Congratulatory Messages

From SPR/APS (USA)

Dear ASPR Members,

On behalf of the American Pediatric Society, the Society for Pediatric Research, Ambulatory Pediatric Society, and the American Academy of Pediatrics, we would like to extend our congratulations and best wishes for the success of your newly established Asian Society for Pediatric Research. We are honored that you would consider affiliation with the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) and look forward to considering your proposal. We also acknowledge the time of your first scientific meeting on November 25-26, 2005 at the Keio Plaza Hotel, Tokyo, Japan, and would offer assistance in providing information to our members about this meeting and call for papers.

We look forward to future collaborations and certainly will review with the leadership of our respective societies your interest in a more formal affiliation.

Sincerely yours,

From ESPR (Europe)

Dear ASPR Members,

The ESPR was delighted to hear of the establishment of the Asian Society for Pediatric Research. We would like to congratulate you all with this initiative and look forward to a close collaboration between the European Society for Pediatric Research, the ESPR and the ASPR.

The ESPR is one of the oldest European societies and was founded in 1953, initially as a club for paediatricians especially interested in research in children, which then evolved to become the ESPR. The ESPR in collaboration with the SPR (Society for Pediatric Research) owns the journal Pediatric Research which at the moment is ranked as the second important paediatric journal based on the impact factor. The main aim of the ESPR is to foster and broaden the interest for research in children throughout Europe and this is central to our constitution. Thus we welcome your initiative and the establishment of the ASPR. We have experienced the importance of such a society where the aim of promoting paediatric research is the soul of the society.

In Europe and beyond there are increasing numbers of independent subspecialty societies evolving but we believe it is important to have a society that will embrace all research focused on paediatric problems, diseases and health. Although the meetings of the ESPR have tended to be dominated by neonatal research, we are currently working to bring other subspecialty societies together in joint research meetings and congresses. We hope the ASPR will have a similar philosophy, in trying to create excellent multidisciplinary meetings, and thus collaborate closely with the ESPR and be active in exchanging research between the two societies. In this respect, the ESPR has research exchange programs, where research centres can admit research fellows from abroad. There are funds for this initiative and, with the establishment of the ASPR, a research collaboration-exchange program between the ESPR and the ASPR could be achieved.

I would like to use this opportunity to inform all prospective members of the ASPR, that the ESPR has organised its next annual congress in Sienna, Italy, in the end of August 2005 (details are on our website, www.espr.dk. ). Furthermore I hope that many of you will be able to participate in our exciting first joint meeting between European subspecialty societies and the ESPR to be held in Barcelona, Spain, in September 2006.

Finally, the council of the ESPR and the members of the ESPR salute the establishment of the ASPR, we would like to congratulate you on your initiative and look forward to a fruitful and exciting collaboration between the two societies. I also hope that the future members of the ASPR will choose to become affiliate members of the ESPR.

With warmest regards