J. Christian Virchow
FRCP, FCCP, FAAAAI
Head, Dept. of Pneumology / Intensive Care Medicine
Zentrum f. Innere Medizin / Klinik I
University Clinic Rostock
E.-Heydemannstr. 6
18055 Rostock, Germany

Tel: +49 381 494 7460
Fax: + 49 381 494 7392
e-mail: j.c.virchow@sunrise.ch




1.  You have served as the SPC Coordinator for how many congresses so far?

3 Congresses, Barcelona, Warzawa, London.


2.  What were the main differences between London 2010 and the previous EAACI congresses in terms of the scientific programme involved?

The congress is continuously getting bigger. The greatest additional burden is the increase in the number of submitted abstracts which need to        be reviewed and allocated to sessions.
The topics for the London congress have been enlarged with an additional focus on Immunology and new sessions covering this field which is         getting increasingly important for practicing allergists, too.


3.  What was the impact of these changes?

This will be seen in the future. It will certainly add to the fact that the EAACI congresses are now the largest and most important scientific              meetings in allergology today in the world. We expect that this will actually develop further in the future.
It also underscores the broad educational perspective the EAACI congresses have.


4.    What are the most important considerations when one compiles the scientific programme of a congress?

• consider the broad spectrum of allergology from molecules to patient
• consider the different specialties dealing with allergology which includes pediatricians, dermatologists, internists, pneumologists, ent-physicians
• consider the different interests of the delegates to such a large meeting. The biggest majority are practicing clinicians who prefer clinical sessions. On the other hand the interests of the many dedicated researchers and basic scientists have to be considered. The delicate issue is to design a balanced programme which addresses the needs of all our delegates. For this purpose we are very happy to receive feedback from the delegates which we will analyse in detail to improve our congresses even further. We are also working on the idea to collect more structured feedback from our delegates to understand even better the needs and requirements of our delegates.