IAPCD

Chairman's Message
IAPCD Board of Directors

Chairman's Message, 2011: The New IAPCD

It is with great pleasure that I am announcing a new and innovative approach to membership and information sharing for current and new members of the IAPCD. Today more than ever, many clinicians worldwide are faced with numerous hurdles in treating their patients with acute and chronic pain, and organizations such as the IAPCD, which promote communication and support among healthcare professionals, is needed more than ever. Unfortunately, in these challenging economic times, membership dues are a luxury many simply cannot afford. At the same time, corporate support is also significantly less than in previous years.

The IAPCD is committed to enduring - albeit with a new approach that, we hope, will fit the needs of its membership, and will allow the IAPCD to grow and prosper even in these challenging times. As such, I am pleased to announce a newly redesigned website, which will grow over time to become a dynamic online community of like-minded clinicians from the international community facing similar challenges the world over.

As you browse through the new website, you'll see several important new features:

• The IAPCD News Feed - In The News: Part of the IAPCD's commitment to providing members with the most up-to-date news and information concerning pain and chemical dependency. Updated daily, the IAPCD News Feed is your most convenient single source for finding out what's happening internationally in pain and chemical dependency.
• The new IAPCD Webinar Series: The IAPCD is pleased to announce a new accredited video webinar series focusing on a CME-accredited activity which is funded by an educational grant from Purdue Pharma L.P. The annual Advances in Pain and Addiction webcast series features interviews with leading clinical and scientific experts, and will focus on the most up-to-date information and research in pain and chemical dependency.
• The IAPCD Member Forum: Who understands your problems and clinical challenges better than your colleagues who also treat patients with pain and/or chemical dependency? To facilitate a collegial sharing of ideas, information, resources and answers to questions, problems and challenges, the IAPCD has developed a Member Forum that will allow members to easily communicate with each other, to address the questions that most concern them, and to hear from international colleagues who've faced similar challenges. Through the development of an online community, we can share stories, solutions, and advice, and support each other in the treatment of our patients with pain and/or chemical dependency. I encourage ever member to visit the forum, to read the entries, provide feedback, or to even begin your own communication thread!
• Membership dues temporarily suspended: For the next several months, membership dues will be temporarily suspended, pending the reorganization of the IAPCD, and the tools and resources we offer to our members. Membership to new members will be application only, will be offered only to clinicians, and will be based upon completion of an application form.
• New content from our partners at Emerging Solutions in Pain: We would like to acknowledge the generous contribution of content, tools, and resources from the Emerging Solutions in Pain (ESP) initiative. ESP is an ongoing educational initiative developed to address some of today's most critical issues in pain management. These issues involve balancing fundamental rights of patients and clinicians with the challenge of risk containment for opioid misuse, abuse, and addiction associated with medical prescribing and use of controlled substances. Through evidence-based scientific data, validated tools, and the expertise of a cadre of leading pain and addiction medicine experts, the ESP program provides clinicians with guidance in the implementation of good practice management techniques. ESP is supported by independent educational grants from Cephalon, Inc., Endo Pharmaceuticals, and Purdue Pharma L.P.

As part of or new innovative approach to education and information sharing, we are asking for volunteers from our membership group to become part of an IAPCD editorial board. The editorial board has four main functions:

1) Encourage submission of editorial content;
2) Read and review all articles when submitted for posting onto the website;
3) Review suggested edits and correspond with the author regarding the same; and
4) Ensure articles/content is technically accurate and within the goals of the IAPCD.

These changes represent a truly innovative approach to a professional organization. I am confident, however, that these are the steps we must take in order to maintain the IAPCD as an organization committed to supporting the international community of clinicians who undertake the numerous and diverse challenges of treating patients with pain and/or chemical dependency.

Thank you, in advance, for all of your support. I look forward to building the IAPCD together!

Ian Buttfield, MBBS, MD
Chairman

Back to Top

---

The IAPCD Board of Directors

	Ian Buttfield, MBBS, MD - Chairman Drug and Alcohol Services Council of South Australia North Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
	Joyce Lowinson, MD - Co-Chairman Professor Emerita of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Albert Einstein College of Medicine New York, New York, USA
	Doug Gourlay, MD - Secretary Director, Pain and Chemical Dependency Wasser Pain Management Centre Mount Sinai Hospital Toronto, Ontario, Canada
	Herman Joseph, PhD Consultant National Development and Research Institutes New York, New York, USA
	Icro Maremmani, MD Professor of Addiction Medicine University of Pisa - University of Sienna President of the European Opiate Addiction Treatment Association (EUROPAD) Editor of "Heroin Addiction and Related Clinical Problems" President of the Association for the Application of Neuroscientific Knowledge to Social Aims, (AU-CNS) Scientific Director, "G. De Lisio" Institute of Behavioural Sciences Pisa, Italy
	Steven Passik, PhD Associate Attending Psychologist Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center New York, New York, USA
	Russell K. Portenoy, MD Chairman and Gerald J. and Dorothy Friedman Chair in Pain Medicine and Palliative Care Department of Pain Medicine and Palliative Care Beth Israel Medical Center Professor of Neurology and Anesthesiology Albert Einstein College of Medicine New York, New York, USA
	Seddon Savage, MD Director Dartmouth Center on Addiction Recovery and Education Associate Professor of Anesthesiology Hanover, New Hampshire, USA
	M. R. Rajagopal, MBBS, MD Professor SUT Academy of Medical Sciences Trivandrum, Kerala, India

Top of page