on behalf of the Executive and Administrative Board of the International Union of Angiology, I would like to extend to all of you and your families

The Executive and Administrative Board, as well as the General Assembly of the IUA, gathered last April 2007, during the joint 17th European Chapter and 18th Mediterranean League of Angiology and Vascular Surgery Meeting which took place in Cyprus, chaired by Pr. Nicos Angelides.

During the meetings, several issues have been discussed: 
- in the year 2007 the IUA has registered a decreasing number of membership fees paid. This issue is of extreme importance as the Union relies on the membership fee as major income. I strongly encourage every member to participate actively to the life of the Union by means of scientific activities and initiatives, and mainly by paying the annual fees in due time.
- on the other side, there has been a stable increase in new membership of the IUA, particularly from Brazil. In fact, special links were established with the Brazilian Society for Angiology and Vascular Surgery. Pr. De Casto Silva has worked during the past few months on the project for a Joint Meeting of the Latin American Chapter/North American Chapter of the IUA. The result is a Joint Meeting with Brazilian Society of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery to be held in Rio de Janeiro, in October 2009.
- the Journal “International Angiology”, under the editorial leadership of Pr. Andrew Nicolaides, remains with a good scientific level. It has recently become official journal of the International Union of Phlebology and for the Central European Vascular Forum and starting from the year 2008 it will increase the number of issues from 4 to 6 per year.
- reports from the National Delegates, Committees and Councils have been presented during the Meetings and they are available on the IUA website: www.I.U.Angiology.org
Other projects have been presented:
- Interactive Website:
It consists in an e-learning website connected to the IUA web page and the project is in progress; a second issue is to create a restricted area for members only in the IUA website to access by means of a personal password that will be received upon payment of the annual fee.
- IUA Foundation
The project will be of great support to the IUA. The Foundation is to provide financial support and develop an endowment for providing financial assistance to the IUA activities. Pr. Fareed will be appointed as Chairman of the Foundation.
Since the Cyprus meeting, Consensus documents, Consensus development meetings and Scientific Forum, Publication development have been carried out. Full report and details are available on the link “News” of the IUA website : www.I.U.Angiology.org
IUA Congress activity in the second half of 2007 has presented, among others, the following congresses:
- Australian Chapter in Melbourne, Australia, August 2007,
- Asian Chapter in Taipei, Taiwan, September 5-8, 2007,
Other congresses were under the auspices of the IUA: The Mayo International Vascular Symposium, in Reykjavik, Iceland, June 2007 and the International Summit on “Generic Antithrombotic Drugs. A Focus on Low Molecular Weight Heparins and Related Drugs. A Timely Need to Develop Objective Guidelines” in Dehli, India,   October 2007.
The scientific committee of the IUA has also planned several activities in conjunction with forthcoming meetings in 2008.  These include joint symposium and round table on specific topics in conjunction with the South Asian Society of Atherosclerosis and Thrombosis (SASAT), International Academy of Clinical and Applied Thrombosis and Hemostasis (ICATH) and North American Thrombosis Forum (NATF). These meetings will be organized during the upcoming meeting of the IUA in Athens.
Save the date and join us for the IUA forthcoming meetings:
4th AfroChap & 18th MLAVS  Joint Meeting – Cairo/Alexandria (Egypt), 
January 16-19, 2008, organized by Pr. Emad Hussein 
XXIII World Congress – Athens (Greece), June 21-25, 2008, organized by the IUA President-elect Pr. Elias Bastounis.

Whishing you my best wishes for the New Year 2008
With my warmest regards
Yours,

José Fernandes e Fernandes
President of the International Union of Angiology
Lisboa, December 20,  2007

The Administrative Meetings of the IUA took place on the occasion of the European Chapter Congress
in Lefkosia, Cyprus, on April 25 and 26, 2007.