Buenos Aires, April 30th, 2017

Dear friends,

As you may already know, we had the pleasure of hosting here in Buenos Aires the XIX Latin American Congress of Cytopathology, from April 23-25. This was a very important event, highlighted by the concomitant Satellite Symposium of the IAC, coordinated by Dr. Fernando Schmitt, with the illustrious presence of Dr. Syed Z. Ali and Dr.Ashish Chandra. We also had the pleasure of receiving in the congress Dr. Ritu Nayar from the US, Dr.María Dolores Lozano from Spain and Dr. Kusum Kapila from Kuwait. To all of them and to all of our new and old members who attended the meeting from various locations throughout Latin America, our sincere thank you. I must also mention that during the conference we had the honor of awarding Dr. Fernando Schmitt, Dr. Elias Fernando Miziara, Dr.Ricardo Bardales and Dr.Adrián Moreno with the title of “Maestro” of Latin American Cytopathology. We also had the satisfaction of hosting 16 pathologists and cytotechnologists taking the exam for the Latin American Board Certification in Cytopathology.
During our congress, the new directing board has also been unanimously elected, for which I have the honor of being the new president. Therefore, it is my pleasure to announce that during the same session we conducted all the procedures for a legal representation of SLAC, which had to be re-founded by all the members present in the session, maintaining however, the same name. This will allow us to establish a legal institution under the Argentinian laws, what will permit us, beyond other things, own a bank account and perform financial transactions under the name of SLAC.

 

We also had the opportunity (since all members were present) to have the first meeting of the directing board, where we could brainstorm new ideas and proposals for new courses and scientific events, with the promotion of cytopathology in all Latin America, including countries never before connected to this society. I here, therefore, thank all the members of the board for all their support and collaborative work during the congress, which will, for sure, continue in the forthcoming three years, improving the quality of service SLAC provides to all of its members.
As a final note, one of our main intentions is to tighten our connections with the regional and international societies, and we therefore hereby reaffirm our willingness and prompt predisposition to collaboratively work with all societies and organs which promote the wide use of cytopathology worldwide, what we firmly believe will result in an improvement of the cytopathology and ultimately in the quality of medical diagnosis and care provided not only in Latin America, but all over the world.
Sincerely,

 

Dra. Mercedes Gamboni
President
Sociedad Latinoamericana de Citopatología