January 2021

I hope you all managed to have a restful break over the holiday season. Certainly 2021 has not yet provided the return to normality and calm that we have all been eagerly anticipating. However, hope is on the horizon.

We continue to discuss and adapt to the ongoing situation. As you will all know by now, we had to take the difficult, but hopefully understandable, decision not to hold our annual meeting in Liverpool in May. We will instead hold ESPE 2021 online from 22-26 September and more details will be available soon. The programme from Liverpool will be transferred over to September so it promises to be as high quality, interesting and cutting edge as ever.

Our Education and Training Committee has also been working hard on plans and decisions regarding our schools this year. We know how valuable these educational opportunities are to trainees and those early in their paediatric endocrine careers. We are hopeful that the Maghreb School, Caucasus & Central Asia School and ASPED-ESPE Academy will be able to proceed close to normal in the autumn, so please look out for application deadlines for those, with calls opening soon. The Winter, Summer and Diabetes, Obesity & Metabolism Schools, will meanwhile take place virtually for previously accepted applicants who have been waiting patiently to attend.

We have another important scientific education opportunity taking place in the autumn, with our postponed Science Symposium on Congenital adrenal hyperplasia taking place in the Netherlands in October. This will be delivered by renowned experts in the field and will bring attendees up to date with the very latest research and developments in CAH. You can now register to attend and we have 25 free of charge places available for young investigators.

As you may know, we have an excellent selection of information booklets for patients and parents. These are currently only available in English, but we’re keen to make them accessible to more patients in different languages. We would very much appreciate your help with this translation project and will ensure that your national society is acknowledged for its assistance. If you would like to help to translate the patient information, particularly into French, German, Dutch or Spanish, do find out more and get in touch.

As we’ve mentioned before, our e-Learning Committee has worked hard to provide a multi-lingual section dedicated to health care in resource limited countries (RLC), covering all major subjects of paediatric endocrinology in five languages (English, French, Spanish, Swahili and Chinese). You can read a published paper regarding this successful project here.

We are in the process of welcoming applications for several of our grants, so I encourage you to take a look at which opportunities might be relevant and beneficial for you.

If you would like to be awarded up to €100,000 for high quality collaborative research in paediatric endocrinology, apply for our Research Unit Grant by 15 February.

Meanwhile, our Research Fellowship, enabling talented young scientists, investigators, and paediatric endocrinologists to conduct research at leading institutions worldwide, is open for applications until 20 April.

Take care of yourselves and, as always, we welcome your feedback.

Best wishes,

Anita

ESPE Secretary General