President's Message

Louis Lutan, President, ISTM

Dear ISTM Members,

Time is flying! In less than six months the next big ISTM event will be underway: the New York conference, May 7-11, 2003! New York… port of entry for millions of immigrants and refugees, the city of hopes and expectations, a city living and beating with international energy; New York, the place of departure and arrival of millions of travellers. We will be in a highly mobile city, open to the ocean and the world, a wonderful place for a conference on travel medicine. Brad Connor, the conference organizer, and Hans-Dieter Nothdurft, the chair of the Scientific Committee, have been working hard putting together a very attractive program to take place in the heart of New York at the Marriott Hotel in Times Square. Although the September 11 tragedy is still vivid in our hearts, New York has recovered and is turned towards future challenges again. The travel industry has gone through a difficult period and uncertain times are still foreseen in the near future. May reason and peace prevail in the coming months.

Since last November the ISTM executive board has met twice: in the spring in Florence at the time of the Third European Conference on Travel Medicine, and then recently in Shanghai after the fourth Asia-Pacific Travel Health (APTH) conference. These two meetings have given us the opportunity to discuss the society's affairs.

Shanghai was a success. Two years after the Bali conference, the number of participants has increased substantially and travel medicine is strengthening in the region. The ISTM, Santanu Chatterjee and Eli Schwartz in particular, worked actively with our colleagues of the APTH Society to organize and design a very attractive program. The Shanghai organizing committee lead by Lin Jianwei put together a very successful event, contributing significantly to the development of travel medicine in China. This part of the world is increasingly mobile and the travel industry is rapidly developing within and in between countries. The World Tourism Organization forecasts that by 2020 close to 400 million arrivals will take place in the Asia-Pacific region, a 4.9 fold increase since 1995.

The success of the Shanghai conference certainly encourages ISTM to promote conferences and training outside Europe and North America, in areas frequented by travelers. It encourages us to find new ways to increase local expertise and raise the quality of care and local medical services. ISTM should contribute to the training of local doctors. In December 2004 the 5^th APTH conference will take place in Kuala Lumpur with ISTM support. But before that, another "regional conference" will be organized in South Africa in early 2004. The ISTM executive board is committed to promoting such conferences, with more emphasis on regional specificities, to diversify and expand our expertise and influence outside Europe and North America. These conferences will not compete with the biennial main conference.

After New York, we plan to meet in May 2005 in Lisbon, Portugal another very attractive city open to the sea, with a very rich history of travel and discovery. Lisbon will help us to promote travel medicine in this part of Europe.

Last September, we were greatly surprised and shocked to hear that Phyllis Kozarsky resigned as president-elect. Phyllis has been extremely active in the society since its creation. Sparing no time and energy to promote travel medicine, she has played a key role in the ISTM, from organizing the Atlanta conference in 1991, to the development of the GeoSentinel network and the organization of Certificate of Knowledge Examination, which will be held for the first time May 7, 2003 in New York. Phyllis decided to withdraw for both personal and professional reasons. Under personal and professional pressure, she has decided to step back. The society owes her a lot and hopes to see her back when conditions ease up for her. We all sincerely wish that her situation will improve rapidly.

When Phyllis Kozarskiy stepped down, we simultaneously lost the president-elect and the chair of the nominating committee, which was in the process of selecting candidates to replace the two outgoing counselors and the new president-elect. I had to react quickly. Charles Ericsson, past president, accepted to become the chair of the nominating committee keeping Phyllis as a member of the new committee. We are all very grateful to him for having accepted this task. The committee had the double responsibility of nominating candidates for the new executive board after New York, and proposing a new president-elect sufficiently experienced and knowledgeable about the society to become president by May 2003. Brad Connor, the organizer of the New York conference, has accepted the challenge. He will be the sole candidate for the presidential position to replace Phyllis Kozarsky. We appreciate his willingness to serve. So this election is rather unusual. You are being asked to vote for Brad Connor or write-in an alternative of your choice. And at the same time you will choose between Prativa Pandey from Nepal and Santanu Chatterjee from India for the next President-elect position. Both are very competent candidates, who come from outside Europe and North America, as a clear commitment from the Executive Board to be more representative of our membership diversity. Five nominees for the two counselors positions are proposed. All are excellent candidates and very active in travel medicine and in the ISTM. The candidates are:

Haditsch, Austria
Kain, Canada
Leggat, Australia
de Frey, South Africa
Schwarz. Israel

The first ever Certificate of Knowledge Examination will be given in New York. It will take place on the morning of May 7, the day of the opening ceremony. Candidates need to register as soon as possible. Please look at our website for instructions and see included documents. For candidates participating also in the conference, there will be a rebate of $100 for physicians and $50 for all others. Many members of the ISTM have participated in this endeavour, but Phyllis Kozarsky is the prime architect of this new initiative. They should all be thanked for the work they have done.

As you can see, the last few months have been quite intense. All the members of the board have participated actively in finding solutions and helping me to make appropriate decisions. I thank them wholeheartedly for their support. We are now moving ahead full speed, aiming at a very successful conference in New York. Now is the time to register and to send your abstracts for presenting your research! We need your participation to make this conference a memorable event! I am looking forward to seeing you all in New York!

Best regards

Louis Loutan
ISTM President