Who we are

Dear Members of the Executive Committee (EC), Dear Members ofthe European Society of Neurosonology and Cerebral Hemodynamics(ESNCH), Dear friends and colleagues, First of all, I would like tothank everybody who placed their confidence in me as the NewPresident of the ESNCH. It is with great honour that I accept thisnomination. I would also like to congratulate the newly electedexecutive committee (EC). As the President of the ESNCH, I promise that the EC and I will do our best to serve the society, and maintain the trust of our members, through a transparent administration and a timely and constant monitoring of pertinent objectives. Surely, much water has flown down the Spree river, since as a young doctor I attended the first meeting of this Society in 1996 in Munich organized perfectly by Prof. Jürgen Klingelhöfer and Prof. Eva Bartels, and received a poster award from Prof. Rune Aaslid (the inventor of TCD) and Prof. David Russell (our founding President).Ten years have also past since I was elected Secretary of this Societyat the 2007 ESNCH conference in Budapest. During this period, Ihad the privilege to work with great presidents (Prof. KurtNiederkorn, Prof. Laszlo Csiba and Prof. Natan Bornstein) and so Ibegin my speech by paying tribute to them, because if we are able todo more it will also be thanks to them. In recent years, there has been a steady increase of membership. Presently, we have about 800 members making the ESNCH the most popular and successfulneurosonology group in the world. As such, the EC and I are committed to prove that we are worthy of your support andconfidence. Our on-going projects include further fostering ourlongstanding partnerships with other scientific societies, such asESO, EAN, EFSUMB, NSRG. The success of this society has alsobeen shown by the significant attendance at our yearly conferenceand at our summer school, where many young colleagues receivetraining and have the possibility to obtain the internationalcertification. To facilitate this training, many of us senior membershave contributed to the publication of a manual of neurosonologywhich was released last year, and represents our legacy to a newgeneration of neurosonologists and future leaders in this field ofmedicine. But, we should ask ourselves if it is enough to organizeconferences and courses? I believe it is not. Our vision should bewider: some day we should have our own indexed journal, we should have a significant restyling of our website including patienteducation information, we should enter the social media, we shouldhave task forces for each chapter of neurosonology in order to writeguidelines, we should create research grants for youngsters whowould like to receive training in one of our laboratories. We shouldbe able to reach every part of the world and share our informationand know how. This is my vision. However, these are also verychallenging times. The world economical crisis has led to a decreaseof sponsors and contribution by sponsors. Moreover, neuroradiology has taken most of the spotlight in neurovascular medicine, so thatmany neurology residents are attracted to that world made ofbeautiful and seductive images obtained within a few minuteswithout any apparent effort. We should be aware of the risksassociated with this practice: less young neurologists are visitingpatients, and more futile neuroradiology exams are requested. Weneed to counter this by providing evidence-based information onneurosonology, publishing our guidelines, strengthening our ties with ESO and EAN, and attracting young colleagues in certifiedneurovascular centres. We really need to plan, engage, and innovate. Therefore, I invite each and every member of the ESNCH to join us in this global vision. I assure that the EC and I will work with focus and determination, with passion and conviction, to make the ESNCH presence felt in the world scientific community, and make it a Societybwe can all be proud of. To do this, we will need all your support.

CLAUDIO BARACCHINI, PRESIDENT OF THE ESNCH