Dear ISPN members

 

Standing on the shoulders of giants, I am honored, excited and thrilled to accept the role of the President of the ISPN.

The ISPN is extremely important for me

Because of the friendship,

Because there are so many colleagues around the world that crave for leadership,

And because there is so much to do for children.

The ISPN is so important to me, that I made a very personal & difficult decision to leave my family back home under such difficult circumstances and to join ISPN 2023 in Viña del Mar, to take on my presidential duty with my other, international, family.

Shlomi Constantini poncho

The ISPN was founded in 1972 by 11 neurosurgeons, with the first meeting in 1973 in Tokyo, hence, next year in Toronto (October 13-17, 2024), we will be celebrating our 50th anniversary! Jim Drake and Abhaya Kulkarni, very esteemed and experienced members of our society, are the Co-chairs for this very special meeting.

More news about Toronto will follow soon!

The ISPN 2023 Chile meeting left nothing to be desired, from every aspect. Sergio Valenzuela, ASOLANPED (Latin American Society for Pediatric Neurosurgery), Benedetta, and Merve and her wonderful Kenes team proved once again, that a fantastic meeting can be organized anywhere with our mutual support and commitment.

In Chile, we have started a process of enhancing our relationship with the continental societies on pediatric neurosurgery. During the opening ceremony we have signed an MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) with ASOLANPED and with the ESPN. Shortly after the Chile meeting we have also signed an MoU (electronically) with the North American section (AANS/CNS Section on Pediatric Neurological Surgery). At the end of this year, we will sign a similar MoU with the Asian-Australasian Society for Pediatric Neurosurgery (AASPN) during their meeting in Yokohama, Japan. These 4 continental societies have a wonderful tradition and ongoing activity. Both sides can benefit a lot from collaborating. Time for better coordinated actions globally. During the coming year, we will work on more collaborative items.

The mega project of the ISPN Library is starting. The Library aspires to have ALL educational material on pediatric neurosurgery under one roof. For the Library, we have already established an editorial board (WEB), selected a company  to build the platform (Novagram) and appointed a content editor (Anat Weizman).

The Guide will be an integral part of the Library. We will need more hard working members to contribute material and to control the influx of items.

It is time to thank our Executive Board members, both the old and new teams. Serving on the ISPN Executive Board is an honor, but more so an executive job that requires many hours invested.

Special thanks to our Past Presidents Wan Tew Seow and Rick Boop, who taught me so much and will continue to teach and guide me and the others. We need your wisdom and experience. Welcome Gianpiero Tamburrini, our President-Elect.

To the Kenes team – we have been blessed with the most qualified, knowledgeable, reliable and thoughtful people. Thank you Linda, Kristina, Mojca, and all the others in the front and in the background.

There are many more projects that will kick in during the coming year. We need you to be involved by bringing in more members, being active in our committees, and in suggesting ideas!

If you have such ideas and are interested in being more involved, contact our Secretary Federico Di Rocco, Vice Secretary Nelci Zanon or any of us in the EB and Kenes office.

We are starting the tradition of Newsletters to keep you more informed, synchronized and involved.

Shlomi

Shlomi Constantini

Tel Aviv, Israel

ShlomiConstantini@gmail.com

+972524262055