23 November, 2020
Dear AIVS Executive Committee and Delegates,
We hope that you and your families are safe and well.
As previously discussed during our recent executive committee Zoom meeting, I have been working with President Kris Michalowski, Local Organizer Olivier Koning and the Dutch delegation, along with Joanna Jablonska and Activezone, to determine if there will be a 38th consecutive AIVS meeting in March 2021 in Soelden, Austria.
Given the current situation with the ongoing Covid19 pandemic, we have determined that we must postpone this upcoming 2021 meeting to March of 2022. It is our intention to continue to work with Joanna of Activezone to hold this meeting in Soelden.
We have always cherished our professional and social interactions among our key opinion leaders at AIVS. We count on each of you and your trainees to perpetuate the wonderful tradition that we have built. We expect to provide periodic updates to you and will plan for optional, monthly social Zoom meetings for all our delegates after the first of the year.
We wish you and your families the best during this holiday season. Be safe, stay well, and we look forward to talking with you on Zoom!
Warm regards –
Mark A. Adelman, Chairman
Kris Michalowski, President
Olivier Koning, Local Organizer
Dear Friends –
Hope you are your families are healthy. I’m sure many of you heard that some of our friends became sick with Covid upon returning home from Whistler. No one, to my knowledge, required hospitalization. I hope the same has been true for the entire AIVS family and friends.
Thank you again to the Canadian contingent for organizing and pulling off an outstanding AIVS 2020 in Whistler, complete with superb snow and accommodations! Luck was certainly on our side as the world lockdown did not happen until about a day or two after we departed. Everyone remained healthy during the meeting except for a few ski injuries. Unfortunately, a few never made it to Whistler at all. Those from Denmark were issued a no travel order for all health care workers hours before departure, and those from Slovakia had a most unfortunate car accident en route to the airport so they missed their flight.
Regarding AIVS 2021 in Soelden, Austria (113-20 March 2021), I have recently been in touch with Olivier Koning and Joanna Jablonska from Activezone. While there are no hotel cancellation penalties at this time, we do hope to have some updated guidelines regarding this subject soon. For now, we encourage early registration for AIVS 2021, even though the deadline is not until the end of December, so that we can begin to construct a robust program.
I am happy to report that Mac Dryjski is making great progress with our new initiative of the AIVS Foundation. Our goal is to acquire dedicated funding (through grants) to support the registration and accommodation fees for several trainees to be able attend AIVS on annual basis. We expect that the trainee’s travel expenses will be supported by their medical centers.
In closing, given that we are all affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, I thought it might be interesting if you would send me a short narrative on how you and/or your divisions are coping with this. I would like to share this information with our entire AIVS family. Please include topical photographs.
Enjoy the summer and please stay healthy!
Mark
Mark A Adelman, MD
Chairman, AIVS
marknyu@gmail.com 001 973-202-5066