From the ISTM President

Prativa Pandey, M.D.

As I come to the end of my term as ISTM president, I would like to take you through to where we are today and where we are headed.

ISTM has more to offer its members than ever before. We have a wonderful Society that is only going to grow and mature for numerous reasons as travel continues to grow globally.

Every two years our Society holds the Conference of the International Society of Travel Medicine (CISTM). After resounding success in Lisbon, the Conference has arrived in Vancouver. This is a special occasion as this is the 10^th Conference of our Society.

Our Vancouver Conference bring together travel medicine practitioners, researchers and individuals from related specialties under one roof during five days of rigorous scientific presentations, symposia, debates and workshops. It provides a great opportunity to learn and to network with like-minded individuals in a wonderful setting.

Further, ISTM is committed to partnering with travel medicine societies in different regions of the world to offer regional travel medicine conferences alternating with CISTM. The next regional conference will take place in Melbourne, Australia in February of 2008. (See accompanying article.) We hope that our bonds of friendship with regional and national societies will get stronger as we collaborate to focus on regional issues in travel medicine that do not get enough attention during the CISTM. We will be looking for partners for the next regional conference in 2010.

Our Society started modestly in 1991 with 287 members and is growing at a steady pace. Membership has surpassed 2,000 and continues to grow. While we would like to encourage more persons to join the Society in North America, we would strongly urge travel medicine practitioners in Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia/NZ, and South America to join.

What is it that makes the Society relevant to travel medicine practitioners in different regions of the world and motivates them to want to join the Society? To explore this question, the Society held a very important meeting during the Northern European regional conference in Edinburgh with leaders of national societies in Europe to identify and discuss potential areas of collaboration that could make ISTM more relevant to persons in Europe. More needs to be done with this initiative for membership growth in Europe and other regions of the world.

ISTM has begun several new initiatives at the request of members:

• We held courses in North America and Europe in February 2007 to help candidates prepare for the Certificate of Knowledge in Travel Medicine (Certificate in Travel Health) examination. This is the only exam in travel medicine that is truly international with an international group of exam committee members developing test questions. The CTH exam is increasingly being viewed as a reliable and practical tool to test knowledge in this field. There have been requests from members to make the CTH examination more accessible in many parts of the world. This is preferably done with a computerized version that will also reduce travel expenses and make the exam less costly for members. This possibility is currently being explored by the exam committee.
• Travel medicine providers are connected globally on an instantaneous basis through the ISTM Listserv. This service is becoming very popular and now has over 1000 subscribers. The Listserv is a huge benefit to members, keeping them professionally connected to friends and colleagues from around the world.
• Another educational initiative has been "The Expert Opinion" where an expert discusses a typical case scenario and members can interact with the expert through the Listserv.
• Peer reviewed "evidence based practice guidelines" are currently being developed that will be published in the JTM.
• Continuing medical education credits are important to our members and we are exploring additional opportunities to receive CME credits.
• Travel grant awards have been introduced in 2007. These awards have been offered to individuals from lower income countries to facilitate presentation of research papers at the CISTM. In addition, research grants have been offered every year starting in 2006 to help stimulate research in travel medicine.
• GeoSentinel, the global surveillance project of the ISTM (in partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States), consists of 33 travel clinics as surveillance sites and more than 100 network members around the world. Disease trends in travelers based on region of travel, purpose of travel and patient characteristics are being defined using the database, which has grown to comprise over 60,000 patient records. Rapid response by GeoSentinel sites and/or network members in relation to rare and alarming diagnoses have helped public health authorities of nations to take rapid preventive and containment measures. New surveillance sites have come on board and GeoSentinel is being looked upon as a resource not only by public health agencies of nations but also by organizations like the World Health Organization (WHO).
• We are in the process of developing stronger ties with international agencies such as the WHO and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). Collaborative efforts are underway and further meetings planned during the year. This is an ongoing process that should continue to gain momentum.
• The Journal of Travel Medicine (JTM) is reaching more libraries around the world through our publisher, Blackwell Publishing. Besides the more than 2,000 membership subscriptions, JTM is available in more than 5000 institutions around the world. Approximately half of these subscriptions are either free or discounted through initiatives like the HINARI that are designed to foster research in the developing world. JTM has seen an increase in impact factor in 2005 and we are hopeful that this positive trend will continue. We continue to strongly urge you to publish your research in the JTM.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the Executive Board, the Secretary/Treasurer, the ISTM committees, and the Journal and NewsShare editors who have volunteered their time and expertise to advance the field of travel medicine and our Society. The ISTM administrative staff deserves special thanks for getting us where we are today. Thanks are also due to our publisher, Blackwell Publishing. Finally, I would like to thank you for staying involved. If you are reading this and are not a member of the Society, please consider joining for the many reasons outlined above.

With warm regards,

Prativa Pandey, M.D.
President, ISTM