Academic Director Farewell Address

Dear Colleagues,

At the end of my mandate as Academic Director, I hereby would like to reflect on the period of the last four years.

In the first two consecutive years of that period we succeeded to organize two very successful annual congresses, in Berlin 2018 and Krakow 2019.The collaboration with both congress presidents, Jürgen Bauer and Tomasz Grodzicki, and the respective local scientific committees, was outstanding and contributed to two well-attended and high-level meetings. However, shortly after the Krakow congress in December 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic emerged and tremendously changed our every day’s life.  Already from the beginning of the pandemic, EuGMS made efforts to cope with this health crisis adjusting in real-time and providing professional and scientific advices to geriatricians across Europe. Due to the outbreak of the pandemic, EuGMS took a timely decision to prepare completely new online programme of the 16th EuGMS online congress mainly dedicated to COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the unpredicted circumstances the online congress attracted more than 2000 participants from all over the world and opened new perspectives in communication and interconnectivity at distance. Due to the participation of many renowned experts in other fields of expertise than geriatric medicine, our society strengthened its position within the spectrum of scientific societies on global level and increased its attractiveness for other partner societies. The recent Athens 2021 congress only confirmed the resilience, plasticity and adaptiveness of our society to new technological challenges and opportunities. The last congress was organized in a hybrid format and again fulfilled the expectations of the most rigorous critics. Here again, Yiannis Ellul and his local scientific committee played a crucial role in preparing the programme of a high scientific level within the context of a joyful reunion after almost two year of virtual contacts.

All the congresses during the last four years very prominently promoted high professional and educational standards and research output of our society. Besides our special interest groups (SIG) that further grew both numerically and in the quality and output, Global Europe Initiative (GEI) and Early Career Geriatricians Initiative (EGCI) emerged as new entities which promoted collaboration and inclusiveness and allowed participation both of the countries in which geriatric medicine is still emerging and new promising and upcoming generation of geriatricians with high professional and scientific ambitions.

Numerous memorandums of understanding with interested partner societies and organisations, a clear organisation structure translated into recently amended bylaws and high-levels professionalism of our PCO Aristea contributed to the current status of the society as a preferred and reliable partner of many other societies

It was a real pleasure for me to collaborate with so many inspiring people- academic and executive board members, SIG, EGI and ECGI members, our irreplaceable secretariat and dedicated colleges from Aristea. Finbarr Martin and Athanase Benetos, the two presidents with whom I collaborated very closely, and Cornel Sieber, the upcoming president, deserve my particular appreciation for unselfishly sharing their ideas, vison and friendship. So many contacts, so intense common engagement- contributed to a high visibility of our society and a tremendous output. 

As President-elect from January 2022, I will continue contributing to the prosperity of EuGMS in a dedicated way and on the same principles as in the beginning of my mandate as academic director- hard work, accessibility, reliability, reflection, inclusiveness and tolerance.

I thank you all for your confidence and support during last for years and look forward to new common challenges and endeavours.

I wish you all a peaceful Christmas period and a healthy and ambitious 2022!

With best wishes and see you again in London from 28 to 30 September, 2022!

Professor Mirko Petrovic
EuGMS Academic Director (2018-2021)