Dear Member
It is an honour and privilege to take up the Presidency of
the Bone Research Society.
My first duty is to thank our retiring President, Dr Jonathan
Reeve, for his enormous contribution to the Society, over
many years. Jonathan has led us through a period of intense
change, and continued the successful development of our mission.
We also thank Jon Tobias, who completes his term as Treasurer,
but remains a member of the Executive as our President-Elect.
Finally, we welcome Nigel Loveridge as our incoming Treasurer,
and Jackie Berry and Ken Poole, who were both voted onto the
Committee at our last AGM. We also thank Mark Cooper and Miep
Helfrich for all their hard work on the Committee.
The Manchester meeting was an outstanding success, both scientifically
and as a forum in which members of the Bone Research Society
and British Orthopaedic Research Society could share clinical
and basic science interests. We are indebted to the Manchester
local organising team, particularly Terry O’Neill, Judith
Adams, Carol Evans and Peter Selby. Highlights included a
keynote lecture by Alan Silman on rejuvenation of the research
agenda in musculoskeletal disease; a new investigator’s
session on shaping the future in skeletal biology; symposia
on novel aspects of bone repair; mechanobiology; imaging of
bone structure; and new concepts in vitamin D.
As always, the oral communications and posters were informative
and stimulated rich and varied discussions. Young Investigator
Awards were selected for oral presentations (S Glover, Sheffield;
C Combs, St Georges Hospital London); oral posters (Kay Brakespeare,
Cardiff and Kay Ward, Manchester) and posters (M Prideaux,
Cambridge and A Taylor, Liverpool). Many congratulations to
these worthy winners.
The next annual meeting of the Society will be held at University
College London on 15-16 June 2009 and is being organised jointly
with the British Society for Matrix Biology, through the sterling
efforts of Andy Pitsillides and Tim Arnett. Finally, we anticipate
joining the European Calcified Tissue Society in 2010 for
a joint meeting in Glasgow, with a Scientific Programme Committee
that includes strong BRS representation (Jon Tobias, Nigel
Loveridge, Colin Farquharson, Jonathan Reeve and myself).
We have now evaluated the response of the membership to a
short questionnaire on the future strategy of the BRS, conducted
with the assistance of Amanda Sherwood and Janet Crompton.
Comments received were generally supportive, and it is clear
that members are keen to emphasise the importance of the annual
scientific meeting. Other opportunities for development of
the Society, including contributions to the formulation of
national policy and initiatives in training, will be discussed
further. Proposals to increase our finance base will also
receive attention, with prospects likely to improve following
the 2010 meeting. The Committee are keen to support the needs
of our young investigators, and we would welcome feedback
on whether they are getting adequate experience in presenting
their work in all three formats as oral presentations, three
minute oral posters, and ordinary posters.
As always, I remain eager to hear from you and to take up
any points you may care to raise that will enable the Society
to function better on your behalf. Please contact me through
my PA at cc@mrc.soton.ac.uk
or Colin Farquharson colin.farquharson@.roslin.ed.ac.uk
With best wishes
Cyrus Cooper, MA, DM, FRCP, FFPH, FMedSci
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