Pre-ICAM
Friends,
On the 22nd of this month we will open the first ICAM. It will be held in Paris. A meeting of four great associations with different philosophies but a common focus; Aerospace Medicine. ASMA, ESAM, IAASM and SOFRAMAS will come together under one cupola.
How appropriate, as the first medical meeting of the FAI took place in Paris 100 years ago in 1922!
We had planned to have the Conference two years ago but none of us anticipated what visited the world in 2020 and the lasting impact it has had on everyone. But we have survived the pandemic and we are of the 99% who will die of something else another day.
Most of us have had monumental changes in our daily lives from remote working to virtual meetings dealing with the benefits and the challenges they have brought. These tools were of great value but I feel they allowed us to exist, to survive, but not to live!
It appears that many question the need for face to face meetings and suggest we continue with virtual platforms reducing costs and time.
Despite these questions we will have a face to face conference in Paris where I hope you will be to share space with people who share your passion and dreams.
We need more than webinars, virtual meetings and email.
We need to get back to being with people, to feel a person’s presence and share non-verbal cues and reactions.
To experience a collective.
To see why, as social animals, we benefit from being together even where we may disagree.
Innovation and progress thrive on debate and discourse.
We survived the past 2.5 years and now is the time live again.
I hope that you will join us in Paris this month and that you will have a wonderful holistic experience in aerospace medicine.
If you can’t make it to Paris, I hope that you will consider the next international meeting and return to living again.
Slán,
Declan
Dr Declan Maher,
President
European Society of Aerospace Medicine
