Dear friends/members of AEPC,

After the successful Annual Meeting in Granada, the Association for European Paediatric Cardiology has participated in the European Society of Cardiology Congress in Paris at the beginning of September, 2011. Congenital cardiology was well represented at the Congress, including sessions on “Pulmonary hypertension”, “Interventions in congenital heart disease”, “Challenges after surgery for transposition with the Senning/Mustard techniques”, “Surgical challenges for atrioventricular septal defect”, “What the general cardiologist has to know about GUCH”, and “Congenital aortic valve disease and aortopathy”. In order to increase collaboration between the societies, members of the Association for European Paediatric Cardiology Council met with the European Society of Cardiology Officers, represented by Professor Roberto Ferrari, former President of the European Society of Cardiology. As decided at the business meeting in Granada, the Association for European Paediatric Cardiology constitution now allows additional members to be co-opted to the Council. Thus, the European Society of Cardiology representatives were informed that the Association for European Paediatric Cardiology Council plans to co-opt a member from the Working Group 22 (Grown Up Congenital Heart Disease) of European Society of Cardiology. In addition, increased cooperation between Association for European Paediatric Cardiology and European Society of Cardiology Educational Committees, preferably by having ex-officio representation in the respective educational committees, was suggested. Increased collaboration would facilitate planning of basic and update courses on congenital heart disease, in order to cover important topics and avoid duplication. The European Society of Cardiology has started the activity “Clinical case presentation”, for example, cases prepared by European Society of Cardiology members for discussion on the web, and if accepted for this form they will also be presented in the European Heart Journal. Association for European Paediatric Cardiology members are welcome to provide congenital cases for this activity. The European Society of Cardiology meeting in 2012 will be held in Munich, between August 25 and 29, 2012. Please note that members of one of the national cardiac societies in the European Society of Cardiology are also members of the European Society of Cardiology and can therefore join one of the European Society of Cardiology working groups.

During fall, the Association for European Paediatric Cardiology will also be present at the “7th Annual Meeting of the Multisocietal Database Committee for Pediatric and Congenital Heart Disease” to be held in Cambridge, United Kingdom on September 20–23. Also, the Fetal Working Group will arrange a teaching course for juniors in Warsaw, Poland on November 3–5, 2011.

The preparations for the Association for European Paediatric Cardiology Annual meeting in Istanbul on May 23–26, 2012 are well under way, and the webpage is open at www.aepc2012.org. The scientific programme will be prepared by Professor Alpay Celiker, Istanbul, and Association for European Paediatric Cardiology Scientific Secretary, Jo de Giovanni; abstract submission is open between October 28, 2011 and January 11, 2012. As in 2011, abstracts may be considered for the Young Investigators Award. Paediatric cardiologists in training who wish to be considered for the award are kindly asked to indicate this when submitting the abstract. Also, as in Granada, there is an option of a handout online for those who wish to make use of this, before or after the meeting.

Two elections will take place at the business meeting in Istanbul. The first is the election of a new Scientific Secretary, as Jo De Giovanni will have completed his term of office and will step down at the business meeting in 2012. According to the constitution of Association for European Paediatric Cardiology, the Council has to announce its own nomination at least 4 months before the annual meeting. The Council has decided on proposing a Council member, Professor Konrad Brockmeier from Cologne, as the next Scientific Secretary of the Association for European Paediatric Cardiology and he has accepted the proposal. Also according to the constitution, the Council invites nominations for the Scientific Secretary from the Ordinary members. The proposed candidate should be working in a European country and the proposal must be signed by five Ordinary members from two or more countries and received by the Secretary-General at least 4 months before the next Annual meeting, and so the deadline for nomination is January 23, 2012. If there is more than one candidate, a ballot will need to take place during the spring of 2012. Secondly, Georgia Brugada will step down as junior member of the Association for European Paediatric Cardiology Council, and so a new junior representative has to be elected by junior members.

The new Association for European Paediatric Cardiology membership registry is now working and is integrated with the Association for European Paediatric Cardiology webpage. During the transition between the old and the new database, the handling of some new applications for membership to Association for European Paediatric Cardiology was delayed, and the General-Secretary apologises for any inconvenience associated with the delay.