Dr Anton Wiles
A difficult year for all, and this has been translated to our main event, the annual Conference. With Covid-19 stopping international travel we were unable to arrange a Patterson Lecturer, or have the Australian John Lane Orator. Fortunately we have arranged what should be a more-than-adequate alternative from within NZ.
At the same time, our chosen Christchurch venue became a Quarantine Facility. Pavillions Hotel were very accommodating, but the re-introduction of restrictions through NZ made it impossible to be certain of safely and successfully holding an on-site meeting. We owe thanks to Pavillions for allowing late cancellation with no fees. We will definitely try to arrange our next conference there – whenever that will be.
A late offer via ASAM for Australian DAMEs to join the conference via webinar has exceeded all expectations – we have had about 100 expressions of interest, and there should be about 60 participating in the conference webinar.
The only other news is that the planning for the 69th Congress of ICASM (International Congress of Aviation and Space Medicine) planned for 2021 has been put back a year. The 68th congress planned for Paris this year has been postponed to 2021, so Auckland is now planned for 2022. We can only hope that things will improve to a level where international travel is unencumbered by then.
I thank the Committee for their support over the year, and the members who have put their hands up to address the webinar conference.
Keep safe.
Anton Wiles