EFAS Greetings 2022

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2022 from EFAS

Dear EFAS members,

Seasons greetings.

As we head in to the festive season with the imminent start of 2022 just round the corner a little bit of gloom has descended upon us by way of the COVID Omicron B variant. Much has been written in the past few days about vaccination rates in different European countries, the possible imposition of further lockdown measures and associated unrest resulting from that. There is uncertainty about the efficacy of the current vaccines and the likely risk of hospitialisation and demand on intensive care facilities. Unfortunately, there is nothing new about uncertainty related to the virus. As has so frequently been the case we shall have to wait and see the reaction from our politicians, who seem somewhat incapable of taking a more proactive position.

Unfortunately, there has been a little bit of difficulty with the exact dates and venue for our Edinburgh Congress next October. We shall keep you posted as soon as this is available. As I stated previously we have invited the Canadian Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society (COFAS) as International Guest Nation and the British Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society (BOFAS) as European Guest Nation. They are providing what I am sure will be excellent sessions during Congress. In addition, we are in the process of arranging some additional courses on the day prior to the meeting, which we shall announce in due course. Myself, Manuel Monteagudo, our Scientific Committee Chairman and SC members, are already putting together the programme and we shall announce this as soon as it is available. As in previous years there will be several excellent prizes for those presenting on the podium or with a poster. We are also planning to run a Certification exam prior to Congress and details regarding this will be available on the website. I hope that you are now enjoying the new EFAS website, which was launched at the Lyon Congress by Joris Hermus. If not please log on and enjoy the many new (and old) functions available. Use the separate log in details for members. I should like to thank Joris, the Media and Website Committees and all others involved for bringing this to a very satisfactory conclusion. They have recently announced this further via several versions of social media.

I shall try and make the rest of this newsletter a bit more positive. EFAS, our Journal and our Research Foundation go from strength to strength. We have organised many meetings for next year, the impact factor for the Journal is approaching that of Foot and Ankle International and funds available from the Foundation are now able to support many activities realated to research, education and training. We have an increasing number of members and societies and are planning to roll out many new ideas on the website and in other ways. We shall keep you informed.

Finally I should like to mention that we have had an excellent number and quality of applications for Fellowships organised with the University of Iowa Orthopaedic Department, USA. We have agreed on the successful candidates and I congratulate them. Commiserations to those who were not successful but better luck next time. Keep trying. I should like to thank Nuno Corte-Real, our chairman and his Fellowship Committee for their hard work in bringing this about.

Thankfully, despite it all I am now expecting to see many of you properly in 2022,

Don McBride
EFAS President