Dear colleagues, dear EFSUMB members, dear readers,

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 ([e-mail]). 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
[e-mail]