IPA Bulletin
President's Message

By Joel Sadavoy

Summer in the Northern Hemisphere and winter in the South. Whatever your season I hope you are enjoying it. At IPA we are vigorously working on several projects. The planning for IPA’s next consensus conference in Canterbury England October 31–November 1 is being finalized under the leadership of Drs Cornelius Katona, Gill Livingston, Edmund Chiu, and David Ames. The goal of this conference is to define key criteria in outcome research on dementia. This area of research often has been challenged by measures that are imprecise, over inclusive, or of questionable clinical relevance. The planning committee will convene an outstanding group of experts from around the world to examine key questions and develop a consensus statement from IPA to help guide future dementia research.

The regional meeting in Istanbul in May 2007, under the able and creative guidance of former IPA board member Professor Engin Eker, continues to develop vigorously, and is now in the process of finalizing the program.

In the last few months I have had the opportunity to represent IPA in various places including Ethiopia, Portugal, and Japan. Everywhere I went I carried the message of IPA. In late June, I traveled to Japan along with IPA Executive Director Susan Oster to join Professor Masatoshi Takeda, 2007 Osaka Silver Congress Chair, in promoting the IPA Silver Congress in Osaka in October 2007. On this trip, we met with several potential sponsors and we have hopes that they will financially support the Congress. I also attended a meeting of the local organizing committee of the Congress and was impressed with the commitment and dedication of this committee to the Congress. This is an outstanding group of leaders that is preparing an innovative and diverse program. The plenary sessions include a broad look at the past and future of Psychogeriatrics, sleep and its disorders in the elderly, basic mechanisms of neurodegeneration, ethno-cultural community psychogeriatrics, genomics and pharmacogenomics, personality and developmental aspects of old age, new treatments, vascular cognitive impairment, and affective and psychotic disorders. On this visit we also toured the excellent, ultramodern conference facilities in Osaka known as the Great Cube (a name you will understand when you get to the Congress) and Masa, with great delicacy and skill convinced the Art Gallery in Osaka to consider hosting our Congress gala. Visiting that gallery (as well as the many other cultural attractions in and near Osaka) will be a wonderful treat for all of us.

On this trip, I also had the pleasure of presenting a special plenary lecture at the Japanese Psychogeriatric Society meeting. I understand that this was the largest meeting in the history of that organization, attracting about 900 delegates. The organization is also notable in that it publishes its own journal and encompasses a wide array of outstanding researchers and academic talent. The JPS as well as the Japanese Society for Dementia Research will be co-sponsors of the IPA Silver Congress in Osaka.

Earlier this year, just preceding the highly successful, IPA regional meeting in Lisbon, I traveled to Ethiopia where I spoke at the annual meeting of the African Association of Psychiatrists and Allied Professions. This gathering of about 200 mental health professionals from all over Africa was both exciting and inspiring. It gave me a glimpse into the growing strength of African psychiatry and the unique cultural, political and environmental forces affecting mental health. I was especially impressed by the talent of many of the residents who presented their research projects, which each is required to complete in order to qualify. Following the meeting, Norman Sartorius and others led a two-day workshop to further develop leadership skills of the most promising young African psychiatrists.

I took the opportunity of the conference to convene a group of practitioners interested in Psychogeriatrics. In a driving rainstorm (we were under a slightly leaky tent) wwe talked about their interest and enthusiasm for working with the elderly as well as some of the unique African issues — for example the plight of elders who must take over the care of their grandchildren when their own children die of AIDS. The conclusion of the meeting was an agreement to organize an IPA African Shared Interest Group and to build on it to further develop the IPA Sub-Saharan initiative. Subsequently, five African colleagues have joined IPA. IPA will do all it can to support and enhance Psychogeriatrics in Africa now that we have identified a core leadership group. Finally, thank you to Mrs. Caroline Connelly, Membership Manager, who is retiring from the IPA Secretariat after eight years of service.

As always, I am happy to hear from any of you about IPA matters. Feel free to contact me at j.sadavoy@utoronto.ca.  

Reprinted from IPA Bulletin, Volume 23, Number 3