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49
| 4 | 2008
Klinisk Biokemi i Norden
Peptides. A letter informing of this has been sent to
the National Societies on Oct. 10, 2008.
A working group on the relations with the clinical
associations has been formed in the recent EB meet-
ing and this will be chaired by Ian Watson. Another
working group on POCT in HIV testing in develo-
ping countries was also formed. The IFCC Divisions
have already been working on the other issues which
were brought up in the discussion groups, like accre-
ditation and harmonizing the training, improving
public relations, increasing efforts to reduce errors
from the pre-analytical phase.
After the reports there were the elections in the
agenda. This time 59 of the 79 Full Member Societies
attended the Council meeting and they all were allo-
wed to vote. The voting process itself is a complicated
one, but this time there was no question of the final
result. Graham Beastall was elected IFCC President
during the first round by the majority of votes. Also
Chris Lam was elected Vice-President on the first
round by the majority of votes. For the Secretary
and the Treasurer there were only one candidate and
these elections were approved by acclamation. For the
Member of the EB there were 7 candidates. Ulisses
Tuma and Joe Lopez were elected on the first round
by the majority of votes. A second round was needed
for the third position and Bernard Gouget was
elected. Jocelyn Hicks will stay on the Board as Past-
President for the three-year term. We have a new EB
which represents quite well all parts of the world and
I am sure we will have exciting times ahead of us.
Fortaleza was an EXPERIENCE in many ways. It
was shocking to see the poverty, dirty streets, aban-
doned buildings, polluted beaches. On the other
hand there was the most beautiful beach with only a
few tourists walking there, palm trees, coconut trees,
sunshine. It was the paradise I thought I was going to
when flying to Fortaleza.
I wish you all a pleasant winter!
Päivi Laitinen
Foto: Päivi Laitinen, Brasilien.
