Abstract
I am sorry to announce the resignation of two IHS Board Members, Anne MacGregor, who has served on the Board for many years as General Secretary and more recently as Treasurer, and Peter Sandor, who has been very much involved in IHS on the Juniors committee and education initiatives. On behalf of IHS, I thank them for their dedication over many years and wish both of them the very best for the future.
Wendy Thomas, Chief Executive of the Migraine Trust and Secretary to the European Headache Alliance, has taken on the role of Treasurer. Wendy has many years experience in the charity sector and over the past 4 years she has successfully managed the Migraine Trust and co-ordinated the merger between EHF’s European Congress and the Migraine Trust International Symposium resulting in the European Headache and Migraine Trust International Congress (EHMTIC). The EHMTIC congress was a great success with over 1400 delegates, showing that headache research is lively and productive.
Guus Schoonman also joins the Board. Guus has been involved with IHS for several years, heading the Juniors committee until 2009. Over the past 2 years, he has worked closely with Alan Rapoport and the Education Committee developing the educational materials and Online Education Centre, and is currently Vice-Chairman of the Membership Committee.
In June 2011, I will step down as President; Peter Goadsby will succeed me and a new President-elect will join the Board. There were eight very strong candidates, and the Board and Leadership, Nominations and Development Committee have selected Carl Dahlöf (Gothenburg, Sweden) and Alan Rapoport (Los Angeles, USA) to be put forward for election by the members in 2011. IHS will also hold elections for Elected Trustees in 2011 and a call for nominations will be sent to all members early in the year.
IHS was pleased to offer 30 travel grants to Juniors to attend the recent EHMTIC congress in Nice, France. An unprecedented 72 applications were received, and the Juniors committee selected the top 25 applicants, with the remaining five grants offered to the 2010 Fellowship applicants. For IHC 2011 in Berlin, IHS is able once more to offer 25 grants and an announcement for applications will be sent out shortly.
The IHS 2011 Scientific Programme Committee met recently and is putting together a very exciting programme for the Berlin congress, helped by excellent suggestions from IHS members. Abstract submission and registration are now open – visit the IHC 2011 webpage for more information (http://www.ihc2011.org). The deadline for submission of abstracts is 1 February 2011, and a competitive early registration rate is available until 28 February. If you are not already a member of IHS, why not join, and take advantage of the reduced registration fees?
The International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) will launch the IASP ‘Year Against Headache’ in October 2011. IHS is collaborating with IASP on this exciting venture, and a joint session will be held with IASP during IHC 2011 featuring lectures on the thalamus in pain and headache, molecular mechanisms of pain, and placebo in pain treatment. We look forward to closer collaboration with IASP over the coming years.
Finally, 2011 marks the 30th anniversary of IHS and Cephalalgia. The IHS Board and Committees will be discussing how we can best celebrate this and welcome thoughts and suggestions from members, particularly those who were involved in the early days.
