Dear Colleagues and Friends
I am so excited and honoured to write to you on behalf of the Board of ASPIRE. May I begin by acknowledging the wonderful accomplished leadership of our immediate past president Professor TC Li? TC Li led ASPIRE through the challenging times of the pandemic in such a way that not only did ASPIRE survive, but ASPIRE flourished. Many of the initiatives of the preceding Board are on foot and we will continue to develop and work on them. Our certification course for embryologists, much needed in our diverse region, will have its first examinations at our Annual Scientific Meeting in Manila in May 2024.
Our special interest groups (SIGs) continue to grow and flourish and I thank all the leaders who have committed to their new term of office and duties. I welcome particularly our leaders and members of our two recently formed SIGs for nurses and counsellors. The Board has approved the establishment of a SIG in Fertility Preservation to be led by Prof Rong Li.
I thank too, our country representatives who have committed to grow our membership and represent ASPIRE in the countries of the Asia Pacific region. The country representatives will have a vital role in the future of ASPIRE, including the recently ASPIRE-endorsed programme Fertility Counts which we hope will pave the way to the restitution of reduced birth rates in many of the developed Asian countries. I commend Fertility Counts to you, supported by Merck and developed in collaboration with The Economist Update, as a well-researched evidence-based toolkit for implementation across our region.
ASPIRE continues to grow and engage and has a Masterclass led by Prof Neil Johnson on Endometriosis in New Zealand on February 23-25 2024. The education committee chaired by Dr. Duru Shah and Prof. Virgilio Novero will work on developing events during the rest of 2024 including a collaborative webinar with the International Federation of Fertility Societies (IFFS) so we have much to anticipate and enjoy.
We are proud that we have our own journal, Fertility & Reproduction, a tribute to the tremendous dedication of Prof Gab Kovacs, editor-in-chief and his team of editors and secretarial staff of the ASPIRE office. I appeal to you all to show your support by submitting original research papers or reviews to our journal.
To you, our members and supporters I offer thanks for your recent participation in our wonderful meeting in Adelaide and invite you all to Manila, the Pearl of the East, for our annual scientific meeting on 23-25 May 2023. Our colleagues in the Philippines and the scientific organising committee have a great event planned for us all to enjoy – both socially and intellectually. I look forward to seeing you all in Manila.
Dr. Clare Boothroyd
ASPIRE President