EUROPEAN COLLEGE FOR THE STUDY OF VULVAL DISEASE: AN OVERVIEW
Presidential address
Leonardo Micheletti, M.D.
Department of Gynaecology and obstetrics –
University of Torino, Torino, Italy.
I believe that a brief history of this particular interdisciplinary society could be useful expecially to those colleagues attending for the first time a Congress of the European College for the Study of Vulval Diseases (ECSVD).
The ECSVD can be considered a relatively young
society, actually it has been founded in 1996, but the Founding Members
of this
College were physicians from different specialties dealing with vulval
diseases
for long time, who decided to found an association whose principale
purposes
(from article 3 of the Constitution), are:
- to promote communication among medical doctors managing
patients with vulval disease;
- to promote vulval education in the field of vulval
disease;
- to promote research in the field of vulval disease.
The foundation of the ECSVD derived originally from an idea of Michèle Leibowitch, a French pathologist for a long time involved in the study of vulval diseases.
In Fig.1 is reported an extract from the
original letter sent by Michèle Leibowitch in March 1996 to some
European
colleagues, already members of the ISSVD (International Society for the
Study
of Vulvar Diseases), considered interested in the foundation of an
European
Society, for an informal meeting to be held in Paris on April 13th,
1996.
Underline by broken line are the concepts which will inspirate the
Constitution
of the ECSVD and regulate its relationships with the ISSVD.
Fig.1: Extract from Michèle Leibowitch letter.
During the informal meeting held in Paris, it
was unanimously decided to go ahead the foundation of such society and
to meet
again in Torino on September 7th-8th, 1996, with
the task
to prepare the Constitution and to choose the definitive name of the
society.
Mario Sideri from Milano and Leonardo Micheletti in Torino were
appointed to
organize this meeting.
Michèle Leibowitch died on May 30th,1996
and until her last days she gave invaluable supports and suggestions
for the
foundation of the European Society.
In Fig.2 the representatives of the countries
involved in the foundation of the ECSVD are listed, as it can be seen
gynaecologists, dermatologists and pathologists are represented among
the
founding members, confirming the interdisciplinary nature of the
College.
Fig.2:
List of the ECSVD Founding Members
During this meeting Monique Pelisse, French
dermatologist, gave the speech “Presentation of the European College
for the
Study of Vulval Diseases” and Marjorie Ridley, United Kingdom
dermatologist,
chaired the session “Looking after vulval disease: some examples of the
European experience”. Then some state of art presentations regarding
lichen
sclerosus, lichen planus, vulvodynia, VIN III, and vulval squamous cell
carcinoma were given by some of the Founding Members.
In occasion of this meeting Marjorie Ridley was
unanimously elected as First President of the College, with the
important task
to overlook the nomination of the First Executive Council for the
period
1998-2000 and to proceed in the definition of the Constitution of the
College.
The Second Congress of the ECSVD was held in
Paris on october 23rd –24th ,1998 and in this
occasion a
Postgraduate Course was organized for the first time. President and
organizer
of the Congress and Course was Monique Pelisse.
During this Congress, under the direction of
Marjorie Ridley, the First complete Executive Council for the period
1998-2000
was also settled.
Olle Frankman, a Finland gynaecologist and one of the Founding Members of the European College, has been appointed President of the ECSVD for the period 1998-2000.
The Third Congress and Postgraduate Course was held in Jena, Germany on May 25th-27th, 2000, and Peter Elsner, a German dematologist, was the President and organizer of this Congress and Course.
Marjorie Ridley, first President of the ECSVD,
died on october 28th, 2000. The College has lost one of the
most
distinguished clinicians studying vulval diseases whose experience,
researches
and teachings have represented and will still represent an imperishable
acquired knowledge for all clinicians interested in vulval diseases.
After this brief history of the European
College, as President of the College I am pleased to welcome you at the
Fourth
Congress of the ECSVD in Torino, the city where I graduated and where I
started
my studies and clinical practice in vulval diseases and where I am
still
working at the University Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics.
Leonardo Micheletti, M.D.
ECSVD President 2000-2002