events designed specifically for the students.

The International Conferences fulfill a major purpose of the Tularemia International Society, namely to facilitate the assembly, acquaintance, and association of scientists engaged in tularemia research.  Tularemia meetings focus on fundamental, clinical, and applied research regarding any aspect of Francisella tularensis.  Research uncovers not only the biology of this fascinating bacterium, but also provides the basis for future development of treatments, preventive interventions, and disease diagnosis.

Former Scientific/Medical Society Clients

CASSS LOGOExecutive Director From June 1996 – June 2001

Provided full-service association management and meeting planning for 2-3 international symposia per year as the society’s annual budget grew from $20,000 to over $800,000. The growth of this society, from what was once known as the California Separation Science Society (CaSSS), to their current standing as CASSS, an International Separation Science Society, is what fueled the growth of Rhema Association Management in the mid-nineties, enabling the company to hire three full-time employees including an experienced meeting planner and a CPA who are still working for the Society, which transitioned to a freestanding management model in 2001. Since moving to Germany, Rhema had the pleasure of planning CASSS’s first two European CMC Strategy Forum meetings (Brussels in 2007 & Paris in 2008) and the 21st International Ion Chromatography Symposium in Dublin in 2009. They are now holding meetings all over the world in support of their mission to enable a global community of industry, academic and regulatory professionals to work together to resolve scientific challenges in the field of biopharmaceutical development and regulation.
The first 5 Presidents of the Society for Molecular Imaging whom we were honored to work for.Photo taken at our last Annual Meeting together on the Big Island of Hawaii!
Executive Director from August 2002 – December 2006
The Society for Molecular Imaging (now the World Molecular Imaging Society). 

Hired as the founding Executive Director and Meeting Planner as the society’s membership grew from 200 – 1,250 full and student members and meeting attendance grew year on year from 650 to 1,250 participants. Organized their annual meetings in San Francisco, St. Louis, Cologne, Germany and the Big Island, Hawaii with each meeting drawing increased attendance, abstract submissions, support from industry and adding to the Society’s financial reserves. Managed the society with a Virtual Office, with both a German and Texas base, until the society began having joint meetings in 2007 with a clinically oriented affiliated society. As of 2011, the joint meeting became the merged World Molecular Imaging Society, WMIS. 

In the words of a past-president upon Rhema’s turning the society over to a co-worker in Texas: “The San Francisco SMI meeting seems like only yesterday, but through the years since that meeting you have helped all of us build a solid foundation for the SMI that will last well into the future. It has been your energy, insights, experience and tremendous attitude that have turned this society into a well-tuned, professionally run organization, and built its annual meeting into an internationally renowned platform for reporting on the most important advances in molecular imaging. You should be very proud knowing that you have contributed greatly to this emerging field, and we are all indebted to you for helping us build a vibrant organization that serves the imaging community so well. You have helped convert a vision into a reality, and even though you have left the SMI in the very capable hands of Charles and his team, we will miss you very much.”

Executive Director from July 1993 – August 2005

Became NASCI’s first Executive Director as the society went through a reorganization and undertook the revitalization of the field of Cardiac Imaging by taking the initiative in cardiac MRI. NASCI strategized an action plan for the advancement of Cardiac Imaging among radiologists through educational programs in conjunction with large radiology society meetings such as the American College of Radiology and the International Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, as well as developing its own successful Annual Meeting and reaching out to cardiologists as well as radiologists. Another strategy that developed was to familiarize more teachers about Cardiac Imaging procedures through “Teach-the-Teachers” courses so that more radiologists could be trained to perform and interpret these procedures. Participants from these courses went on to become the future leaders of NASCI, which remains the leading multi-disciplinary, multi-modality society for the advancement of Cardiovascular Imaging, incorporating radiologists, cardiologists, physicists and industry representatives.
The aim of this international conference series is to provide an interactive platform for the exchange of new concepts, ideas and data between immunologists interested in ILCs and innate lymphocytes in health and disease. ILC4 2020 is organized under the auspices of UCSF. Meeting has been postponed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 
 

Rhema Association Management was the Conference & Website Manager for the 22nd International Workshop Kaposi Sarcoma Herpesvirus (KSHV) and Related Agents, June 30 – July 3, 2019, New York City. www.ksvirus.org.

Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV), also known as  human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8), is the infectious cause of Kaposi sarcoma and at least two lymphoproliferative disorders: primary effusion lymphoma and multicentric Castleman’s disease.

 

Congress, Website & Foundation Manager

Congress, Website & Foundation Manager, 8th International Cancer Metastasis Congress, October 25-27, 2019 in San Francisco, is sponsored by the Sentinel Node Oncology Foundation.

The program follows the journey of cancer metastasis from detection at the molecular level to genomic identification to precision treatment and survival.

Recent discovery has found that the sentinel lymph node (SLN) in the body is the gateway for cancer to spread, which is known as metastasis. The Sentinel Node Oncology Foundation was founded as a non-profit 501 ( c ) ( 3 ) organization in 2003 on the premise that the next level of cancer research and treatment is upon us to understand more about this important gateway, to advance the care and treatment of patients with solid cancer and to help develop new preventative strategies, diagnostics, and patient-specific treatments.

Executive Director

Southwest Chapter Society of Nuclear Medicine

Mar 1992 – Jan 2000

Provided full-service association management and planning for the annual CME meeting and exhibition, 400-600 participants. A regional chapter of the Society of Nuclear Medicine, the SW Chapter membership consists of over 1,000 physicians, scientists, technologists, pharmacists, veterinarians, and commercial vendors who generally reside in the states of Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. The trick with this society was to keep up the industry support and meeting attendance when the society met in unpopular cities within the Chapter, or in a city that was far away from the membership base in Texas. Meetings in Houston, San Antonio, Austin and to a lesser extent, Dallas, were always successful, but every other year the meeting had to be in one of the other states in the Chapter. We managed to have successful meetings in Albuquerque, New Orleans, and Santa Fe, by negotiating really good rates at excellent venues and emphasizing the unique aspects of those venues in all marketing materials.

Our key employee, Charles Metzger, who move with his family to Texas, is still managing the society which is now the SW Chapter of the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging.