Dear friends and colleagues

It is a great honour for me to thank you all for having elected me as the next IPOS Vice-President. I assume this as a great responsibility that I hope to comply with in the most productive and efficient way. I am sure that my experience with IPOS since many years ago, the very competent IPOS members that are involved in working with the society, and all of you, are going to be of great help in this endeavour. I am very much looking forward to working with our current President Luzia Travado, and Past President Barry Bultz, as well as with all members of the Board.

It is not an easy task to define what my expectations of IPOS are given that so much is left to be done, but so much has already been achieved by our predecessors since the early days! Designing new policy initiatives focused around the multidisciplinary psychosocial care of cancer patients and reinforcing existing ones is one of my goals. I believe that our efforts need to continue assuring that psychooncology is at the top of the public health agenda worldwide, something that unfortunately is still not easy to reach in many countries. Increasing membership, especially in countries that are hardly represented in IPOS, is another important goal. Reaching out to countries in South America for example, where there is a significant amount of activity in psychooncology and palliative care is for me, imperative. Increasing collaboration with local psychooncology societies through the Federation will allow us to learn more from each other and collaborate on different projects such as for example, the development of psycho-oncological treatment protocols or clinical practice guidelines that are culturally sensitive and may be easily implemented by professionals in the field. Supporting the introduction of new technologies in the care of cancer patients and their families, as well as in IPOS´s functioning will help us keep updated with modern times!

I also wanted to thank and congratulate the organizers of the next IPOS congress in Dublin. They have designed a program that will reach a global audience; one in which there is room for world leading experts as well as for early career professionals, and one providing a unique opportunity to network, meet colleagues and certainly make new friends. The theme they have chosen for the congress: Psycho-oncology, Science, Art and Practice, Bridging the Gap speaks for itself.

Thank you all and see you in Dublin

Maria Die Trill