Dear Colleagues,
we are pleased to present the Society´s 9th Newsletter. Since the first meeting of the ESNCH took place in Munich in 1996, 10 years have passed. For this purpose, we will celebrate this jubilee by editing a special newsletter within the next months which summarizes historical key moments, funny anecdotes, special contributions, lots of unpublished photos of the annual meetings and the members of our Society.
Most of you attended our great meeting in Abano Terme, Padova, Italy. This meeting was characterized by an overwhelming interest and participation of neurosonologists from all over the world. The attention of the experts was focused on the most recent developments in the various fields of neurosonology, but the running theme of the meeting was the applicability of ultrasound in daily clinical practice. Nevertheless, future technological developments and peculiar applications of ultrasound were also part of the program and received a great consensus. A touching moment was the section dedicated to the late Professor Elietta Maria Zanette at the Aula Magna of the University of Padova, the cradle of the European medicine, and the visit to the anatomical theatre of Fabrici d’Acquapendente which was represented on the logo of the meeting. This happened thanks to Professor Giorgio Meneghetti who chaired this very successful meeting. He and his team succeeded in excellently organizing and arranging this inspiring event in an unique Italian atmosphere.
The 11th Meeting of the ESNCH will take place in Düsseldorf, Germany, May 14th – 16th, 2006, and Prof. Mario Siebler will be our host. The meeting precedes the European Stroke Conference in Brussels, Belgium, not far away. Düsseldorf is the capital of the federal state of North-Rhine Westphalia. It is the bustling Rhine metropolis right in the heart of Europe and has a lot to offer: the famous culture, shopping miles, fashion trends and gastronomic plurality. This offers also a great attraction for sightseeing not only for the congress visitors but also for their relatives. As in previous meetings, the scientific program will track further developments of neurosonological ultrasound in diagnostics and therapeutic applications and their impact of cerebrovascular ultrasound in clinical practice, e.g. role of ultrasound in the periinterventional settings. Specific sessions will be devoted to 3-D function tests and ultrasound in the emergency setting. One topic will also introduce current clinical trials using neurosonology parameters.
We want to take the opportunity to welcome new members of the Society. All current members of the Society are listed below. At present, the Society has 387 members from 48 countries. On our website www.ESNCH.org you will also find the current phone and fax numbers, as well as the e-mail addresses of most of our members. Please make sure that your current membership status and addresses are correct. You are invited to amend your current phone and fax number as well as the e-mail address or to add a new one in case that one has changed or has not yet been included.
The next, 12th ESNCH meeting will be held in Budapest, Hungary, May 26th – 29th, 2007, and Professor László Csiba will be the organizing chairman. You will find a first announcement of this meeting below.
In a circular in March 2005, the Nomination Committee of our Society asked the members to propose candidates for the Executive Committee in order to achieve a gradual but steady turnover. The Nomination Committee informed the members that one new officer will be determined solely by the vote of the members, while the other one will be appointed by the Executive Committee. The three candidates who got the most nominations and who have done much for our Society in past years were Prof. Kurt Niederkorn, Dr. M. del Sette and Prof. Mathias Sturzenegger. During the business meeting in Abano Terme, May 23rd, 2005, Prof. Kurt Niederkorn was appointed by the Executive Committee as its new member. During the General Assembly, May 24th, 2005, the members voted for Dr. M. del Sette as the second new member of the Executive Committee. Following the General Assembly, the members of the Executive Committee met once more to elect the new president. Prof. Kurt Niederkorn was unanimously elected as the new President. We would like to take the opportunity to thank the past President Prof. E. Bernd Ringelstein for his tremendous support and for all the work he has done for the Society and making it such a success since he chaired it from 2001 to 2005. We are very happy that he is still active for the Society in the Advisory Board.
We also express our warmest thanks to Prof. Rob G.A. Ackerstaff for his service in the Executive Committee from 1997 to 2005. He organized the second great meeting of our Society in Zeist in 1997, which we all still enjoy to recall in our memory. Moreover, the Society and the Executive Committee appreciate his valuable support and advice he always gave us.
We hope that you will have a successful year and we welcome you cordially to the 10th Meeting of the European Society of Neurosonology and Hemodynamics in Düsseldorf.
Yours sincerely,
K. Niederkorn
President
J. Klingelhöfer
Secretary
