Much has happened during the course of the year. We are pleased to report that the economical situation of the Association is well balanced. Our annual Meeting in Innsbruck was a success both scientifically and economically. The Association has also strengthened its cooperation with other organisations. There can be no question but that such cooperation and networking with other organisations can only serve to make our own Association even stronger.
Cooperation with other organisations
The Annual Meeting of the Association held in Innsbruck was a joint meeting with The Japanese Society of Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery. André Bozio, Joerg Stein, and Klaus Schmidt visited the Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society as invited lecturers. Our Association has also strengthened its collaboration with the European Association of Cardiothoracic Surgeons. Dr Giovanni Stellin and Bohdan Maruszewski have been Council members representing the surgeons during previous years. Dr Juan Comas, Chairman of the Congenital Domain within the European Association of Cardiothoracic Surgeons, was elected as a new Council member for the period 2010–2013 during the Business Meeting of the Association in May, 2010. Eero Jokinen has in turn been elected as a Council member of the Congenital Domain within the EACTS for the period 2010–2013. The need for deeper cooperation between these associations is essential and natural: as we work as a team in taking care of patients with congenital cardiac diseases, we should also work together on the organisational level. Our Association together with other associations will write European recommendations and guidelines on the treatment of different congenital cardiac defects. The scientific programme of the Annual meeting of the Association that was held in Granada in May, 2010 was planned together with the Spanish and Japanese associations of paediatric cardiology as well as with the European Association of Cardiothoracic Surgeons. Our Association together with the European Association of Cardiothoracic Surgeons will organise a teaching course on right ventricular outflow tract management from neonates to adults.
Our cooperation with the working group of adults with congenital cardiac defects (Working Group 22) within the European Society of Cardiology has been as intensive as during the previous years. Members of the Association have been co-authors and reviewers of the 2010 European Society of Cardiology Guidelines for the Management of Grown-Up Congenital Heart Disease. In order to strengthen the cooperation between the two associations, Association for European Paediatric Cardiology plans to have a cardiologist from the European Society of Cardiology Working Group 22 to become a co-opted council member of our association. Shak Qureshi, Katarina Hanseús, and Eero Jokinen met ESC President M. Komajda and the past President R. Ferrari to discuss timely mutual business. We agreed to have such meetings annually.
Teaching courses
The objective of our Association is to promote knowledge of the normal and abnormal heart and circulation during growth and development, and to ensure a high standard of professional practice in paediatric cardiology in Europe. The association has established an educational committee last year to synchronise the organisation of the courses and to promote the writing of recommendations and guidelines. The association has created training recommendations in paediatric cardiology, and strongly supports the teaching and training of younger colleagues over the course of their training. With this in mind, different working groups of the association have organised training courses for our junior members.
The junior members are thankful to the Working Groups for organising training courses. The working group for cardiac intensive care has planned to organise a basic teaching course in Freiburg in October, 2010 and the working group for foetal cardiology has planned to organise a training course in Poland in November, 2010.
Our Association will, together with the European Association of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery, organise a teaching course in Palma de Mallorca during 14–15 March, 2011. The Cardiac Dysrhythmias and Electrophysiology Working Group will conduct a basic teaching course on arrhythmias in Prague during 1–2 April, 2011. These courses will offer excellent training information and the possibility to meet the popes in Europe for each subspecialty. Working Group make great efforts to make prices affordable for Juniors. Other working groups are working hard to offer interesting courses to juniors as well.
All the courses held thus far have been well attended, and the evaluations show that the participants have been well satisfied by their content. We thus urge the trainers to encourage their fellows to participate in these courses. The courses are designed to be of small size, and affordable in terms of fees, as well as accommodation and travelling expenses. As the number of attendees is limited, the number of applicants usually exceeds the number of those accepted. Consequently, preference is given to junior members of the Association who have paid their annual subscription. This is one more reason to join the Association, particularly for those still undergoing training!
The working groups are in the process of selecting a junior representative for each group in order to have active interaction from Junior members. We will soon have a list of elected candidates.
The association has a new web page
We commenced our web-based database in 2006. This has made it possible to further develop the services provided for our members. At the same time, we renewed our web page. However, with the development of information technology, the requirements for web page services have increased. Therefore, we have planned to launch a new web page beginning October, 2010. I really appreciate the cooperation of our members in designing the outlook of our new webpage!
The new technology will make it easy to update the data, as well as send e-mails to the members via the web page and electrical Newsletters quickly. Next year, as we become more accustomed to the new features of the new technology, we will also launch a discussion forum that will be restricted to members only. In the future, it will be possible to have recordings of lectures, teaching materials, and video files on the web page. It will also be possible to make online queries or to have electrical voting via our new web page.
The existing good features will continue. It has been possible to pay the annual subscription online. The Council encourages all members to make use of this option, which has been made easy and safe to use. To make online payments, however, members must first ensure that they are registered with the Association. This is possible through the membership information area of the web page of the Association http://www.aepc.org. At the time of registration, we would also ask all our members to check the data, concerning themselves, stored by the Association, and to make any necessary amendments.
There has also been an additional link in the information area for change of address, if this is necessary. Using this link, it is possible for members also to change their address if they are already registered and the existing address is incorrect. It is crucially important that we, as an Association, know the correct addresses of any members who might recently have moved their affiliations. Only if the Association holds the correct addresses can it ensure that all members receive not only information about our activities, but also their issues of Cardiology in the Young, which should now be distributed to all members who have paid their dues.
New councillor
The past President of the Association, André Bozio, and the Secretary-General Eero Jokinen will step down from the Council in Granada in 2011. The rest of the Council members are: President Shak Qureshi, London, United Kingdom; Secretary-General-Elect Katarina Hanséus, Lund, Sweden; Scientific Secretary Jo deGiovanni, Birmingham, United Kingdom; Treasurer Joerg-Ingolf Stein, Innsbruck, Austria; Councillor Konrad Brockmeier, Cologne, Germany; Councillor Juan Comas, Madrid, Spain; Local President of 2011 Annual Meeting Maria del Mar, Granada, Spain, and Junior Councillor Georgia Sarquella Brugada, Paris, France. The Association will need a new Councillor in 2011. All our members should now be thinking about an active candidate for the position of Councillor. Nominations for the position of Councillor must be signed by five ordinary members from two or more countries, and should be received by the Secretary-General at least 4 months before the next Annual Meeting. The Secretary-General will send all active members a form for nominations with the newsletter at the end of 2010. We are anticipating multiple nominations until 18 January, 2011.
New working group for Preventive Cardiology
The members voted for establishing a new working group for Preventive Cardiology. As we know, the incidence of obesity and metabolic disorder is increasing among the young population. In addition, smoking and passive smoking comprise an important risk factor for coronary cardiac disease. The need for early prevention of cardiac disease is obvious. This also includes recommendations for children’s daily diet, physical activity, and refusal of active and passive smoking. The public, but especially the children, have a right to a smoke-free environment! Thus, one of the tasks of the new working group of the Association is lobbying and trying to influence the decisions that the politicians and parliament members in individual countries and in the European Union make in the future.
The new working group was proposed and supported by the members during the Business Meeting in Innsbruck. It is time to move on and take the first step. Those of you who are interested to work in this really important new working group may please contact the Secretary-General.
Cardiology in the Young
All members who have paid their annual subscription will receive Cardiology in the Young six times a year.
If you do not receive the Journal in the future, or you cannot register on our web page, please check that
• your address is correct
• you have taken care of your annual subscription
In case of any continuing difficulty, please feel free to contact the Secretary-General.
Please utilise the useful option to read Cardiology in the Young on the web. To activate your subscription, you will first need to register with a user name and password of your own choice on our website at www.journals.cambridge.org by clicking the Register button.
Once you have registered and logged in, select the Activate Subscriptions from the left-hand menu. This will take you to the Activate Subscriptions page. Select the type of subscription, that is, Individual or Organisational; in your case, it will be Individual. Then enter your subscriber number in the box and click the Activate button. Once activated, you will always be able to access Cardiology in the Young.
Annual Meeting in Granada
Please mark the dates for the Annual Meeting to be held in 2011 in your calendar. The dates are 18–21 of May, and the meeting will be held in Granada, Spain.
Granada was a Moorish kingdom for about seven hundred years, and signs of its past still remain in the narrow winding streets of its oldest districts and, of course, in the Alhambra Palace, one of the most beautiful surviving palaces of Arab culture, designated as Patrimony of Humanity by the UNESCO.
Please visit the official web page of the Annual Meeting at http://www.aepc2011.com/ for further information. There is also a link to this page on the home page of the Association. We warmly invite all of you to join us in Granada next spring.
In closing our Newsletters for 2010, we hope you all have a peaceful and relaxing holiday season, and we wish you a Merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous 2011!
Eero Jokinen
AEPC Secretary-General
