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38
| 3 | 2006
Klinisk Biokemi i Norden
39
| 3 | 2006
Klinisk Biokemi i Norden
meeting in Orlando in July 2005. The three-year
term of the new Board is 2006-2008. The President
is Professor Jocelyn Hicks, USA, the Past President is
Professor Mathias Müller, Austria, the Vice-President
is Professor Vladimir Palicka, Czeck Republic, the
Treasurer is Dr Ghassan Shannan, Syria, the Secretary
is Dr Päivi Laitinen, Finland, and three Members are
Dr Daniel Mazziotta, Argentina, Dr Michael Thomas,
UK and Mr Joe Lopez, Malaysia and the Corporate
Member is Dr Norbert Madry, Germany.
The new EB has written a mission state-
ment for the IFCC:
Our mission is to be the leading organization in
the field of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory
Medicine worldwide. Through leadership and
innovation in science and education we will
strive to enhance the scientific level and the
quality of diagnosis and therapy for patients
throughout the world. We will build on the
professionalism of our members to provide
quality services to patients. We will aim to
communicate effectively with our members,
other healthcare providers and the public to
ensure knowledge of our excellent scientific
and educational achievements. We will focus
always on scientific standards, publications,
education and communications. We will com-
municate effectively through a variety of elec-
tronic media. We will hold outstanding con-
gresses and conferences to bring the efforts of
IFCC to the global community.
National Societies as well as individual members
are very important resource for the Federation. IFCC
is a voluntary organisation depending on the indivi-
duals willing and ready to serve this organisation. As
the mission statement states communication is also
very important for the Federation. To improve this
communication CPD has updated this July the IFCC
website to a more user friendly format (http://www.
ifcc.org). In the website you can find information on
the IFCC and its activities. We also need feedback
from the National Societies and individual members.
You are welcome to contact EB members or any
other IFCC officials on any issue.
Klinisk Biokemi i Norden
is starting a new column.
Palle Wang has asked me to
write news from the IFCC
as the new Secretary of
the Federation. My term in
this position started in the
beginning of this year. The
idea of this column is to
make the Federation and its
many activities better known
among laboratory professionals. In this first column
I am going to describe shortly the structure and the
activities of the Federation.
The International Federation of Clinical Chemistry
and Laboratory Medicine (IFCC) is a Federation, which
consists of three Membership categories.
Full Members
are recognised and established National Societies
of Clinical Chemistry and/or Laboratory Medicine.
Corporate Members
are individual corporate entities
or research establishments concerned with the field
of clinical laboratory practice.
Affiliate Members
are
allied international or national societies or groupings
interested in the science and practice of laboratory
medicine. The IFCC now consists of 74 Full Members,
37 Corporate Members and 5 Affiliate Members.
The governing body of the IFCC is the Council.
Full Members constitute the voting members of
the Council. Each Affiliate Member and Corporate
Member may designate a non-voting representative
to the Council. The Council meets at the triennial
International Congress of Clinical Chemistry and
Laboratory Medicine. Council elects the Executive
Board, which conducts the day-to-day management
of the Federation. The Executive Board compri-
ses the President, Vice-President, Past President,
Secretary, Treasurer, three Members and a Corporate
Representative.
The IFCC carries out its activities through its four
Divisions and two Committees. The Congress and
Conference Division (CCD) is responsible for the
IFCC NEWS
Päivi Laitinen
IFCC Secretary. E-mail: paivi.h.laitinen@ppshp.fi
general administration and management of all IFCC
congresses, conferences and symposia. CCD can
obtain IFCC auspices for the congresses not organi-
zed by the IFCC.
The Education and Management Division (EMD)
has a broad mission in facilitating the development
of managerial skills, supporting educational activi-
ties in laboratory medicine and offering critiques,
advice and expertise on issues and problems related
to laboratory management, teaching, and educa-
tion. The Divisional activities are currently carried
out by five Committees, three working groups and
Special Projects.
Communication and Publication Division (CPD)
is responsible for all the publication activities of
the IFCC. CPD coordinates the Internet activities of
the IFCC, primarily through the IFCC web site. CPD
also publishes the eJournal of the IFCC on the web,
IFCC recommendations and documents in formal
collaboration with the journal Clinical Chemistry
and Laboratory Medicine (CCLM) and other inter-
national journal in the field.
The mission of the Scientific Division (SD) is
to advance the science of Clinical Chemistry and
to apply it to the practice of Clinical Laboratory
Medicine. According to the Statutes of IFCC, the
Federation exists to advance the science and practice
of Clinical Chemistry and to further its application in
the provision of health services and the practice of
medicine. During the first decades the main efforts
of this Committee were directed toward analytical
nomenclature, reference materials and methods, and
quality control.
The important scientific work of the Federation
lies on the areas of standardisation and reference
materials. Several projects were conducted by the
Scientific Division to further promote the con-
cept of Reference Systems (Reference Measurement
Procedure, ReferenceMaterial, Reference Laboratories,
Reference Intervals).
The present Board was elected in the Council
Grønland. Foto: Henrik Alfthan
