Venue: XXVIII EAACI Congress
Date: 06-10 June 2009, Warsaw

Luis Delgado
Vice-President - Education & Specialty
ldelgado@med.up.pt

Luis Delgado, our second interviewee from the 2009 Warsaw Congress, is EAACI Vice-President on Education & Specialty. The professor is also a member of the Scientific Program Committee and one of the most active figures within our Academy. The eaaci.net met him in Warsaw and interviewed him on ''hot'' topics in the area of allergy and clinical immunology.

The theme of this year’s Congress is “Allergy without Frontiers”. How do you envisage the motto of this year’s EAACI Congress on a European and international level?
Well, in terms of numbers and facts, we have to take into account that our members are growing, not only in Europe but globally. This makes sense in a way, as we are trying to find the greatest experts in our science everywhere, not only from the allergy field, but from other scientific areas as well. And this is very positive for our Congress as it is indeed a congress without frontiers.

What is your impression of this year’s Congress?
Very good actually, the whole Congress is excellent, we are quite surprised by the whole organisation, by the astonishing building that it is taking place, and by the numerous of activities that are going on...In overall, people are quite pleased with this organisation.

How do you see the future of allergy as disease, as a discipline in 5-10 years?
Well, i bring to the ExCom a little bit of experience where allergy specialty is very well organised and occupies a growing field in most countries. Moreover, through the EAACI we keep expanding and we are now becoming organised in all European countries in the same way, making thus our specialty more and more known in every territory in Europe. This is the way to go ahead in the future as a lot of research is going on in healthcare in the field of allergy. In sum, i think that the way to go ahead in Europe is to structure it as a full specialty with certain guidelines, that already exist in some countries.

How has the global financial crisis affected allergy research and motivation?
Well, we were afraid that this might happen, we live in an era of uncertainty in terms of the global financial world, but we are confident that in terms of our science, our specialty, we can deliver the best specialty, the best practice with an economical cost-effective way. Additionally, the health industry is more that willing to support us in this big challenge. In terms of research, we also raised a lot of interaction, a lot of exchange in Europe, and a huge network has been created there to support that.

Allergy as a disease keeps rising on a steadily increasing rate: Do you think that people are well informed of the allergic disorders?
Yes, i think that they are very well informed because they are suffering from it, for sure. In terms of the consumer, the general public, they know the disease, they know where to go to find support for the problem, they know the steps that have been taken by the State in the regulatory area, but of course, we need to build more on that. Actually, the Academy is working hard on that, and for this reason we are creating a new patient’s website for the general public, available from next year. With these tools available, we will spread out that the knowledge is out there, our specialty is out there, and hopefully these communication tools will be further developed through the new media, such as Facebook and Twitter. Moreover, we expect that the Junior members will be more than willing to help us to develop these tools as effectively as they can be.

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