Annual Report 2002

19 December 2002

Dear Members and Friends,
Chers Membres et Amis,
Liebe Mitglieder und Freunde,

While the year 2001, due to the known tragic reasons, finally turned out to be unexpectedly silent in the Collegium, this year 2002 has been one of its busiest. For the first time in its history, our Society held two meetings in one year: the official 75th Anniversary Meeting in Noordwijk and a more informal Lunch Meeting during the IFOS World Congress in Cairo. Also the other contacts between the members within the Society have been very intense through the whole of the year 2002. 

For the Collegium the Netherlands is the country of its birth. So, it was more than appropriate to celebrate the 75th Anniversary in the “Green Heart” of Holland, just halfway between Amsterdam and the Hague. The very Collegium-minded and -experienced Dutch Group, under the guidance of the President of the meeting, Paul van den Broek and the Vice-President, Gerrit Jan Hordijk, really showed us how a special meeting of this kind should be organized to become an unforgettable event  - and all the participants, 157 members and 76 accompanying persons, became convinced of their competence in that regard.

The Noordwijk meeting began on Sunday 25 August with a Family Tour to Dordrecht, one of the oldest and most historic cities in the Netherlands. The tour, made by water from Rotterdam, provided us with some of the most beautiful views of the country, including the 19 windmills of Kinderdijk, now on the United Nations World Heritage List. In the evening we had President’s Reception on the beach terrace of the impressive Grand Hotel Huis ter Duin, the venue of the meeting. We enjoyed the delicious buffet and the Gipsy music by the former student’s ensemble Tzigane and the company of our colleagues and their partners in the spirit of friendship.

The official Opening Ceremony on Monday morning was certainly the highlight of the 75th Anniversary Festivities. Her Majesty Queen Beatrix honoured the occasion with her presence, as she had done also in 1982 in the Hague, at the previous Collegium meeting in the Netherlands. Mr van der Sluis, Lord Mayor of Noordwijk was also present to welcome Her Majesty and the Collegium. After the welcoming words by our President, the Editor of the Acta Oto-Laryngologica, our Board Member Matti Anniko declared the winner of the year 2001 Acta Prize: the Collegium ORLAS. The idea behind was, as he told, to financially support the Collegium to publish its 75-year history. The sum of USD 20.000 was received with gratitude. Thereafter, our Honorary Member Egbert Huizing took a look back on the early days of the Collegium, recalling especially some of the most important events in the history and development of our Society, not forgetting the Present and the Future. In this way he introduced our history book “Vivat Collegium Oto-Rhino-Laryngologicum Amicitae Sacrum”, edited and mainly authored by himself and our President. The first copy of the book, and the Collegium Medal, was then forwarded to Her Majesty.

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Professor of Arts and Society, Dr Henk van Os, former Director of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam gave the second opening lecture. In his survey on “Gestures at the arrival of an angel” he explained the thoughts and meanings by the different artists in different periods as reflected in their pieces of art depicting the event.

The General Secretary ended the session by introducing the winner of the Shambaugh Prize for 2002. Our Honorary Member, Professor Ugo Fisch, received it for his outstanding scientific contributions to otology and neuro-otology and for his leadership in the development of lateral skull base surgery. We all felt that we hardly could have had a more distinguished prize-winner than Ugo Fisch.

The scientific program consisted, as usually, of minisymposia, oral presentations and posters. Robert J. Ruben moderated the first minisymposium, on Monday, on the Neurobiology of Language. Prof Hagoort, a guest from Nijmegen, described and explained us what happens when speech hits the ear, how sounds are mapped onto meaning, and how strings of words are integrated. Prof Helen Neville, a guest from Eugene, US, viewed the specificity and plasticity of the development of the language system in brain, suggesting that certain aspects of language are dependent upon early language experience while others are not so constrained. Jos Eggermont reported on AEP studies of cortical maturation in normal and implanted children and Richard Miyamoto on language development in cochlear implanted children. The second symposium, on Wednesday, chaired by Paul van Cauwenberge, and Prof Wytske Fokkens, a guest from Amsterdam, Prof Claus Bachert, a guest from Ghent, Mark Jorissen and Valerie Lund as speakers presented us recent trends and newest data on the etiology and immune – related events in nasal polyposis and rhinosinusitis. The hygiene hypothesis as an explanation to the current unfavourable trends in atopic diseases as well as the increased in the role of fungi in rhinosinusitis or polyposis raised much interest and discussion. I am convinced that these two excellent symposia taught us much on these important and currently very actual topics.

The other scientific program included 50 oral presentations and 30 posters, more than half of them on hearing and balance and the rest mainly on oncology, rhinology and middle ear disorders. I have been told by many members, and it is also my personal opinion, that the scientific quality of the papers was generally very high, as it should be in this Society, and even higher than before. The posters had again a session of their own, and were presented to the members by the discussion leaders Paul van Cauwenberge, Reidar Grénman, David Lim and Lars Ödkvist, together with the authors, under the chairmanship of Carel Verwoerd. The session was successful, with a scientific level comparable to that of the oral presentations, reflecting the fact that in most cases the reason to select a paper to an oral presentation or a poster was other than its scientific competence.

 Again, very many of the authors omitted one or two of the three official languages in the title of their papers. It also seems that some authors felt that this requirement is rather irritating. Consequently, the Executive Board has decided that in Helsinki all titles are required in English only. If this will cause objections, we can discuss, if we should go back to the earlier tri-lingual presentations of the titles later on.

At the business meeting following the scientific program on Monday afternoon:

1. The President Paul van den Broek welcomed the members.
    
2. President commemorated the members who had passed away since the last meeting in Washington: Ervin Cerny (Czech), Jean Chryssikov (Greece), Gerd de Wit (the Netherlands), Alf Meyer z Gottesberge (Germany), Adolf Miehlke (Austria), Artur Weder (Switzerland), Ali El Monem (Egypt), Imrich Friedmann (Great Britain), and John (Jack) Angell James (Great Britain, at the age of 100 years). The members honoured the deceased, all Honorary Members of the Society, by standing.
    
3. The Annual Reports 2000 and 2001 were approved without any additions or comments.
    
4. After proposals by the national groups, reviews by the Credentials Committee and suggestions by the Board, the following candidates were accepted as new members: Paul Avan (France), Karen B Avraham (Israel), James F Battey (USA), Dale Brown (Canada), Christian von Buchwald (Denmark), Jeffrey Corwin (USA), Pierre Delaere (Belgium), Norbert Dillier (Switzerland), Didier Dulon (France), Bo Engdahl (Norway), Peter Franz (Austria), Patrick Froehlich (France) Anthony Gummer (Germany), Jean-Philippe Guyot (Switzerland), Ingeborg J Hochmair-Desoyer (Austria), Ivica Klapan (Croatia), Kerstin Lamm (Germany),  Roland Laszig (Germany), Charles Liberman (USA), John Niparko (USA), Erwin Offeciers (Belgium), Marco Pelizzone (Switzerland), Anne Pitkäranta (Finland), Jean-Luc Puel (France), Magdy Samir (Egypt), Anneliese Schrott-Fisher (Austria), Mario Svirsky (USA), Shin-ichi Usami (Japan), Carter Van Waes (USA), Philip Wackym (USA), Barbara Wollenberg (Germany), Gayle Woodson (USA), Jan Wouters (Belgium) and Dinghue Xie (China). It may be worth noting that among this record number of new members the Society also accepted as record number of ladies as its members.
    
5. The financial report for the years 2000-2001, presented by the Treasurer René Dauman, showed a positive balance of USD 67 000, and was approved. The US Collegium Group gift of USD 25 000 for a loan fund for the Collegium meetings was noted with the greatest gratitude and kept separately in the Collegium accounts.
    
6. The annual subscription fee for the year 2003 was decided to be “unchanged”, but the currency is "changed" to Euro, € 50.
    
7. For the next year the Board and the Credentials Committee will be the following:
   
   Board:
   P van den Broek, President
   G Hordijk, Vice-President
   P Karma, General Secretary
   R Dauman, Treasurer
   R Grénman, President-elect
   J Ylikoski, Vice-President-elect
   M Goycoolea, Councillor
   E Stennert, Councillor
   M Hirano, Councillor
   M Anniko, Editioral Secretary
   B Neel, Second Secretary
   
   Credentials Committee:
   W Arnold
   A Ryan
   P Tran Ba Huy
    
8. The Collegium has not been officially registered. The President informed that the Board had decided to register the Collegium in Bordeaux, France. This was thought to be most practical, because the registration is important especially for finances, and they home in Bordeaux.
    
9. The Shambaugh Prize will continue to be awarded every second year, so the next time in 2004. The Acta Prize with a sum of € 20 000, however, will be awarded every four years. Consequently, either the Shambaugh or the Acta Prize will be awarded at our annual meetings, the year of the IFOS World Congress excluded.
    
10. The next meeting will be held on 24-27 August in Helsinki, Finland, Reidar Grénman as the President. In 2004 it was decided, due to security reasons, not to go to Jerusalem, which, however, will be kept high on the waiting list for future meetings. After some discussion the place for 2004 was left open till the next evening, when at the extraordinary business meeting during the Members Dinner the Collegium decided to meet in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, on 22-25 August 2004, Pedro Mangabeira-Albernaz as the President. In 2005 the IFOS World Congress will be held in Rome, where we will have, as usually, a Lunch Meeting, and possibly a special CORLAS scientific symposium. The future options and suggestions (not yet decided) for meetings are Jerusalem, Bruges, Moscow and Stockholm (2007), among others.

The social program continued on Monday with a visit to the medieval city of Delft, the birthplace of the 17th –century painter Johannes Vermeer. The accompanying persons visited the Royal earthenware factory “Porceleyne Fles” and had a horse tram tour along cobbled alleyways and arched bridges in the picturesque old town. In the evening the members and their partners gathered to a concert in “Grote of St Jeroenskerk”, the church named after the first parish-priest of Noordwijk, Jeroen, beheaded by Norsmen in the year 856. After the beautiful music of Mozart, von Webern and Schubert, presented by Quartetto Colla Voce, we completed the day with a delicious buffet and were entertained by the Musica Instrumentalis Woodwind Quintet in the vestry. On Tuesday our partners went out sightseeing in Amsterdam and on Wednesday they took a view of the Floriade, a world horticultural exhibition that takes place every 10 years; this year the main theme was “Feel the Art of Nature”- thus reflecting some specific features of the Dutch character.

On Tuesday the members dined in the historic “Ridderzaal” of the Parliament buildings hosted by Mrs Maria van der Hoeven, Minister of Education, Culture and Science, whom General Secretary thanked for her hospitality by forwarding her the Collegium Medal. After the introduction of the members attending the meeting for the first time, the dinner was interrupted by an ”extraordinary business meeting”, chaired by our President, to fix the place of the 2004 meeting. After “voting by applause", Salvador, Brazil was chosen. Thereafter the evening was continued by the wise words of our Senior Member Peter Alberti, and the occasion ended with typical old Dutch musical entertainment. The atmosphere of the evening was very friendly indeed and, if I may say, rather boisterous.

At the same time our partners, with our former General Secretary Peter Pfaltz as a special guest, were invited to visit the old farmhouse “Bolwerkshof”, the home of Paula and Jan Grote, located in the beautiful surroundings near Noordwijk. The exceptional possibility to get a closer view of the member’s domestic life, including a tasty dinner served by his wife, was something that our beloved companions appreciated and we were envious of.

The sixth Collegium meeting in the Netherlands ended on Wednesday evening with a Gala Banquet at the congress hotel, Mr Carel Vuursteen as a guest of honour because of his support. After a superb dinner the Society thanked its three members, who now completed their services in different offices in the Collegium: Alain Morgon, as a longstanding Jury member; Jim Snow, as President; and David Lim, as Vice-President. But above all, it was time to thank our Collegium-hosts: Paul van den Broek, Gerrit Jan Hordijk, Egbert Huizing, Jan Grote and the whole Dutch Group and their wives, for the extraordinary fine arrangements for 75th Anniversary of the Collegium. And finally, as a special token of gratitude the Collegium Medal was given to Jetty Verwoerd-Verhoef, who had taken the major responsibility of the partners´ program.

I am sure that I express the feelings of all those who attended this memorable Collegium meeting, if I say that it was exactly what we think a Collegium meeting should be like.

Less than one month later, however, the Collegium met again, during the IFOS World Congress in Cairo. Regardless of all the preceding difficulties and problems, our member and friend Nasser Kotby, the President of the World Congress, made the postponed Congress come true, thanks to his personal devotion and skills to fulfil this task. During the Congress we had a Collegium Lunch Meeting at the congress site, attended by 36 members and this time also by 7 partners. The delicious Egyptian style lunch was a gift from the Egyptian Collegium Group, for which we would like to thank them. On the last day of the Congress, the CORLAS Scientific Symposium, chaired by the President and the General Secretary, was held on Microbial and Antimicrobial Aspects in Otitis Media. The presentations of our members Dan Bagger-Sjöbäck, Malou Hultcrantz, Karin Prellner and Mirko Tos, well-known experts in this field, could have earned a larger audience than now was possible. We thank, from all our hearts, Nasser Kotby and our other Egyptian friends for making these Collegium events true in the ancient city of the pharaohs.

Soon after these events, I was informed about the departure of Leonard Jongkees, on 05 September, in Amsterdam. Our third General Secretary (1960-76), and the President of the Hague meeting (1982) was one of the most prominent personalities in our Society. Our President attended his funeral, and we will commemorate him during our next meeting in Helsinki.

Dear members, it is my duty to remind you of your obligation to pay your annual subscription fee, € 50. You can use the enclosed payment form. And also I would like to remind you about your duty to attend the meetings. Those who do not attend, cannot contribute to our Society. The national quotas of members are small, and the pressure from those outside to become a member is great. Please, attend the meetings. They are really worth it.

I enclose a leaflet with practical information, and the personal data sheet for your checking. Please check / give your E-mail address; in the future we will use it even more in our communication. The E-mail addresses are included in the list of members.

By this time are you certainly familiar with the Collegium homepage www.corlas.org on the Internet. During last year members visited our site more than 500 times. Our site contains essential data on the CORLAS, its present and future activities. However, the list of members is missing – a decision made by the Board, because our pages are open to the general public.

So, this year has shown that our Society has set its course for this millenium, more active and stronger than ever. Let us keep this course, in the spirit of the Amicitiae Sacrum.

On behalf of my wife Anni and myself, I wish you and your families and loved ones a successful new year, both professionally and personally. See you in Helsinki.

Pekka Karma