Moving EAACI into the future
General Goals for EAACI 2009-2011
The European Academy for Allergy and Clinical Immunology - EAACI has grown to become a very important medical association in Europe, and one of the biggest in the world in the field of allergy, immunology and asthma. Despite a global economic downturn in the world, EAACI continues to remain strong both financially and structurally, with major financial commitments secured until 2011. EAACI is investing extensively in new activities, both scientific and educational, with the vision of expanding further in the coming years.
EAACI has recently established its new Headquarters, which is located in Zurich. Ms. Silvia Schaller, the new Executive Director, has been recruited, and office spaces have been rented in a convenient central location, Genferstrasse 21 in Zurich. Additional staff has been recruited, and the new Headquarters are fully operational since July 2009. The objective of the new Headquarters is to take extensive administrative responsibility for future EAACI activities , however it is to be considered that it will take a considerable amount of time for the structure to develop sufficiently in order to reach its goal. EAACI’s key strategy is to build a strong administrative structure that can help the Academy grow and develop further for the long-term future.
In the last years, the political organisation of EAACI has been developed into three major areas; congresses, education- and specialty as well as communication and membership, with special vice-presidents responsible for each of these areas. All of these areas are very high priority for EAACI, and will have to be strengthened even further in the future. Structurally the EAACI Headquarters will mirror these three key areas.
The Academy’s jewel is its annual congress, and in the following three years it will take place in London, Istanbul and Geneva (2010-2012). The EAACI congress has developed into the most respected and largest global congresses in the field of allergy, immunology and asthma, and major efforts are being made to strengthen the congress even further. The political responsibility of the congresses is held by the Vice-President of Congresses. The EAACI congress can develop further, and as a general target, EAACI will aim to remain at having the largest and best organised allergy congress in the future.
EAACI is re-investing most of the surplus from the congress into other important activities, such as Allergy Schools, Task Forces and various other smaller meetings. Considering the large variation in training and education in allergy, Europe clearly needs high standards of education, which can disseminate to all European countries. EAACI shall provide a strong basis of this training through its Allergy School activities and Congresses, but shall also provide extended web-based education. The knowledge test in allergy and immunology is further supporting this development.
A field that is overlapping congresses and educational activities are focused topic meetings of medium size, which EAACI has held repeatedly over the last decades. Examples included the Pediatric Allergy and Asthma Meeting (PAAM), the International Symposium of Molecular Allergology (ISMA) meeting, the Symposium on Experimental Rhinology and Immunology of the Nose (SERIN) meeting and the Drug Hypersensitivity Meeting (DHM). These have received financial support from EAACI, and EAACI is working hard to strengthen these and/or similar activities, with the aim of establishing them as world-leading meetings in their respective fields. The goal is not to diffuse attention and resources from our annual congress, but rather bring in these topics and these experts to the EAACI congress, strengthening it further both scientifically and in volume.
In the area of communication, there is no question that the EAACI web-site is the face of EAACI, as it counts many returning and new visitors every day. The web-site was launched in 2003, and has developed steadily since then. Furthermore, major additional developments are under way, and the aim is that key allergy news shall be posted on an EAACI web-site. In the next two years the EAACI web-site aims to become “the allergy news-portal” in the world, and the most frequently visited web-site in this field . To reach these goals, modern web-based communication tools will be utilised.
The finances of EAACI are crucial for its successes in all other areas, and are inherently a matter of priority. At this time, the EAACI finances are stable, with a healthy economic buffer in store. However, in an unstable financial situation, it is wise to be careful, and the overall aim should be to have somewhat more funds in reserve than a full annual budget, including main events. Therefore, extended fund-raising and new ways of attracting support will be sought after.
The external world is important for EAACI. Relationships with organisations such as GA2LEN and relevant societies such as the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, Immunology (AAAAI) and World Allergy Organization (WAO) are central for EAACI. Furthermore EAACI will be part of Global Alliance of Respiratory Disease (GARD) in 2009/2010.
Other partnerships will be welcomed in particular associations with organisations in adjacent areas to EAACI. Special attention will be given to relationships with regulators and especially at the EU-level.
Specific targets for EAACI 2009-2011
Congresses:
1) The 2010 and 2011 EAACI congresses shall be the largest and best organised allergy congress. A reasonable long-term goal should be to have 10’000 delegates attending EAACI congresses.
2) In the longer term, an annual congress city will be selected with that goal in mind, also considering financial aspects as well as attractiveness. The selection process of a venue/city shall be continued to be based on objective criteria and financial considerations.
Education:
3) EAACI shall organise 3-4 Allergy Schools per year, focused on specific areas of allergy and immunology.
4) EAACI shall develop comprehensive educational material in allergy and immunology, to be available on its web-site.
5) EAACI shall aim at continuing to support the increased number of people taking the knowledge test.
6) EAACI shall increase the collaboration with UEMS (Union Européenne des médecins specialists/ European union of medical specialists) to develop a simplified and more efficient way of establishing Continuing Medical Education (CME)-granting scientific and educational events.
Communication:
7) The EAACI web-site shall be the most comprehensive, updated and interactive list of allergy news for allergy specialists on the web, linking to the latest sources of information.
8) The EAACI Journals Allergy and Pediatric Allergy and Immunology (PAI) shall remain strong key journals in the field of allergy.
9) EAACI shall establish additional medical journals, to broaden its portfolio of platforms for communication of scientific data. These journals shall be web-based and primarily open-access. They may include case-reports, task-force reports and scientific communication beyond that communicated via Allergy and PAI.
Democracy / Elections:
10) Before 2011 EAACI shall increase the number of open elections for officers, putatively web-based, to many EAACI posts. This is currently being implemented by electronic voting for Section Boards, but shall be extended to other bodies of EAACI.
National Societies and the specialty of Allergology
11) EAACI is committed to support the development of the specialty of allergology in Europe, and shall do that by:
a. Providing a platform for clinical and scientific communication in allergology (Allergy Schools and the EAACI Congresses).
b. Providing a platform for efficient allocation of CME-credits to courses.
c. Providing support for national societies needing to develop the specialty of allergology in their country. This support may be based on consultations, lobbying, or any other means that may be requested by a national society.
d. EAACI shall provide continued and further developed opportunity for a knowledge test in allergology.
External relations, other international allergy societies
12) EAACI has two major collaborators in the field of allergy and immunology, WAO, and AAAAI.
a. The collaboration with WAO shall be strengthened, as EAACI and WAO are organising the EAACI/WAC in 2013 together in Rome. A scientific programme committee shall be established and procedures for developing the programme shall commence within the next two years. The task of the organisation committee shall be to provide an exciting and very attractive congress for the whole world of allergy experts, at the same time balancing financial aspects of the congress.
b. The EAACI collaboration with AAAAI has primarily been focused on the so called PRACTALL programme, standing for “Practical Allergology”, developing transatlantic position papers in specific fields. Efforts will be made to continue this programme with at least one PRACTALL per year.
c. EAACI also has good relationships with patients organisations such as EFA (European Federation of Allergy and Airways Diseases Patients Associations), and can collaborate with these to develop awareness programmes about allergy.
External relationships, collaboration with funding entities
13) EAACI has a long-term history of a respectful collaboration with its so called “Founder Sponsors”, which usually are pharmaceutical companies with interests in the field of allergy. The support received has been primarily focused on congresses, and congress items including symposia. This collaboration can however be further developed, by EAACI supporting scientific communication, in a balanced and independent way, by developing strategic partnerships with different commercial entities and primarily the Founder Sponsors. The needs of sponsors often overlap with the aims of EAACI, and under those circumstances EAACI shall be open to discuss extended ways of collaborating. A founder sponsor will have to
a. A Founder Sponsor has to be characterized by credibility and reliability.
b. A Founder Sponsor undertakes activities in the domain of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.
c. A activities of the Founder Sponsor are in agreement with the aims and objectives of EAACI
d. The scientific activities of the Founder Sponsor are based on commonly used approaches (i.e. Evidence Based Medicine and/or the GRADE system).
14) EAACI will work on establishing new collaboration with different external bodies, such as companies in the field of allergy, and other funding entities such as different foundations.
Summary
The coming years of EAACI will be characterised by increased amounts of scientific and educational activities, strengthened administrative support, and increased democracy. I thank you for your support of EAACI, and look forward to working with you to strengthen EAACI and Allergology in Europe and the World.
Jan Lötvall
EAACI President
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