Dear Colleagues and Friends,
I very much hope that the festive season has brought you some relaxation and time with your families and friends, so you can start with fresh energy and new inspiration into 2017. During these last days of recuperation, I often have recalled the pictures of our outstanding Congress in London, and I was proud to belong to our privileged group of surgeons who perform artistic work to the humans most characteristic part of the body: the face. The Presidential chain which I now have the honour to keep safely with me is a symbol of recognition to our teachers, and it also is a symbol for the transfer of knowledge, for the motivation of young academics and for taking responsibility. I will do my very best to perpetuate this successful tradition.
The prosperity and success of our Association is the result of consistent and purposeful commitment by those who actively take over responsibility. Therefore, I thank the Councillors, organisers of EACMFS courses, supervisors of fellowship programmes, and all active supporters of our worldwide educational activities. Moreover, I am grateful to the members of the Executive and Council who all do a tremendous amount of work for our Association.
Although we are looking back on a successful year and a wonderful congress, in 2016, Europe experienced also moments of terror, hate and destruction. But after those horrible attacks which no politician will ever be able to prevent, we also find a huge wave of international solidarity, consolation, help and support – our world definitively is much better than we tend to believe in such moments of terrorism. There is no simple solution to this problem – the right answer is always difficult, and without doubt it is somewhere in the middle.
What will the next year bring for EACMFS? Apart from the many activities such as participation on ICOMS, IAOO, and numerous other courses and meetings we plan to expand our fellowship programme and to improve our communication and service for applicants. Moreover, we will ‘freshen up’ our Newsletter by adding new elements, such as information about new national developments, interesting stories, interviews, reports about fellowships and others. In addition, first steps are planned to create an European Study Group for oncologic research on Head and Neck Cancer. Many questions we still have can only be answered by multi-centre studies, and our Association could be a perfect platform to provide evidence for clear treatment recommendations. Researchers and clinicians who are interested to participate are invited to give their ideas via monika-keul@tum.de. Finally, the preparations for the Munich Congress in 2018 are underway: 16 symposia are planned, 14 highly recognised key note speakers and 20 guest societies have been invited, and 5 hands-on-dissection courses are already organised. But before that, I hope to seeing you at one of the many occasions EACMFS will offer in 2017.
I wish you a prosperous, happy and peaceful new year,
Yours
Klaus-Dietrich Wolff
President EACMFS
