Letter from the EANM President

Jolanta Kunikowska

Dear EANM Members,

Dear colleagues and friends,

The end of the year is quickly approaching, and so, I would like to take this opportunity to provide you with a summary and an outlook of this year’s significant EANM developments.

One of the most important events was the EANM Board election this fall, which called into action the following two Chairs Elect that I would like to congratulate cordially:

• Congress Chair 2023 – 2025 (Elect 2022): Valentina GARIBOTTO (Switzerland),
• Education Chair 2023 – 2025 (Elect 2022): Sona BALOGOVA (Slovakia).

Welcome on board! I am thrilled about their nominations – also due to the aim of strengthening the role of women in our specialisation through the Women´s EmpoWErment initiative.

The initiative’s Task Force was established in spring and fully took on its work throughout the summer. Led by Laura Evangelista (IT), it organised an online survey that was launched in November. This survey aims at understanding the general perception regarding the current role and unmet needs of women in nuclear medicine. We are very much looking forward to the results being presented soon! Meanwhile, you may follow the initiative’s LinkedIn channel.

Moreover, in autumn, the whole Board met and discussed the future of nuclear medicine. We defined our short-, medium- and long-term strategic goals, which also included the EANM’s involvement in EU-related initiatives and projects. Examples of that are the European Commission’s tender project, QuADRANT, which promotes the steady improvement of quality and safety in radiology, radiotherapy and nuclear medicine, and the EURAMED Rocc’N’Roll project aiming at developing a strategic research agenda in the field of medical radiation protection. Further projects and tenders with a European focus are ongoing to foster the EANM’s leading role in helping to shape the future of nuclear medicine within and beyond Europe. Therefore, we continued networking activities and discussions with pan-European organisations such as BioMedical Alliance Europe, E.C.O., EIBIR, IAEA, NEA, OECD, as well as with industry partners, e.g. NMEu (Nuclear Medicine Europe – The Industry Association).

Also, the joint effort and exchange with sister societies such as SNMMI, AZSNM and JSNM as well as with clinical societies like ESC, EAU, ESMO and ENETS are ongoing. One example was the ESMO-EANM Virtual Advanced Course on Diagnostic and Therapeutic Applications of Nuclear Medicine in Oncology held in July. Another success was the ETA-EANM e-Conference on A Joint Meeting to Commemorate 80 years of Radioiodine Treatment for Thyroid Disease in November. This conference showed our close collaboration with the clinical society and helped to build a bridge for future activities.

Speaking of future activities, ESMIT is steadily growing and, thus, restructuring was necessary to meet the expanding needs for online education, not least because of the ongoing pandemic. Our Education Chair, Paola Anna Erba, further shaped the new learning pathway with her team by building a thematic series. Have a look at next year’s programme to pre-register and save your seat for ESMIT’s in-person as well as online events!

In addition, communication efforts were facilitated. You probably recognise from reading this President’s newsletter, as well as through our activities on social media, that there is an increase in news and updates being shared. I sincerely hope that it is helpful for our community to see what is going on.

Last but not least, my friends within the EANM Board and I were actively engaged in the planning and implementation of this year’s Congress, which the Executive Office executed, under the leadership of Stefano Fanti, with great success and strong dedication. Thank you to everybody for making this happen – the statistics speak for themselves:

After having been postponed for one year, the preparations for the EANM Focus Meeting on February 3-5, 2022, are again underway. I invite you to join this one-of-a-kind meeting to learn about Molecular Imaging and Therapy in Haematological Tumours. After two years of COVID-19, it will be great to meet face to face and discuss with our world-renowned expert’s panel the place of nuclear medicine in the diagnosis and treatment of haematological tumours. Registrations are limited to 250 participants, and the target audience is advanced specialists. More Information can be found here.

Finally, I would like to thank all of our volunteer Committee members, National Delegates, Working Group members, authors, reviewers, panellists, moderators, presenters as well as Board members and the Executive Office for their hard work and support.

With these words, I would like to close this year’s agenda and encourage you to enjoy the remaining days of 2021. My sincerest and beloved season’s greetings to all of you!

Yours,

Jolanta Kunikowska

EANM President 2021-2022