Ferrari promises "Communication, co-operation, co-ordination, and continuity"
Incoming ESC President Roberto Ferrari presented the Gold Medal to outgoing president Kim Fox, at the General Assembly, paying tribute to “a fantastic president, marvellous colleague and unique friend”.
Communication, co-operation, co-ordination, and continuity will be the themes of the new presidency, Ferrari told the meeting.
One new feature of the Board, he said, was that the Presidents of the five associations would be members. “I like the concept of the ESC as a tree, with the Associations being the trunk and the Working Groups the leaves. Without either, the tree will topple. The fruits of our tree are the reduction of the burden of cardiovascular disease in Europe,” said Ferrari.
Highlights of the General Assembly
Highlights of the General Assembly meeting included the announcement of Michel Komajda as President Elect (read Michel Komajda's profile here).
Alan Howard, ESC Chief Executive, reported a record financial year for the society. The Maltese Cardiac Society was elected as a new National Society, and 17 national societies were affiliated. Two new councils on Cardiovasular Imaging and Cardiovascular Primary Care have been created.
Bringing the ESC even closer to its grass roots membership
As a roving ambassador, Ferrari hopes to bring the ESC even closer to its grass roots membership, and forge special links particularly with the National Societies of Eastern Europe.
“My aim is to reach out especially to European countries in transition, to help them establish good healthcare and prevention systems with their politicians and encourage them to participate in ESC activities,” he says. “We scientists are ahead of the politicians, and the ESC is an example of a real functioning union in Europe.”
Ferrari - who will be taking a sabbatical from his clinical responsibilities but retaining his role as Professor of Cardiology at the University of Ferrara in Italy - has plans to spend as much time as possible when not on the road at the European Heart House, the headquarters of the ESC. “The ESC has grown tremendously in the last few years, and we cardiologists should work closer with the ESC staff. I hope to fully understand the daily work at the Heart House.” One innovative idea, he has suggested, is to hold seminars for staff to update them more about cardiology. With his home town of Ferrara just a four hours' drive from Nice, Ferrari plans to travel home at weekends to visit his wife Claudia, a film director, and his daughter Carmen. This will allow him to continue the direct supervision of his various research projects at the university.
Avoiding the fragmentation of the ESC Constituent Bodies
As the ESC organisation becomes ever bigger, Ferrari recognises a danger that the constituent bodies will become fragmented. He hopes to avoid this by inviting the Chairmen of the different Associations to join the Board for the first time. This is a first step - which will not need a change in the Statutes. The next step will be to extend the same opportunity to elected representatives of National Societies and Working Groups, a step which will indeed need a change in the Statutes. As a former Vice President, Chair of the Associations, Councils and Working Groups and Chair of the Education Committee, Ferrari undoubtedly has a firm grasp of these issues. “It's really important to keep the ESC family together and all moving in the same direction," he says. "For this you need the 4Cs - communication, continuity, co-operation and co-ordination. This was actually the theme my electoral policy."
Providing quality assurance for cardiologists across national boundaries
Another initiative close to his heart is co-operation with UEMS (European Union of Medical Specialists) and EBSC (European Board for the Speciality of Cardiology) to provide quality assurance for cardiologists crossing national boundaries. European accreditation through EBSC is a joint initiative of the ESC and UEMS. In his time as President, Ferrari also intends to champion the new ESC Research Foundation, whose legal framework was established under Kim Fox. “We now need to get the institution working," he says. "The dream is to harmonise European research, achieve optimisation of resources and enable people to work coherently across national boundaries."
The passion of research
Research has always been his passion - in his career he has managed to combine involvement in mega-trials (such as EUROPA, PERTINENT, PREAMI, BEAUTifUL, STRATEGY and MULTI-STRATEGY) with basic science, looking at myocytes and endothelial cell changes in different pathologies and at the neuroendocrine response to heart failure. “Research is the life blood of medicine. Research is curiosity. Without curiosity, medicine becomes dull and consequently even the standards of cardiology in a country will inevitably fall without appropriate research,” he says.