Dear Colleagues,

It is hard to believe that it has been 2 years since we all saw each other at IPTA 2017 in Barcelona! It has been a very productive two years for IPTA. The last two years saw significant change to the organization starting with a move to a new management company under the umbrella of TTS while maintaining our status as an independent association. This has been an excellent move for IPTA, has strengthened us financially, and opened the door for many more collaborations with TTS and other professional transplant organizations. Our Journal saw a transition to new editors, Burkhard Tonshoff and Sharon Bartosh, who have been busy implementing new initiatives to enhance Pediatric Transplantation.

Our committees have been very active in the last 2 years. The IPTA ID CARE Committee has continued to be very prolific, hosting a live vaccine consensus meeting, updating the pediatric CMV guidelines, co-hosting an EBV/PTLD symposium, amongst other clinical academic pursuits which will guide our practices for the foreseeable future. The IPTA Allied Health Committee has contributed significantly to programming for IPTA 2019 including a full day pre-symposium in addition to surveying Allied Health colleagues widely in order to determine how best to provide for this important part of IPTA membership. The IPTA Education Committee has continued providing educational programming to multiple meetings including the successful IPTA Regional Meeting in Costa Rica, developing a new Foundations in Transplantation pre-symposium for IPTA 2019, and contributing literature reviews to the newly established IPTA Quarterly Newsletter. The brand new IPTA Ethics Committee has established Ethics Cases which have been circulated in the newsletter in addition to carrying out an Ethics Survey – the results of which will be shared at IPTA 2019. The IPTA Outreach program has been completely revamped and received multiple applications for consideration. The IPTA Membership Committee reassessed and recommended a reduction in dues which took effect in 2018 in addition to establishing a Question Bank and undertaking other membership initiatives. The IPTA Nominations Committee facilitated the biggest election with the most number of candidates in IPTA history – the results of which will be announced at this meeting. The IPTA Awards Committee reviewed multiple award nominations for this year and these too will be presented during the Congress.

It has also been 2 years since I had the honour of starting my term as the president of the IPTA. The IPTA Council has worked hard on behalf of the association and are now embarking on a strategic planning process to establish the direction for IPTA for 2020-2023… stay tuned for more information.

I can truly say that it has been a pleasure and a privilege to serve this amazing organization. I remain awed by the commitment of IPTA members to children around the world in need of and following organ transplantation, and to each other as colleagues and friends.

I look forward to continuing to advocate for the children and IPTA as an organization and to continuing to grow together to achieve our common goals.

Sincerely,

Anne Dipchand
IPTA President