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President's Message Stefano Bonassi
When David DeMarini called to inform me that my name emerged from the ballot as the next president of the IAEMS, I was enjoying my vacation in the Italian Alps. After that news, I surely enjoyed the vacation much less!! IAEMS is a big society, with regional and national associates representing more than five thousand scientists from all over the world. The responsibility of coordinating this organization is simply huge, and there are several challenges for a new president. We are living a frantic period of transition, with new technologies that challenge everyday the whole idea of science that has accompanied our societies in the last decades. We need to renovate, re-address our priorities, and explore new fields, and we have to do it without losing our tradition. However, if I think about the tremendous science we had in Florence during the X ICEM, I feel reassured. Many brilliant scientists from very heterogeneous fields gave outstanding talks, and most of them were members of EMS. I would like to spend a few words to celebrate the ICEM meeting held this August in Florence. Despite the bad financial crisis that has brought close to the bankruptcy a number of much bigger meetings, the attendance at our quadriennial meeting was impressive as usual. The whole meeting was a success, and this was possible also because many invited speakers, given the financial difficulties of the moment, voluntarily renounced support from the conference. This is the spirit of our societies, a unique feature that I hope will remain unchanged even in this changing world. Another big ‘thank you’ is for our past president, David DeMarini. It will be very difficult to survive the comparison with his personality. His dedication and his results in reshaping the infrastructure of the society were incredibly successful. During the last four years, many changes and improvements occurred. Now IAEMS is a non-profit, tax-exempt society, and it is managed by a very efficient executive director, which will make my work much easier! Thank you David. During the business meeting, I presented the priorities for the society in the next few years. The first priority is to develop and consolidate a business strategy that will guarantee a constant flow of money. Keeping the society in good economical conditions is the only way to survive. Other important priorities are to consolidate the network within EMS member societies, while improving the participation of members to the activity proposed by IAEMS. The launch of collaborative efforts to increase the opportunity for assay/biomarker validation and for society interchange is another major priority. The last issue deals with the most difficult decision, which is the change of the name of the society. We have to work hard to find an agreement among member societies, but our destiny is written in our name, and we have to decide what is going to be our destiny in the next years. The work for the next four years is a lot, but I trust that there will be many persons with whom I can share this burden. For this purpose, in agreement with the executive board I have proposed a presidential advisory committee involving key persons of the society, each of them with a very special task. A few volunteers offered their help and hopefully others will join. The best way to help the society is to participate to the IAEMS-promoted activities! The next one is an extraordinary opportunity. The ICMAA will be organized by the Brazilian EMS, and will be held in September 26–30, 2010, at Guarujá, Brazil, in conjunction with the International Nutrigenomics Conference. You should not miss it!! Thank you in advance for your help! Ciao, Stefano Bonassi, Ph.D.
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