Dear ISC Member Society Colleagues

It is a great honour and privilege for me to take up the position of Secretary General of the International Society of Chemotherapy (ISC). One of my roles is to liaise with ISC’s Member Societies and during my tenure, I aim to strengthen links with your society and welcome contact with you.

Next year is an important year for the ISC, as it is our 50th anniversary and we aim to involve as many of you as possible in the celebrations.   We plan to celebrate the anniversary at the joint ICC / ECCMID which will take place in Milan, Italy, 7 – 10 May 2011 and at smaller meetings in Asia and the Americas.  

Website

All our member societies are listed on our website www.ischemo.org Please go there and check we have the correct details for your society. We like to detail a) your President, b) your Contact person, c) contact telephone number, d) FAX number, e) contact E-mail address and e) your society website. Modifications should be sent to isc@abdn.ac.uk

It would be great if you could have a link to the ISC website from your society website.

International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy

You will note that the ISC journal (IJAA) is doing very well and now has over 600,000 electronic downloads every year and an Impact Factor of over 3. Specially priced individual subscriptions are available to members of affiliated societies, check our website www.ischemo.org

ISC Working Groups

The ISC has several new Working Groups in key areas of interest such as antimicrobial resistance and antimicrobial stewardship.   To join any of the Working Groups, please make contact through the links at www.ischemo.org

Member Society Annual Meetings

Should you wish ISC to run a symposium at your annual meeting, please make contact with me (i.m.gould@abdn.ac.uk) and we will investigate the possibilities.

Invitation to submit programme proposals for ICC / ECCMID, Milan, Italy, 7 – 10 May 2011.

Preparations for the next International Congress of Chemotherapy (ICC) are now well underway. As you know, the next ICC will be held jointly with ECCMID in 2011.

We are delighted to invite our Member Societies to propose scientific sessions for the congress. There will be two different types of session:

• Symposia
• Educational Workshops

Symposia

The programme will feature two types of symposia lasting 2-hours (4 speakers) and 1-hour (2 speakers). 

Among both types, a few will be selected to be “interactive” using an electronic voting system. Some of the 1-hour symposia may furthermore serve as a basis for pro-con debates or the presentation of controversial / synergistic views on a special topic. 

Educational Workshops

Educational Workshops can be 4-hour (max. 6 speakers) or 2-hour (max. 4 speakers) sessions. These sessions contain short review talks and / or case studies that lead to questions and answers. The goal of these sessions is interaction with a minimum of up-front lecturing. The content should be educational and the convener (one of the speakers) will take responsibility for ensuring the workshop talks are complimentary and cohesive. All Educational Workshop speakers must produce a handout and the convener will be responsible for the timely delivery of workshop lectures for handout production.

Proposals may only be submitted electronically using the attached Excel proforma worksheets.

Proposals must be sent to isc@abdn.ac.uk and must be received before Monday 3rd May 2010.

Please see the attached letter from the both the ISC President and myself and the attached Excel forms.

We look forward to receiving your ideas.

I look forward very much to working with you in the future.

Kind regards

Yours sincerely

Dr Ian M. Gould – ISC Secretary General (i.m.gould@abdn.ac.uk)