ESA News

ESA Newsletter: April 2004

From the ESA President

The summer months have been busy for the ESA Executive with a number of important and significant developments on our plates. I am pleased to report of developments that will improve the field of Endocrinology for our members, but also some significant challenges which we need to meet and address.

It is with great pleasure that ESA, in collaboration with MaynePharma, launches the ESA-MaynePharma Bryan Hudson Clinical Endocrinology Award. This award, made possible by a generous donation from MaynePharma is aimed at increasing the profile of Clinical Endocrinology presentations at the Annual Scientific Meeting. The Award is named for Bryan Hudson, a founding member and former President of the Society; a real doyen of scientific Clinical Endocrinology and a mentor of many prominent members of the Society. The Award will be made to the best free communication at the Annual Scientific Meeting for a Clinical Endocrinology study predominantly carried out in Australia by a member less than 45 years of age, or within 10 years of gaining a higher qualification. Further details of the award are published in this newsletter, and all members are actively encouraged to apply. I am confident that this Award will enhance a very important area of the Society’s activities.

Members will also be pleased to learn that ESA has undertaken to conduct a major restructure of the webpage. This restructure will enable members to access details of other members on-line, modify details of their own membership on-line, and once we have fully come to grips with a number of security issues, pay membership dues on-line. Unfortunately, this service will not be available for this year’s round of subscriptions, but we are expecting a roll out in the next few months.

Early in March, I represented the Society at a meeting held with the Adult Medicine Division of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians and a number of the Presidents of other large Specialty Societies, including the Cardiac Society, the Australasian Association of Neurologists, the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand, the Gastroenterology Society of Australia and the Internal Medicine Society of Australia and New Zealand. The subject of the day’s meeting was to discuss all aspects of the Special Societies’ relationships with the College, and while the issues of the day are yet to be fully resolved by the participating societies, all spoke of a need for greater identity with the College and increased responsibility for, and involvement in, Advanced Training for Physicians and Continuing Professional Development. ESA Council has only had a brief opportunity to discuss the implications of these suggestions, but there is little doubt that a restructure of our relationship with the RACP has the potential for major impact on the Society’s activities. Rest assured that Council is seeking advice from a wide range of sources, and will hasten slowly with developments. Extra responsibilities have a series of attractions to the Society, but may be counterbalanced by liabilities that we have to be confident of managing.

In May, ESA, along with the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and the Australasian Menopause Society, are co-hosting a meeting which aims to develop a Consensus Statement advising doctors and patients of rational, evidenced-based approaches to the use of hormone therapy in peri- and postmenopausal women. This topic has been much in the media in recent years, and the publication of some of the findings of the Womens’ Health Initiative and Million Women Studies has led to considerable uncertainty about the appropriate actions and advice for both doctors and patients. While aware that the NHMRC is making some progress on this matter, ESA is pleased that it has been included in this initiative, and confident that the voice of endocrinologists will be able to add significantly to this important area.

Finally, I wish to remind all of several responsibilities of members. First, please pay your ESA dues. Council has been advised by its auditors that we cannot sustain the number of non-financial members of the Society that we have been carrying over the last several years, and we are obliged to exercise our responsibilities under the Articles of Association of the Society to remove members who have been non-financial for more than two years from our books. Please also be reminded that membership does carry with it significant benefits, including access to the various awards of the Society (eg travel awards to the ASM, International Travel Awards, Travel Awards to ICE, prizes for presented and published works etc (read all about them in the newsletter)). Second, we are approaching another election of the Society, and several positions on council will become available. Please consider whether you wish to serve your Society by standing for election; the continued health and growth of the Society is dependent on ordinary members being prepared to become involved. If any member would like to find out more about being involved in becoming a councilor, please don’t hesitate to contact me or any member of Council for further information (our names and contact details are in this newsletter and on the webpage).

I look forward seeing you all in Sydney at what promises to be an exciting Annual Scientific Meeting, with a great opportunity to celebrate the science and discipline that we love. Get writing abstracts and encouraging your students to join the Society and do the same.

Ben Canny, ESA President

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