Academy Annual Conference November 12-13. 2021. Padua, Italy

Dear Member of IAMMM,

Each year the International Academy for Musculoskeletal Medicine (IAMMM) organises on academic invitation a two-day scientific conference in Europe. The program consists of 40 to 50 short lectures of 10 minutes on the most recent, as yet unpublished, scientific and educational topics. The conference is intended as a discussion platform for scientists, educationalists and colleagues in the working field.

For this year – 2021 – we have planned and announced the conference, by invitation of Prof. Raffaele De Caro, Institute of Human Anatomy Centre for Mechanics of Biological Materials, on 12-13 November 2021 in the Medical University of Padua.
As you probably will remember we have last year postponed the planned Conference of 2020 to November 12-13. 2021.
During the last one and half year EB has been working on a new website. Now the website has gone live and gives more detailed information and helps our communication. Also, many practical issues have been discussed with EB regarding planned education according to the new European requirements with UEMS decision for special competence of MM medicine.

The COVID 19 pandemic crisis disrupted life during 2020 and the first half 2021. But we see now some light at the end of the tunnel.

Although vaccination programmes aim to a return of a normal everyday live and travel possibilities, there are still uncertainties with respect to the possibilities of a fourth pandemic wave due to the strong emerging delta variant of the Covid 19 virus originating from India. In some countries a lockdown has been reinstalled. There are some expectations that due to the present lifting of all kind of lockdown measures in many European countries, resulting in a strong increase of international planned holidays abroad, a fourth wave in November is not inconceivable at all.

We tend, in close collaboration with our Friends at Padua University towards a starting of the preparation of the Annual Conference for 2021 and the General Assembly (GA) of IAMMM. At the same time, we realise that we have much less preparation time to collect a sufficient number of speakers and contributors for the conference.

The EB will meticulously monitor the risk of a fourth wave of the Covid 19 delta variant after the holidays and the size of the response of the contributors. Next week, you will receive an invitation of the Academy Science Director to present a paper(s) at the Academy Conference in November.

Finally, we will wish you a happy summertime!

We hope all the best for all of You. Take care and stay healthy!!

On behalf of EB of IAMMM,
Olavi Airaksinen and Jacob Patijn