Academic Director address 2022 by Antonio Cherubini
Dear Colleagues,
I feel honoured and privileged to start my mandate as Academic Director of EuGMS for the period 2022-2023, and hereby I would like to share with you some thoughts.
We are entering the third year of the COVID pandemic, that represents the most dramatic event the majority of us has ever encountered. It is not possible to forecast which will be the evolution of the pandemic in the near future, although the availability of vaccines and the development of more effective treatments for the disease will hopefully expedite the transition of the pandemic into an endemic disease. The Sars-Cov2 is here to stay and we will always need to consider it, particularly dealing with older and often frail subjects.
Older adults have been suffering a lot during the last two years, not only because they experienced the most severe consequences of the COVID-19 disease, in terms of severity and also death, but also for the difficulty to access healthcare and the isolation due to social distancing.
It is therefore even more important, in continuity with the excellent work done in previous years, to foster the scientific excellence of the EuGMS, aiming to improve the quality of care for older adults.
To this purpose, I would like to share my priorities for the next two years.
First of all, it will be very important to promote an increased visibility and attractiveness of the EuGMS congress. The annual meeting is the most important educational activity organized by EuGMS and it is the venue where all European geriatricians and geriatric healthcare professionals can meet. The ambition should be to continue to make the EuGMS congress one of the most important geriatric conferences in the world. The congress should become the venue where the original results of research projects, particularly those performed in European countries, are presented and discussed. The core curriculum, performed in collaboration with EAMA, should continue to be developed as a fundamental instrument of continuous professional education provided by EuGMS and to promote the share of best clinical practices across Europe.
Another aim is to promote the further growth of the special interest groups (SIGs), that are devoted to major geriatric topics, and represent one of the major assets of the society. The SIGs are already active and productive, but they should be supported to perform even more research, to produce practical recommendations on the management of geriatric conditions, to link with other scientific societies with the aim to promote a greater involvement of EuGMS in interdisciplinary collaboration, and to deliver activities that are relevant for continuous professional development in the geriatric field.
Furthermore, it is crucial to further promote the success of European Geriatric Medicine, the official journal of EuGMS. The Journal has been launched in 2010 under the leadership of prof. Jean Pierre Michel and it has flourished under the leadership of prof. Alfonso Cruz Jentoft. While the Journal obtained soon an impact factor, only in 2020 it has been included in PubMed. The active contribution of all members of EuGMS is necessary to make EGM a major journal in the geriatric field, able to attract high impact original research and educational papers.
Last but not least, the role of EuGMS as partner of research projects should be increasingly developed, coming from the excellent results achieved.
During the next two years, I will tightly collaborate with the members of the Academic Board, of the Executive and Full Board, as well as of the Special interest groups to accomplish these objectives.
I wish you all a healthy, prosperous and ambitious 2022 and I do hope to see you next September in London at the EuGMS annual congress!
Prof. Antonio Cherubini
EuGMS Academic Director (2022-2023)
