Kalavrezos, Nicholas¹

Language: English
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Page: 149-150
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Dear colleagues, dear friends

It is a great privilege for me as the President elect of the European Association for Cranio-Maxillofacial Surgery (EACMFS) to reach out to you through the friendly and welcoming forum of LAJOMS.

My quest is to reach out to as many as possible Latin American colleagues and especially our younger generation, our trainees and our new specialists to give some feedback from our European experience.

EACMFS strives to bring closer all national European OMFS societies by cultivating common grounds in training, education and accreditation of the specialty.

Therefore the EACMFS has set the following goals which —in my opinion— might have a universal application amongst global and regional OMFS societies:

• 1. Enhancement of the Educational and Training role of EACMFS

The EACMFS strives for further augmentation -as the leading pan-European educational Association- in the OMFS curriculum. This can be achieved by providing regular "follow ups" in protocols/trials/"position" papers and statements in the "areas of contest" of our specialty and in areas affecting our clinical practice.

In addition, the impact of the European Lecture Series (ELS) with bimonthly lectures has further increased the "visibility" of the association attracting formal CME certification.

My view is that the ELS will develop in themes in an interactive format with our members so that ultimately the ELS will cover the whole, or at least the best part of the syllabus of OMFS. Obviously, in the post-pandemic era with the widespread use of online teaching/training such platforms can be used widely for the need of trainees and specialists alike with no narrow geographical boundaries.

Furthermore this online educational activity can link with already established "rolling programmes" of training sessions, conferences etc. expanding across the whole geographic landscape of the continent.

I firmly believe that training involves not only a "top-down" didactic approach but equally a "grassroots" process starting from the beginning of training.

It is our responsibility to facilitate this co-operation and multi-facet teaching and training.

The training role will also continue and further strengthened by providing a closer cooperation between established national OMFS societies within the parental umbrella of the EACMFS or the corresponding role of ALACIBU in Latin America.

• 2. Unifying role of EACMFS/ALACIBU in extreme situations:

We have seen the positive role that national scientific societies have played in the extremes of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The need for speedy transfer of information is of paramount importance for knowledge dissemination, for exchange of experiences, for training, for adopting cross-continent unifying policies.

Platforms such as those of social media will facilitate "breaking info" through urgent Newsletters or Publications of wider interest covering common interests in Europe or of course in Latin America.

I envisage that all of the above might lead to the:

• 3. Foundation of a cross-continent "OMFS Surgical School" including:
  
  
  • a. Rolling programme course.
  • b. Position papers via LAJOMS.
  • c. Lecture series.
  • d. Online training.
  • e. Postgraduate doctorate completion.
  • f. Certification.

Finally I'm very grateful to the very hospitable forum of LAJOMS and personally to Professor Luiz Fernando Lobo for giving me the opportunity to express my thoughts for what I feel is the ultimate aim of our associations ALACIBU and EACMFS alike:

EDUCATION, EDUCATION, EDUCATION!

With my kindest collegiate regards.

AFFILIATIONS

¹ President elect of the European Association for Cranio-Maxillofacial Surgery (EACMFS).

CORRESPONDENCE

Nicholas Kalavrezos, MD. E-mail: n.kalavrezos@nhs.net