President update, May 2021

Firstly, I’m pleased to share with you a new white paper: Hormones in European Health Policies: How endocrinologists can contribute towards a healthier Europe. Over the last few years ESPE and the European Society of Endocrinology (ESE) have been working towards closer collaboration across a number of activities and in particular discussing policy and advocacy; an area ESE has been working in for some time. This white paper is ESE’s first policy paper and it had a number of collaborators from other societies, including myself and Faisal Ahmed from ESPE, representing paediatric endocrinology. Further collaboration between our two societies will see us addressing the EU policy agenda in relation to the priority areas of endocrine disrupting chemicals, transition and obesity. We will keep you updated on progress in this area and I hope you enjoy reading the white paper.

Meanwhile, ESPE has started a Rare Disease Advisory Group, which is chaired by Faisal Ahmed and co-chaired by Rasa Verkauskiene. The remit of the group is to review and strategically advise Council on ESPE’s activities in the field of rare diseases and the first meeting was held in April. The group will focus on collaboration and knowledge exchange between ESPE and all ERNs as well as ESE, improving awareness of rare disease registries, promoting rare disease research and engaging with the public, industry and other organisations on rare diseases. We’re really pleased to have this group in place to ensure the necessary attention is given to the many rare conditions we as endocrinologists treat and that we can take a coordinated, collaborative approach. You can find out more about the group on our website and again, we will keep you updated on its projects.

As you know, the team is busy preparing for this year’s ESPE Annual Meeting,which will be taking place virtually from 23-26 ofSeptember. Thank you to everyone who submitted an abstract. It will be of huge value for all of us to be updated on the research and developments that have taken place in recent months. We have an excellent selection of plenaries, symposia and How Do I? sessions lined up as well. Sessions will involve interactive Q&As and all registrants will have the advantage of viewing content on-demand after the event as well. You can now view the ESPE 2021 programme online and book your place to attend at a discounted early bird rate.

You’ll have seen that we are also launching a new webinar series to bring you current and topical educational content year-round. The first one, focused on the area of Bone, will take place in July and more details will be available soon, so keep an eye on our website and social media channels. We’re recruiting an ESPE member to then become the convenor of the ongoing series, planning quarterly webinars on a range of topics. This is an exciting departure for ESPE and one that we hope will be valued by ESPE members. As always, we’ll be pleased to receive your feedback.

I would like to say a big thank you to the ESPE Syllabus Task Force, led by Leena Patel, which has done a fantastic job of updating the European Training Requirements (ETR) in Paediatric Endocrinology & Diabetes. The updated syllabus has now been approved by the European Academy of Paediatrics (EAP), European Board of Paediatrics (EBP) and Union of European Medical Specialists (UEMS) and includes detailed specialty-specific core content that trainees are expected to achieve in order to become competent independent clinicians. If you know, or indeed are, the lead for Paediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes training in your country, please get in touch with us at espe@eurospe.org. We’re keen to ensure that the syllabus is used to complement country-specific training programmes and encourage consistency and high-standards of care across Europe.

As always, please keep an eye on the dates and deadlines that appear in every News Alert and also on our website. We have a wealth of opportunities for you to benefit from, including training, funding, networking and involvement with the Society and it’s important to us that these are taken up by members across countries and career stages.

My best wishes,

Anita

ESPE Secretary General