From the Kauppi Campus - News from WAIMH Central Office

Dear WAIMH members,

We will meet each other soon at the 13th World Congress of WAIMH in Cape Town, South Africa. This is the first WAIMH congress ever spanning to Africa. We are looking forward to the congress and the beautiful Cape Town!

The congress programme will be a rich one that caters for all needs with 67 symposia, 58 workshops, 18 clinical teach-ins, 8 video presentations, 14 Master Classes, 150 posters and 13 poster workshops from all over the world. There will be two Pre-congress Workshops, one on Diagnostic Classification for Infant Mental Health and one on Infant Rights. Additionally, before the WAIMH Congress two Training Village seminars will be arranged for local practitioners.

An important part of the Congress is the biannual WAIMH Membership Meeting. All WAIMH members participating in the Congress are welcomed to join the meeting on Thursday 19th April, 16:45-17:15. The Agenda of this meeting is included on page xx in this Signal.

The new Board member elected to the WAIMH Board of Directors is Professor Karlen Lyons-Ruth from Harvard Medical School, U.S. Congratulations to Karlen!

Altogether 18,5% of eligible WAIMH members voted in this election. The vote tally is consistent with previous experiences since 1992. It would be good, if the members’ participation rate was higher. Ideas for improving the voting activity may yield out of discussions at the Board and Membership Meetings and discussion with Affiliates at the Affiliate Council Meeting in Cape Town.

The current President Antoine Guedeney is stepping down to the position of Past President and the current President-Elect Miri Keren will commence her presidency in Cape Town.

A new President-Elect will be elected from among the Board of Directors. Two Board members, Kai von Klitzing and Campbell Paul, have expressed their interest in becoming a new President Elect. We have sent all WAIMH members a tentative enquiry in order to find out the support each candidate has among the members. The Board will then elect the new President Elect in Cape Town, taking into account the tentative enquiry and the opinion of the Nominating Committee.

You have received an e-mail with a link, which redirects you to the enquiry, and just tick your favourite President-Elect candidate, and submit your vote.

Last but not least, please renew your 2011 membership into a current membership online at the WAIMH website www.waimh.org.