Following our Association’s annual conference, which took place on 26 and 27 May at the Grande Hotel do Luso, during which elections were held for the governing bodies for the next three-year term, I would like to thank the previous board, represented by Dr Pedro Tomé, for the work they have carried out on behalf of the Portuguese Association of Otoneurology.
In this first editorial as president of the APO, I must thank everyone who encouraged me and helped me make the decision to stand as a candidate, in particular the former presidents Dr Gabão Veiga, Dr Vaz Garcia and Dr Pedro Tomé, as well as all my colleagues who, alongside me, have accepted this challenge, which is a great one, but I believe it will not be greater than our determination.
APO was founded 19 years ago. It has come a long way and has a history of which we should all be proud. I now take up my duties as President, keen to carry forward a project in which I see myself reflected and in which I believe.
The situation the world – and our country in particular – is currently facing brings with it a range of concerns with which we are all very familiar, but the APO will not sit idly by; we will work to continually improve the quality of everything we do. To achieve this, everyone’s involvement is essential, and we want younger people to take an interest in otoneurology and collaborate with the Association. Only by working together to chart the way forward will we foster a sense of belonging and, consequently, greater participation. We must all give more and demand the best from each other, adapting to the dizzying pace of change in the world in which we live.
In this regard, and as set out in our election manifesto, the new leadership’s main guiding principles will be to consolidate and expand our work, with our primary objective being to secure recognition of otoneurology as a subspeciality.
The training of trainees and the enrichment of their curriculum will therefore be an important aspect of our project. To this end, we will continue to encourage participation in our meetings and the production of scientific papers, which will, as usual, be entered into a competition, with the winning entries published on the website.
Other objectives of this team include establishing collaboration protocols with other national and international scientific associations, revamping and revitalising the official website to make it the Association’s primary channel of communication with its members and the scientific community, as well as upholding the dignity and scientific quality of our meetings.
We will not rest on our laurels; we are well aware that achieving these objectives is no easy task, but no one can deny the merit, quality of work and professionalism that the team which took office with me will bring to the APO.
The measure of our success will be whether, in three years’ time, we have a Portuguese Association of Otoneurology that is closer to our ambitions.
APO needs everyone’s support.
We’re counting on you!
Conceição Monteiro
