Dear Colleagues,
It is with great pleasure indeed that I take this first opportunity of greeting all the members and councillors of the Alps Adria Society. After the extraordinary success of Prof. Daniel Rukavina in launching and consolidating this new Society in Europe, it would be a daunting task for anyone to take over from him. In a very short space of time, he has established AASIR as an important voice in European Immunology of Reproduction and has provided all the necessary instruments and organisation to ensure its continued growth in the future. Fortunately, I will have the benefit of his council during my period of the presidency and that is very reassuring.
As we are all aware, Immunology of Reproduction has many exciting challenges and expanding fields of research before it and I would like to see AASIR as a significant contributor in this future.
This is a time when Europe seems more determined then ever to integrate fully and to expand membership until, one day, we will find the entire continent working together for more closely than we can imagine today.
I would like my presidency to prepare AASIR to play an ever increasing role in the United Europe to come, forging links with other organizations in our field and making our voice heard right across the continent.
We have been fortunate to have had the help of Prof. Thomas J. Gill III and the support of ISIR from the very beginning and I trust that he will continue to give us this generous co-operation. It goes without question that, in our attempt to achieve closer European integration, we must never forget the international role of AASIR and work to establish our reputation in the international arena.
In developing our European and International role, I am very happy to inform you that the next AASIR Congresses will be held in Opatija in September 1998 and in Rome in 1999.
These will be an extremely important occasions on which to show that AASIR is a strong society set to grow and develop with your help and active participation.
I very much look forward to seeing you all in Opatija and Rome.
Franco Dondero
Dear Colleagues,
As I have informed you through our WWW pages my presidential term expired in November 1997, and this letter, together with this number of AASIR Newsletter, should have been mailed few months ago. I have to apologize for the delay.
In November 1997 I visited Rome and with the President Franco Dondero and Secretary General Andrea Lenzi discussed all aspects of the future work, and transferred essential documents of the AASIR Archive to the main office in Rome.
At the end of my term I want to thank all members of the Society for their support and fruitful collaboration. It was a great privilege for me to be the first president of AASIR. I have enjoyed all aspects of the collaboration we had, hearing your ideas and having the opportunity to share some of mine. I also want to thank all members of the Council with whom I have exchanged numerous letters, faxes, e-mail messages and discussed personally for the very stimulating and creative atmosphere that we have built for the benefit and advancement of our Society. The contribution of dear friend Thomas J. Gill III, President d'Honneur of the Society, his advice and support I always appreciated very much.
In the past three years AASIR has developed into one of the most active European groups in reproductive immunology. The basic structure of the Society has been established, communication with national groups and individual scientists have been built, the membership has grown to 84 and home page of the Society on the WWW was created. We have stimulated the formation of new national societies; the Newsletter as a voice of the Society was edited; and two scientific meetings of the Society were held in Opatija (1994, 1996). The Fourth meeting will be held in Opatija this year (Fourth International Meeting "Mechanisms in Local Immunity" and Fourth Meeting of Alps Adria Society for Immunology of Reproduction). The AASIR has been broadly recognized internationally. I wish to remind you that the first Congress of the International Society for Reproductive Immunology in the next millennium will be held in Opatija (8th International Congress of Reproductive Immunology, Opatija 2001), and will be organized by the AASIR. The Organizing Committee for this Congress has been elected (see Calendar Meeting).
Beside their regular duties, the leading officers of our Society, Franco Dondero and Andrea Lenzi, now have very important tasks of fundamental importance for the development of reproductive immunology in the Europe. They have to organize the First European Meeting in Rome 1999 (see: Tentative Program and Steering Committee), and to help to found the European Society for Reproductive Immunology as a loose association of the existing societies and groups. They deserve our full support and help in fulfilling this goal.
At this point, I would like to express my gratitude to Mrs Ivana Godnic - better known as Nina - Administrative Assistant of the AASIR in the past period, not only for all the hard work and enthusiasm she offered every day but also for the substantial contribution, much above her administrative function, that she gave to the activities of the Society. Nina's work merits our full recognition.
With best wishes,
JOIN US!
81. Helga Hrbkova (Slovakia)
82. Davor Ježek (Croatia)
83. Marina Kos (Croatia)
84. Denis Bruketa (Croatia)