Letter from the President

First of all, I want to start by giving a warm welcome to Alexis Vrachimis from Cyprus. Alexis started his term of office as EANM Secretary/Treasurer in January and will be an EANM Board member until at least December 2025.

Moreover, following the changes implemented in the new EANM Statutes, Felix Mottaghy is now formally serving as ‘EANM Internal Groups Officer’ and is coordinating both Committees and Councils. This position was until last year named ‘Committee Coordinator’. Elections to choose a successor for this role as of 2025 will be held in 2024, together with other Board positions.

Once again, the EANM Board looks forward to serving the EANM community this year.

In February, the EANM was invited to participate in the European Congress of Radiology in Vienna for a ESR-EANM leadership meeting and a joint session entitled ‘Radiology and Nuclear Medicine: opportunities for joint research’. This first official encounter aimed at focusing and aligning on common interests, while respecting the role and independence of both our societies. Regarding the joint session, it was my pleasure to chair it with Carlo Catalano (ESR President) and to welcome excellent speakers representing our nuclear medicine community: Wim Oyen, Ken Herrmann, and Verena Pichler.

Furthermore, the EANM was also represented at the 28th Congress of the European Association of Hospital Pharmacists (EAHP) and will participate in the 39th Annual Congress of the European Association of Urology (EAU), among others, with the aim of strengthening our collaboration with clinical, scientific and partner societies.

Finally, I would like to bring to your attention the resolution EB152(6) approved at the 76th World Health Assembly (WHA) on ‘Strengthening diagnostics capacity’. This resolution officially calls all WHO Member States to strengthen the diagnostic procedures in their healthcare systems, including nuclear medicine. This was achieved thanks to John Prior, who currently serves as WHO Representative within the World Federation of Nuclear Medicine and Biology (WFNMB).

In addition to our two previously existing EANM Committees that were transformed into Councils (the Policy and Regulatory Affairs Council and the Ethics Council), two new councils were launched this year:

1. The Young Professionals Council (YPC), which is chaired by Tim Van den Wyngaert. The YPC was launched to better engage and empower young nuclear medicine professionals, and to encourage medical students to opt for a nuclear medicine career.
2. The Guidelines and Publications (Procedures) Council (GPC), which is led by Wolfgang Wadsak. The GPC plans to develop a strong publication strategy that takes into account many stakeholders and interests in order to maximise the quality and timely impact of EANM’s guidelines and publications.

Moreover, there are two other Councils in preparation, the Scientific Events Council (SEC) and the Education Council (EC), which will respectively oversee the strategy behind the EANM’s scientific events and the continuous educational activities of ESMIT.

Additionally, two new expert Piloting Groups were created to advise the EANM Board within 6 months: (1) on the potential integration of Health Technology Assessment (HTA) and (2) on facilitating research within the EANM’s scope of activities.

As you may notice, the EANM is introducing a lot of new initiatives, which also means more opportunities for all of you to contribute in your areas of interest and expertise. Therefore, I strongly encourage you to join our network of experts by indicating your interests here, where you will also be able to regularly explore our open volunteer positions.

Stay tuned for further updates via the EANM’s social media channels and regular newsletters!