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(PART III of Copenhagen, a week to remember)
Hello Friends,
Well now for what you've all been waiting for. The scoop on what wheels and deals happened while all that fun was going on.
As you have already read Hans van der Slikke, MD had two major objectives for the week:
First getting the FIGO Board to look at the prototype of the web site we wanted to donate and host for them, and second to effectively deliver his presentation of OBGYN.net on Tuesday. After successfully delivering his presentation on tuesday he concentrated on the FIGO web site.
Chantal the FIGO secretary managed to get the incoming President and other Board members to come by for a demonstration. They were very pleased and interested. They promised to discuss it and get back to us soon. If you want to see an example of the proposed FIGO Home Page click here. Never one to rest on his laurels, Hans also managed to get retiring President Fathalla to come by the booth and take a look. His comment to me was, "It's beautiful!". Hans is currently in correspondence with FIGO and will keep you updated on the progress. So all in all we were very satisfied with the results of our efforts.
Mark Perloe, MD, Ingemar Joelsson, MD and I had the chance to meet with Marylou Balwig, President of The Endometriosis Association who was also attending FIGO, and discuss the plans for OBGYN.net and the upcoming Zeneca Endometriosis Zone. Marylou and I will be working together to insure that the Endo information provided on the Women's and Patients Section of OBGYN.net is presented with the approval of the Association. Marylou will also be working with the Endometriosis Zone Editorial Board to insure positive interaction with the sufferers of the disease and the goals of the Association. We offered to provide Internet services and support to the Association and Marylou was pleased to accept. So another positive alliance was formed.
Kevin Leathers and Mark Perloe spent a great deal of time discussing sponsorship opportunities with the nice folks at Circon. They had a meeting last week in Santa Barbara and we should know soon if they will be coming on board at OBGYN.net.
Organon, who Hans and Kevin have been working with for several months, have a strong interest in participation and are looking forward to presenting information specifically in the area of Infertility. We have been steadily moving forward with Organon and are very pleased by their genuine interest.
Bruce and I had the opportunity to meet with again with the people from Ortho-McNeil. They were able to assure us that Ortho-McNeil is very interested in supporting OBGYN.net in the area of contraception in 98. Yippee! So many OBGYN.netters sent great letters of support for the Ortho-McNeil involvement in OBGYN.net and it really made a difference. THANKS EVERYONE!
Chile, Brazil and Argentina were all in the running to be the site for FIGO 2003. On Thursday's it was decided. Congratulations go to the Chile team. FIGO 2003 will be held in Santiago Chile. Members of the proud Planning committee.
New International Representatives will be coming on board over the next months as a direct result of our being at FIGO. Qatar will be represented by Dr. Fawaz A. Saad. Dr. Milton S. Lum, President of the Malaysian Medical Association, representing Malaysia, Dr. Maarof Haj Mohideen will be assisting us with Saudi Arabia, and of course how could we call the trip a success without the addition of Dr. Lars Bo Krag Moller as our new representative for DENMARK!
Bruce and I also had the pleasure of meeting Davide Casagrandi Casanova, MD of Italy who we have corresponded with in the past about the Italian association's web site. Alexandre Trajano, Chairman of the Ob/Gyn Department of Rio de Janeiro State University came by to say hello. He is my dear friend Dr. Flavio Monteiro de Souza's boss back at the department in Rio. I hope we will meet again at the FEBRASGO conference in November. Kelvin Tan presented a poster presentation on Ob/Gyn Points of Interest on the Internet which he had to be forced to take his picture next to. Modest to the end! It was fun to finally meet the great Internet legend in person. So young and so bright!
One time during the week things got a little dicey. A doctor came up and stood behind a monitor very skeptically looking at OBGYN.net. It looked like he was less than impressed, so getting nervous (I'm not used to this reaction) I told him it was free. He then wanted to know who we were working with in the UK. I rattled off Malcolm Griffiths, Brian Hackman, Stewart Pringle, and Jason Gardosi. "JASON GARDOSI!", he said, "Not him!" I was totally at a loss for words (for once) when he broke into laughter and revealed he was Jason Gardosi. With a big, "GOTCHA". He thought it was hysterical that the only positive thing I could come up with about OBGYN.net was, "It's Free". I owe you one Jason!
On Thursday Chris Bunting of Zeneca came to say goodbye. He told us that the Zeneca booth had benefited enormously from the presence of OBGYN.net. I'm glad to say I believe that is true, but certainly no more than OBGYN.net benefited from being there. Thanks Zeneca for making our presence possible!
We arrived home to lots of email, piles of work, and kids going back to school. Life goes on, but our week at FIGO 97 will always remain a treasured memory of the early days of OBGYN.net. It was truly A Week To Remember!
Thank You to everyone, for all your efforts that made it possible.
Roberta
If you have any interesting news, ideas, or questions you would like to share please drop me a line at roberta.speyer@obgyn.net.
8/27/97
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