Brenda Bagwell Named ISTM Administrative Director

Prativa Pandey and David Freedman

Brenda Bagwell, familiar to most ISTM members since 1993 as the voice and face of the ISTM membership office, has been named ISTM Administrative Director. Due to the success and growth of the ISTM, the scope and responsibilities of the Atlanta office has increased significantly, and Brenda is the natural choice to supervise operations there.

Brenda will continue to be visible to all members, but now has an assistant, Brooke Gouge. Brooke will take over many of the daily membership support and renewal functions while Brenda will oversee overall maintenance and structure of the membership database. In addition, ISTM has engaged an outside accounting firm to prepare the monthly financial reports and analyses for the secretary-treasurer and the president. Brenda will continue to manage the day-to-day financial transactions. Prior to joining ISTM Brenda served for 8 years as an administrator in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Emory University. Since joining ISTM Brenda has been available to ISTM officers and members alike on an almost 24/7 basis, an indispensable asset considering the international nature of our Society. Brenda has long served as the institutional memory of the ISTM and her meticulous record-keeping has served the Society well on all occasions.

In her new role Brenda will assist the chairs of the committees of the Society to assure coordination with the executive board and ongoing documentation and achievement of goals set by the executive board. She will work with the conference committee of the ISTM in coordinating the many activities and persons involved in initially choosing sites and then turning each biennial conference to reality. Brenda will continue to serve as executive secretary to the executive board and be responsible for coordinating, carrying out and documenting the outcomes of the board meetings.

We are very fortunate to have Brenda performing all these tasks and many more, making use of the knowledge and skills that she has acquired about the Society over all these years. Besides her professional skills, she is a very warm and caring person who brings a smile to most of our faces. We wish her success and continued professional growth as ISTM matures and grows in stature.