The International Psycho-oncology Society’s Newsletter: A new beginning?

In 2014 the IPOS Board approved the setting up of an online Newsletter for members. The most important reasons for the society’s publication of a newsletter are to disseminate information to members, provide avenues to connect, and help you to really feel part of the global community of psycho-oncologists. The newsletter should convey a sense of belonging and provide opportunities for sharing what you are doing with others. Access should be simple and inclusive and give you a sense of ownership: this is your newsletter.

The aim is to provide a newsletter delivered electronically: it will arrive in your email on a regular basis and requires only that you open it and read!

To develop this effort a call was made for Co-Editors and Clare Manicom and Simone Cheli were appointed, from a strong field of candidates. Their task is to guide your Newsletter through its re-birth. They bring enthusiasm and skill to this not inconsiderable challenge. This is the re-birth of the IPOS Newsletter in e-format.

I say re-birth because IPOS had a Newsletter in the past. Some of you may remember those days when the newsletter was printed on paper and mailed out. Now the world of communication has changed and through email, and the internet we can be more easily connected to our professional community. It also becomes more affordable to have this type of newsletter connection; an important factor for a society that must conserve its resources as a responsibility to the members.

Looking Back

Looking back at some of the earliest issues of the IPOS newsletter was also a reminder that it‘s a way to record events and progress. So when taking a trip down memory lane by reading some of the early editions these were some of the notable milestones:

1989 Winter/Spring Edition: Recorded some details of the 2nd meeting of the IPOS Board held in July 1988. Then in the 1990 Winter/Spring Edition it was reported that the 1st AGM was held in Hamburg, Germany during the 15th UICC Congress.

By 1991 the newsletter was officially designed as Issue Number 1 and details were provided about the first combined scientific meeting of IPOS with the European Society of Psychosocial Oncology [ESPO] and that the 2nd IPOS AGM was held in New York City, USA.

Moving forward to 1993 the society conferred the first honorary memberships on Dr Bernard Fox [USA], Dr Kalle Achte [Finland] and Dr Lawrence Goldie [UK] in recognition of their pioneering work that helped establish the science and clinical practice of psycho-oncology.

At that time, an IPOS position paper was published in the newly established scientific journal Psycho-oncology [“Psycho-oncology: Overview, Obstacles and Opportunities” PON 1(1) pp 1-13 1992] and an abstract of this important paper was published in the IPOS newsletter.

The Present There is so much more to report now, to tell each other and share. Please read the newsletters and enjoy being part of this new endeavour in an era of sophisticated communication methods. Please help by contributing and sharing information with our new editors Clare and Simone.

Maggie Watson
Chair IPOS Communications and Publications Committee December 2015