Honorary Secretary's Report

It is almost a year since the last Newsletter was circulated. You will agree with me we had a very good year both scientifically, culturally and socially. Thanks to Stefán Yngvason, Sigrún Knútsdóttir, Pál E Ingvarsson, Jón Eiríksson, Marta Kjartansdóttir and Sigrún Garðarsdóttir, the Annual Scientific Meeting meeting in Iceland was very well organized. The scientific content was excellent. Like the great majority I personally enjoyed the camaraderie, the warm hospitality and the constant sunshine for the whole period of the meeting! Re-learning the history of the world and Iceland's contributions from Gísli Einarsson was a most illuminating and a most enjoyable experience. Those of you who explored Iceland will agree it is a remarkable country with a remarkable landscape. Those of you who did not attend the Annual Scientific Meeting will never know what you have missed!

In this, my last letter as Honorary Secretary, on behalf of the Executive and the Membership of ISCoS, I wish to express sincere thanks to our President, Bill Donovan, for his wise presidency. We will continue to keep him busy during the last eight months of his Presidency.

You will agree with me the Journal is flying high thanks to the dedication and indefatigability of our new Editor Prof JJ Wyndaele. He and NPG recently had an accolade from a member who praised the speed of publication and commented: "Everyone talks about fast track surgery - you perform fast track publishing!"

Prevention is high in profile due to the good work of Dr Doug Brown and the members of the Prevention Committee. Dr Fin Biering-Sorensen and the members of the Scientific Committee have taken this Committee to unprecedented heights, Dr Chhabra is in full swing in his first year as Chairman of the Education Committee. Together with Dr Rob Campbell and the members of this Committee they are cementing a programme of true collaboration in Education with WHO. ISCoS is also currently collaborating with WHO in the development of the ICECI (International Classification of External Causes of Injuries) and the ICF (International Classifications of Functioning Disability & Health) Core sets in Spinal Injuries. Dr Fin Biering Sorensen and I, together with about 40 delegates (many members of ISCoS) form all over the world, attended the International ICF Conference, organized by Professor Gerold Stucki in Nottwil 15th-18th November 2007. There is now a consensus about the Core ICF Data Set in Spinal Cord Injury which will undergo a process of further validation as the next step. ISCoS is also leading in the collaboration with WHO in the preparation of the World report on Disability & Rehabilitation which is envisaged to highlight the plight & needs of individuals with SCIs. Dr Fin Biering Sorensen is representing ISCoS and will be working closely with Professor Gerold Stucki in the preparation of this report. Please be ready to be called upon to contribute as this is likely to be a monumental task that will require the expertise of many members of ISCoS.

The report submitted by ISCoS to WHO in February 2007 describing the history and activity of ISCoS is now on the website. I found some interesting information during the preparation of this report and I would urge you all to read it. We held a telephone conference between Ms Alana Officer, DRO in WHO, Professor Gerold Stucki, Dr Fin Biering Sorensen and me in the afternoon of the 14th December 2007 to decide the way forward. Ms Officer was extremely helpful and I am confident that the formal collaboration between ISCoS and WHO will not only be mutually beneficial for both organizations but will also benefit patients with Spinal Cord Injury significantly in the future.

The recognition of ISCoS, as an affiliated NGO to WHO, can only enhance the benefits to patients. I thanked Professor Stucki for his help and advice in facilitating this meeting and for his willingness to help in the completion of the relevant forms to be submitted to WHO.

ISCoS has supported a number of Symposiums/Congresses/Workshops this year.

I attended the Workshop organized by Dr P Kluger and Dr H Erli on 12- 14 October 2007 in Aachen, Germany.

I attended the 6th Chiang Mai workshop on Spinal Cord Injuries organized by Prof Apichana Kovindha, 21-24th November. There were 101 participants from 12 countries, 3 continents and 10 faculty members from Europe, UK and Australia. The meeting was also attended by Prof.Doug Brown, Prof H Madersbacher, Dr D Ernst Loechner, and Dr S De Wachter. The Workshop was one of the most intensive I have attended. The effort was, however, worthwhile as there was, after 3 gruelling days, consensus on the Practice Guidelines in the Management of SCI in Asian Spinal Cord Network countries. Professor A Kovindha is to be congratulated on her continuing selfless efforts and hard work.

I also attended with Mr Fadel Derry the Disabled People 2007 Conference in Istanbul organized by the Turkish Disabled Foundation, 6th - 9th December 2007. There was a day specifically allocated to Spinal Cord Injuries organized by Dr Belgin Erhan and her Team. Instant translation in English made it possible for guests to learn and contribute. The Meeting was very well organized and the content very informative.

ISCoS is also in collaboration with ASIA (American Spinal Injuries Association) and has financially supported two projects: The E Learning developed by Dr William P Waring will be available free of charge to members and non members on the websites. You will increasingly read about the SCOPE Project which is the brain child of Dr J Dittuno, currently being nurtured by Dr J Steeves.

I met with Dr Beat Villiger together with Dr Fin Biering Sorensen, Dr Michael Baumberger and Prof A Kovindha on the 16th November 2007 in Nottwil to discuss PARADOC . It was very encouraging to learn that PARADOC will continue to be supported by Dr B Villiger and the staff in Nottwil. The scanning of all the information, manuscripts and publications held in Nottwil by the PARADOC Project was discussed and a feasibility study will be considered. I would encourage all members of ISCoS to use this very valuable resource and advertise PARDOC as widely as possible in allied societies, nationally and internationally. Prof A Kovindha will also discuss this with Dr H Chhabra , Chairman of the Education Committee and Dr Fin Biering Sorensen in the Scientific Committee to find ways of advertising and disseminating the information about PARADOC. I am confident that PARADOC will be used continuously once the information is readily available via the web.

The upgrade of the IT System at HQ to enable members to have access to a 'Member's Only section' and to enable members to pay their subscriptions via the website is currently being undertaken.

You will see from this Newsletter that the membership of ISCoS is truly International. It is also increasing steadily. Although the average age is slightly higher than I would like to see, almost every member of ISCoS is in his/her prime, distinguished in his/her own right and respected in his/her own field and own country. This is what makes ISCoS one of the most distinguished Societies of which I am proud to be a member.

At the Education Committee Meeting it was agreed to consider a list of Centres that can offer training in various aspects of traumatic and non traumatic spinal cord paralysis. Those who wish to contribute to training please contact me. I will require a full description of the services offered by your Centre within the Centre and in collaboration with other services within or outside your hospital/Institution. Please indicate the care pathway you offer to patients, how early do you admit patients? Do you offer only acute, sub-acute, rehabilitation, follow up, readmission or do you offer treatment at all stages? What are the strong areas of your centre? Is there anything of special interest you can offer for good training and what are the areas that require further development before training can be offered. Eventually I am hoping this information can be available for all on the ISCoS website in a structured and meaningful form to those who seek training so that they can make an informed choice of the Institution they wish to train in.

I have some good news: Dr Brigitte Perrouin Verbe who was introduced to ISCoS at a very young age by Professor Jean Francois Mathe in Nantes, is known to almost all members of ISCoS. She should now be addressed as Professor Brigitte Perrouin Verbe. She has acquired a Chair in Rehabilitation at Nantes University for her work in Spinal Injuries. Congratulations from all the members of ISCoS Brigitte. Your academic appointment is a further enhancement to the prestige of ISCoS and to its influence.

I have great pleasure in introducing Dr Shinsuke Katoh, from Japan, the new Honorary Secretary of our distinguished Society from September 2008. Dr Katoh is a thinking Spinal Surgeon trained by Professor Ikata, our past President. Dr Katoh currently practices in Tokushima, Japan and has published some of the best work on neurological outcomes following traumatic spinal cord injury in Spinal Cord, the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery and in Spine. He has traveled widely and is a well sought after guest speaker, in Asia, Europe and the USA. Yoshika his wife is a most supportive and delightful lady whom Bettina and I have known for many years. Shinsuke and Yoshika are Opera and ballet fanatics. Their two daughters Saori and Kana are likely to become famous ballerinas one day!

Finally I would like to urge all those non-medical members with a PhD or a Doctorate in any allied field of Spinal Cord Injury to write to me or to Mrs Bint and apply for their full membership. Unfortunately we are unable to grant full membership automatically to those we know for reasons of self preservation! It is therefore important that you apply.

I hope to see you all in South Africa; in the meanwhile those of you who celebrate Christmas have a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New year to all. Please let me have your news; I can cope!

Wagih El-Masri(y)
Honorary Secretary