A few weeks ago, during the WFUMB/EFSUMB congress in Vienna I took over the position
of EFSUMB President. I have to confess that it is a greatest honour for me to act
as officer for EFSUMB in such position and I’ll do my best, rest assured, to fulfill
your expectations. Over the years a few ideas came to mind on how to serve the Federation,
however, I do not feel this is the time to express my ideas and I’ll tell you why.
EFSUMB will be really successful only if it will be able to act as a team, joining
the forces and the experiences of all its players. Like in a team, not all players
have the same role, but there is a high chance of achieving victory only if all players
play united and in synergy. Thus, I’d like not my ideas to be presented, but only
the ideas, strategies and plans that will be discussed and finally approved by the
Executive Bureau, following also the suggestions of the Board of Directors, which
represent each National Society. Accordingly in the next Newsletter, in the first
issue of Ultraschall 2012, the EFSUMB Executive Bureau will present the past, ongoing
and future activities of the Federation. This will symbolize the synergistic work
of the EFSUMB officers, starting from the Executive Bureau. The high scientific level
of the Executive Bureau (which can be easily noticed from the curricula of their members
including their scientific publications of which I am proud) also well symbolizes
the very vital and productive scientific life of the whole Federation. The Young Investigator
session is for this reason one of the best moment(s) of each Euroson Congress and
EFSUMB strongly supports it.
Fabio Piscaglia, EFSUMB President.
I’d like, however, to take the occasion also to solicit all of you to be more active
part of the life of Federation. The Federation is becoming more open and accessible
than ever, thanks to the modern facilities travelling through internet and english
is becoming familiar for most doctors. Education and science are certainly the two
solid pillars on which our Federation stands and all of you can now easily and directly
contribute to both of them on an international level, through our web portal. Any
member can now contribute to produce the material for the Edu Portal and to set up
scientific activities and concurrently benefitting from the contributions of other
members. As you will have noticed, EFSUMB strives to bring you practically all material
for free in internet, trying to provide maximal yield from the limited fee each member
provide to EFSUMB. So please visit the website (www.efsumb.org) and take advantage from it. This might be particularly relevant in the current times
of financial difficulties and we hope will be appreciated.
Any further enquiry you might have about the activities of the Federation or those
to which you could participate can be addressed to Mrs Lynne Rudd, our General Secretary
(efsumb@efsumb.org). She is really very efficient, hard working, kind and cooperative and will answer
you or help you to connect with to the appropriate EFSUMB officer.
To conclude with a personal touch, the recent meeting in Vienna, which was perfectly
organized by Prof. Mostbeck and his staff, was for me emotional for several reasons.
Not only I took over the position of President from my predecessor Christian Nolsøe,
whose friendship I could appreciate more and more over time, but the ceremony was
attended by the pioneers in ultrasound, invited for a congress session devoted to
them. These scientists, coming from all over the world, like Prof. Weill from France,
Prof. Watanabe from Japan or Prof. Ziskin from USA, created innovations in medicine
with the capability of imagining a new future, when often most of their colleagues
were greatly skeptical about any possible future for that strange equipment making
only dot and lines (not to mention that the eqiupment was occasionally even despised!).
It was touching sitting next to these pioneers to which we all owe a large part of
our daily practice.
Moreover, the congress took place in the same country, Austria, in which I attended
my first Euroson Congress, in Innsbruck in 1993. Nearly 20 years have gone by, but
those memories are still fresh in my mind: comparing that Congress to the present
one, it was impressive for me to realize what great steps forward our Federation did!
And lastly, on this occasion, I’d like to express my gratitude to my mentor, Prof.
Luigi Bolondi, a pioneer in clinical abdominal ultrasound and former EFSUMB President,
who introduced me to the greatly exciting field of scientific research in medicine
and with whom I still have the good fortune to work.
Yours sincerely
Fabio Piscaglia
EFSUMB President
Division of Internal Medicine
University of Bologna, Italy
fabio.piscaglia@unibo.it
