Abstract
As I reach the end of my term as IHS President, I am pleased to reflect on the achievements of the society over the past 2 years.
The IHS Affiliate Membership scheme has proved extremely successful, with over 600 members now members of IHS through their own national society, the majority of whom are new to IHS. This initiative has increased IHS membership numbers to almost 1200, versus 850 in 2009, which is excellent news for the society going forward. I am grateful to all the Affiliate Societies who have joined IHS in this venture and hope that more will do so over the coming months and years.
Cephalalgia successfully moved from Wiley-Blackwell to SAGE and continues its success under the Editor-in-Chief, Professor David Dodick. The journal benefitted from an updated, contemporary design, and each month the cover now features a striking colour image relating to one of the published articles. As a result of the number of high quality manuscripts submitted to Cephalalgia, from 2011 the journal increased from 12 to 16 issues per year; in addition, authors can now choose to fast-track their articles to achieve online publication within 4 weeks.
The IHS Online Learning and Education Centre has continued to grow, under the direction of the Education committee Chairman, Dr Alan Rapoport. In addition to the slide presentations and book chapters, members can now view webcasts from IHC 2009 and EHMTIC 2010, and two Case of the Quarters, which were authored by Professor Allan Purdy. In 2011 IHS will run the first IHS Master School in Brazil to facilitate headache education in South America, and discussions are underway to send Visiting Professors to attend meetings and visit regional headache centres in less wealthy countries where it is identified that this will be useful, such as South America, India and Asia.
I was delighted to be invited to attend the opening of the Headache Center of the Chinese PLA General Hospital in Beijing in March 2010, during which time the centre was accredited as an IHS International Headache Centre. IHS will continue to support physicians in Asia, where we have close links with the IHS Past-President, Professor Fumihiko Sakai, who chairs the IHS Asian Regional Committee for Headache.
IHS continues to disseminate research and guidelines for the benefit of headache specialists worldwide. The Classification Standing Committee is working on the next edition of the International Classification of Headache Disorders, expected to be published in 2014. This is linked with IHS representation on the World Health Organization International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11). Guidelines will shortly be published on drug trials in migraine and work has begun on international treatment guidelines, a joint venture with the American Headache Society, European Headache Federation, European Federation of Neurological Sciences, Canadian Headache Society, Japanese Headache Society and World Federation of Neurology.
I now pass the Presidency over to Professor Peter Goadsby, who I know will continue the excellent work for which the society is renowned. My thanks to all the IHS Board members, Advisory Council, Cephalalgia Editor-in-Chief, Associate Editors and Reviewers, and to all IHS members for your support over the past 2 years.
Hans-Christoph Diener MD, PhD President, IHS