Lausanne, 19 December 2011

Dear Colleagues, dear Friends,

On the occasion of the upcoming New Year, it is with great pleasure that I would like to share with you the goals achieved during the year 2011 thanks to the excellent work done so far by the Executive Committee Members to whom I would like to express my gratitude.

Much has been done, but without a doubt the most important success for FIMS has been  the definitive settlement of its Headquarters at the Maison du Sport Internationale in Lausanne, and the consequent change of the FIMS Statutes according to the Swiss Law during the Extraordinary Council of Delegates held in Salzburg last October. A significant return to the roots in the land where our Federation was founded in 1928, during the Winter Olympic Games held in Saint Moritz. This achievement will surely contribute to strengthening the relationship with the sport, scientific and medical communities and with the existing leading International Bodies.

Important editorial initiatives were carried out, like the publication of the FIMS Sports Medicine Manual – Event Planning and Emergency Care edited by Dr. David McDonagh which enriches the collection of the FIMS educational books; it has been also restored the distribution to all the FIMS Members of “SportsMed Updates” edited by Prof. Martin Schwellnus. In the field of communication it has been created a completely new website and planned a quarterly newsletter “FIMSmail” which will report the latest news from FIMS and will be distributed starting from January 2012.

Also in the field of education many projects are in progress, like the FIMS Collaborating Centres of Excellence ones,  which are going to be finalized with the aim to facilitate regional and national educational and research networks, to promote best practice sport medicine principles for athlete care, and the promotion of active living on an international basis. Educational initiatives as the Team Physician Courses, Emergency and Instructor Courses have been continued to be planned and organized during the most important sports medicine events worldwide.

As you know, the 2012 will be the year of the FIMS World Congress of Sports Medicine and it will take place in Rome. The call for abstracts is now open so as the registrations and the housing bureau for the accommodation.

I am also pleased to inform you that, despite this time of  heightened uncertainty for the global economy, thanks to a successful fund raising campaign carried out at a professional level, we have acquired so far two new sponsors, Creagri Europe and Bosco System Lab. which will support the development of our Federation initiatives.

I look forward to welcoming all of you participants in the Rome Congress, and on behalf of the International Federation of Sports Medicine let me warmly wish you and your families a Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year!

Prof. Fabio Pigozzi, MD, FFIMS
FIMS President