Dear Members and colleagues of the ISSM,
Where did 2018 go! We are approaching the end of the year, one year full of activities for ISSM and in the field of sexual medicine in general.
- First of all, the World Meeting on Sexual Medicine in Lisbon, Portugal in February 2018, organized together with the ESSM was a huge success with a large attendance, great number of abstracts, and a high quality scientific and social program in a nice city.
- The ISSM improved the Find a Provider functionality to help patients Find Your Practice. This directory allows patients to find information about your practice with just a few clicks. Patients can search for sexual medicine specialists in their local area by name, organization, city, state, and country.
- The newly developed and re-introduced list serve called ISSM Member Forum was launched in 2018. The ISSM Member Forums are all about connection! Access is free with your ISSM membership, and we encourage you to join the community to network with your colleagues, ask and answer questions and discuss research news.
- In September we launched the new ISSM website with an emphasis placed on improving content for health information consumers (non-professionals) as well as consolidating information for sexual medicine providers.
- Furthermore, in September the Video Journal of Prosthetic Urology Celebrated its 5th Anniversary! On 10 September 2013 to be precise, the first surgical video was uploaded to the VJPU. This was the overture for what appeared to become one of the most extensive and successful platforms in the field of prosthetic urology.
- 10 Scholarships were made available again for ISSM members to attend the ESSM School of Sexual Medicine 2018, which took place in November 2018 in Budapest.
- The ISSM Online University has been further developed and new materials have been made available. As an ISSM member you can access all plenary lectures from the WMSM on the ISSM University page. The ISSM University is our official eLearning portal and is freely accessible to all our members. The ISSM University offers instant access to a wide variety of educational materials and eLearning activities in sexual medicine, like state-of-the-art presentations and e-posters from our most important meetings, case studies/discussions with experts, meeting webcasts, important educational publications and reports from the ICSM International Consultation.
- Plans for the ISSWSH/ISSM JOINT MEETING “It Takes Two to Tango” in March 2019 have been finalized and the joint scientific committee have set up a great program. I hope to all see you there in Atlanta from March 7-10, 2019.
The ISSM journals also did great thanks to the editors in chief and their editorial teams, whom I personally want to thank for their huge work: John Mulhall (Journal of Sexual Medicine), Irwin Goldstein (Sexual Medicine Reviews), Steve Wilson (Video Journal of Prosthetic Urology), Kwangsung Park (Sexual Medicine Open Access).
ISSM’s work continued around the globe with ISSM sessions at affiliated societies meetings in for example China, Indonesia and Argentina. Our global influence continues to grow with an increasing number of members per affiliated society and through the leadership we show in matters of international interest.
Financially, we finish 2018 on a firm footing and we can conclude that the ISSM is a very viable and solid organization.
We have invested in our strategic planning that shows that ISSM will be increasing its educational activities, increasing global outreach programs, increasing collaboration with affiliated and related organizations, and looking into ways of optimizing financial returns of current projects and activities and generating new revenue streams.
I want to give an unreserved thanks to all of our ISSM members, and especially those active in the ISSM committees, who have worked so hard and given so generously of their time on committees, organizing educational events, and representing ISSM globally. Also I would like to thank all the staff of our executive office from Status Plus who have doing a wonderful job with ISSM!
I want to thank the ISSM Board and the ISSM membership who have supported me in my role as the ISSM President.
I wish you all a happy holiday season.
With best wishes,
Luiz Otavio Torres,
ISSM President