Abstract
Over the last two years it has been my honor to serve as President of the Society. It seems such a short time. I would like to report on what has happened as I prepare to hand over the Society in Boston in June to the incoming president, Alan Rapoport. I had two aims when I took over: to place emphasis on transparent running of the Society and to develop a new leadership cadre; we have made progress, although one always feels more could be done.
To begin, it is clear that the Society is in very good organisational shape. As I begin to say this, it must be clear that this is because it is very well served by its officers. Stefan Evers as General Secretary has grown into the position, offering balanced perspective and insights that help the Board steer a considered forward course. We have entered lean times financially, yet the Society is in excellent financial shape with substantial resources. This is in no small part due to the care, attention to detail and professionalism of Wendy Thomas as treasurer and the perspicuous accounts Adam Speller prepares. Opening and clarifying all matters financial and simultaneously involving a patient care advocacy group, The Migraine Trust (www.migrainetrust.org), is a level of disclosure and governance I am glad we have achieved. We have redone our governing document and are making real progress towards our website containing as much about us as we can, including such things as the Board minutes, so that members can know all they wish about the Society both past and present.
In terms of its officers, I must thank the Board of Trustees who have diligently carried out their duties of scrutiny while maintaining an eye to the strategy that is so important for our future. You have seen through the ‘Board Walk’ items who they are and what they do. You have not seen their rapid replies to email polls, the fact that each has direct liaison responsibilities for Special Interest Groups, nor that all attend the Board calls; and I will single out Nori Suzuki here, who, without fail, is on the Board calls despite their taking place well after midnight in his time zone. We are a global Society and it takes very dedicated people, and we have them, to make that work. I thank those retiring: Christina Tassorelli, Messoud Ashina and Allan Purdy, for their very dedicated service to our Society. Any account of the organisation would be at best careless not to mention Carol Taylor whose ever answering email provides both memory and careful execution of what the Board decides needs initiating.
When I entered this position, I wanted to push forward people who will see the Society well into this next period, and at the same time, I want to acknowledge important people who have done great jobs in the past. We have two new Scientific Chairs for the Valencia meeting in 2015, Messoud Ashina and Andy Charles. They will do a wonderful job and signal progress. I want to thank Allan Purdy and Michel Ferrari who put to gether such an exciting program for IHC Boston. I thank Peer Tfelt-Hansen for his long and excellent service as chair of the Clinical Trials Committee and welcome Julio Pascual and Nabih Ramadan to this important now joint role. Many thanks to Cicek Wober-Bingol, who oversaw the extremely important and successful transition of the Child and Adolescent Group from a Special Interest Section to a Standing Committee. Her determination, organizational skills and careful leadership tilled a rich field for Ishaq Abu-Arafeh to take over and the Board is grateful for all her efforts. We have a new membership chair Luiz Paolo de Queiroz, who is developing some very creative approaches to this vital area. The Classification Committee has delivered, under the leadership of Jes Olesen, a beta version of the Third Edition of the International Classification of Headache Disorders. It will be considered by all those interested, and when complete, adopted by the World Health Organisation into the next ICD. This true milestone will mark a crowning achievement for Jes Olesen who will then stand down from the Committee. Guus Schoonman took over the Educational Committee and along with Carlos Bordini, Allan Purdy and Alan Rapoport, ran a very important teaching effort in Brazil, with the drive of Fumihiko Sakai, Nori Suzuki and Allan Purdy, an equally important teaching course was run in Tokyo, and with the excellent collaboration of Messoud Ashina and Rigmor Jensen at the Danish Headache Center conducted an advanced teaching session in Copenhagen. Each of these efforts has been aimed at identifying future leaders in our field and honing the clinical and scientific skills that our Society needs going forward. Additionally, on the education and training side, and I mention much of this because it is where we have placed our limited resources, the first joint meeting between our Society and the International Association for the Study of Pain took place in Hamburg in October 2012. Arne May co-chaired this effort and, I am happy to say, coordinated the event with the deft hand of an emerging leader of our Society. We have continued to fund research fellowships, and we tugged on everyone’s budget to squeeze an extra one last year, aiming to maximise our resource allocation again to future leaders. In this spirit we have a new Chair of the Trainees and Residents Committee, Anna Andreou, and exciting things are already happening. I am pleased, as it is one of my very great interests, to have seen the Cluster Headache group re-formed and I hope Jose Pereira Monteiro will have your support and enthusiasm. Finally, we have re-appointed David Dodick as Editor-in-Chief of Cephalalgia, a job he has done with intellectual rigor, fairness – yes I have had papers rejected too – and good cheer that marks great leadership.
Lastly, my apologies if I have not mentioned anyone I should have, my regrets that I did not get more done: more training meetings organised, or more fellowships funded, and my gratitude that you gave me the opportunity to attempt to make a difference.