On Friday, June 13, the first meeting of the ASPN Corporate Liaison Board (CLB), an initiative launched by Bill Schnaper, President-Elect of our Society, was held as part of the Annual ASPN Council Retreat. The meeting was attended by representatives of Abbott Renal Care, Fresenius Medical Care NA, Genzyme Corporation, Novartis Pharma AG and Watson Pharma, Inc. in addition to the ASPN Council and officers. An initial presentation by the Council members focused on various aspects of our activities and operations, and questions and comments by our CLB partners regarding issues that they felt were important to address in relation to the care of children and how our Society functions.

Thereafter, a spirited exchange ensued. All of the participants were enthusiastic about maintaining an ongoing conversation to identify initiatives we might undertake together. We will keep the membership informed regarding outcomes of this Society-Industry dialogue. In the interim, we invite you to view a PDF of the CLB presentation in the Members-Only section of the ASPN website. We ask that you regard the presentation as a confidential document, not to be disseminated. We invite your comments and suggestions; if you have a friend in industry who you feel might be interested in joining the CLB, please let us know.