ESCI Newsletter - Number 31 - July 2019

Dear Members of the European Society for Clinical Investigation

Dear Participants in the Annual Meetings of the Annual Meetings of the European Society for Clinical Investigation

Dear Colleagues, Dear Friends,

I am pleased to announce that we have succeeded in increasing the number of ESCI members by 50% after the last Annual Scientific Meeting. As the new ESCI President, it is my wish to increase the number of ESCI members to over 250 (if possible, more), in the process creating perks exclusive for members. At the same time, we will continue to invest in Travel Grants open to all, as well as in Poster Awards during the Annual Meetings.
We are always committed to improve ESCI. Every year, the ESCI Council discuss alterations to the structure of the Annual Meetings to follow the important comments we receive from the attendants. We promise that we will aim to have a fantastic meeting in Bari (27-29 May 2020).
The ESCI Council is also in the process of recruiting new Councilors. We already had demonstrations of interest from some ESCI members, and we will be closely analyzing each one. We are also in the process of creating mechanisms of funding small exploratory projects for young researchers, which can contribute towards a strong pathway towards independence and scientific excellence. We will give you more information about this call in early 2020.
ESCI is now very interested in sponsoring activities in other Societies. Not only this will bring visibility to our own Society but will also allow bringing members of those same Societies to our Annual Meetings later in the future increasing networking between clinical and fundamental researchers.
You can also help ESCI. Please send us suggestions of activities, tell us how you see the future of ESCI, and how the Society can integrate a small meeting your are organizing in the structure of the Annual Meeting. Please also help us by bringing new members to ESCI. The membership is very low (25 Euros per year), and has several benefits, including lower fees for attending our Annual Meeting, and free access to our flagship journal, the European Journal of Clinical Investigation (EJCI). If you are still not a member and would be interested in becoming one, please go to https://esci.eu.com/application-membership/.
Also, please follow us in our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/esci.eu.nl/, in which information on the Society is regularly provided.
I hope you can consider the EJCI to publish some of your best research. We aim to build together an even stronger biomedical journal, covering different disciplines in a truly interdisciplinary manner. The journal will have a new Editor-in-Chief who will start in January 2020. Details on the new Editor-in-Chief will be communicated to all ESCI members soon.
Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to present my sincere acknowledgements to Prof. John Ioannidis, who was the Editor-in-Chief of the EJCI for the last 10 years. During his tenure, the journal became one of the most respectable in the field, publishing some highly cited publications. It is not common that an Editor-in-Chief stays for so long in a journal, so this highlights Prof. Ioannidis importance in building the journal reputation and standard of quality.

Thank you and all the best

Paulo J. Oliveira, Ph.D.
ESCI President

MEET THE ESCI CENTRAL OFFICE

Marliese Greven - Debbie Barneveld Binkhuijsen

esci@umcutrecht.nl

The Albert Struyvenberg Medal is awarded for outstanding achievements in the field of Clinical Investigation, in line with the spirit of the founding fathers of ESCI, established on February 12th, 1967.

The Society named the Award after one of its founding fathers, professor Albert Struyvenberg, who achieved excellence in clinical science, teaching and training of young scientists and medical specialists. His portrait is depicted on one side of the medal.

The other side of the medal shows the remains of the temple of Asklepios on the Greek isle of Kos. This is the place were the first hospital was founded and where Hippokrates, born in 460 BC, for the first time performed clinical investigation and practised evidence-based medicine.

The roots of ESCI, devoted to spreading knowledge and under-standing of mechanisms of disease, go back to the still existing plane-tree in the city of Kos. In the shade of that tree Hippokrates discussed clinical science with his students as it is still persued during ESCI workshops.