Starting the 2005-year with 500 members, I would like to briefly remind you our activity of 2004 and emphasize the major on going initiatives for this New Year.

I take the opportunity to express my gratitude to all the Board Members, NKM's and Committee Chairmen's that continuously worked for ETCO in order to develop this Organization. The motivation was to provide more services and more information to all healthcare professionals involved in the Transplant Coordination field.

Under the patronage of the Belgian Transplantation Society the Leuven meeting was an extraordinary event in terms of scientific standards, level of participation and Congress logistics. Workshops, parallel sessions, an amazing social event and the constant ETCO friendship created the touching ambiance that the LOC truly offered us.

In order to solve the discrepancy between the house rules and the election procedure and following a lawyer consultancy new election rules were approved and presented at the General Assembly during this meeting.

The Health Committee of the Council of Europe (CDSP) has already approved the recommendation of the Council of Europe concerning the role and training of key organ donation professionals at the end of November. It has been sent to the Committee of Ministers for definitive approval. The commitment of Dr . Rafael Matesanz and of ETCO Vice-President, Francesco Procaccio was crucial to adequately driven this work.

The Web Page developed by José Maria Dominguez is already available (waiting for all your suggestions and comments) promoting a challenging communication project inside ETCO. He also wrote the guidelines of the Scientific Committee, a keystone for future developments of the scientific component of our Organization.

Chaired by Walter von Donink a Living Donation Committee started this year with the enthusiasm of Gabriëlle Bakker and Colleagues from the Section of Nephrology and Transplantation of the Erasmus MC, Rotterdam. The ultimate goal is to implement a network of Transplant Coordinators especially dedicated to kidney living donation.

For the first time ETCO Grants were offered to educational activities. In this pioneering experience two grants for applicants from Cyprus and Hungary to attend the Advanced International Training Course on Transplant Coordination - TPM, that was held in Barcelona the 21-25 th November. In the future, any educational activity matching quality standards in terms of teaching level and contents could be submitted to ETCO for previous recognition and Grant support approval.

We have been deeply committed to strength the relationship between ETCO and other scientific societies or organizational entities, namely the OEO's, the Association of Organ Procurement Organization (AOPO) of the USA, Transplant Asia and the ITNS.

During last year, pharmaceutical Companies approach was perfectly managed by Antonio Lopez Navidad with significant increase in terms of ETCO Organization regular income and Events sponsoring.

Concerning certification, David Paredes and Francesco Procaccio prepared an updated qualification system evaluation of Curriculum Vitae and Training of Transplant Coordinators that will be already considered for the evaluation of the 2005 candidates. Emphasize the assessment of clinical coordination skills in the ETCO certification project, consider Certification in Quality Projects, re-certification (as a model o continuous evaluation) and facilitate examination in different languages are part of the plans for future development of the Certification project. Kindly encourage all certified TC to use the acronymous CETC after their names as a professional recognition of your activity.

All over Europe there is continuing request for training courses/workshops in all aspects of organ donation & transplantation. The ETCO Board considers that educational activities cannot be directly organised and financed by ETCO but National or international initiatives could be officially recognised and supported by ETCO, with either financial support or from lecturers from with ETCO.

Matching these requirements, the I st Slovak Transplant Coordinators´ Workshop Kosice - Jahodna, Slovak Republic wiill be held next April the14 th -16 th , under the patronage of ETCO and the Country Minister of Health. A direct involvement of ETCO on an educational project, National driven by a Country that recently joined the EU is envisaged and naturally welcomed.

We are most honoured that Professor Suter has accepted to be the President of the Geneva ETCO 2005 Congress. Diane Moretti as ETCO-Link and all other LOC members has been deeply committed on the event preparation. News ideas like workshops, a TPM forum, CME credits, Grants and an ETCO/O&T award are included.

Gently submit an abstract at your earliest convenience because deadline is scheduled for the 1 st April!

With the certainty that ETCO will continue to be the image of their members, their feelings and their aims I wish you all a pleasant New Year of 2005.

Dr. José Fernando Teixeira, MD, FEBVS, CETC

ETCO President