A Message From the President

Unusual Times

I am writing my President’s note just after very unusual Easter holidays, spent at home with my family confined to my suburb following the social-distancing guidelines provided by the QLD government. I am sure many of you can share my sentiment. The Covid-19 pandemic has been affecting all of our lives in so many different ways including the way we interact with family members and friends, the way we carry out our work, and the way we may (or may not) attend conferences. I hope the situation will improve soon and we can all go back to living a normal life, a situation that is difficult to envision currently.

ABC12 - Biennial Meeting in Adelaide

It is usually during the middle of April that the call for abstracts are made for the upcoming ABC conference. The Adelaide ABC12 team including A/Prof Egon Perilli, Dr Dominic Thewlis, Prof Mark Taylor and Dr Saulo Martelli have done a terrific job in setting up the ABC12 webpage and were ready to release the call of abstracts. However, as with so many other conferences, Covid-19 has forced the local organisers of ABC12 to hold off until we can confirm that it is safe to go ahead with our meeting scheduled for 6-8 December 2020 in Adelaide. One important factor is whether or not the international travel restrictions will be lifted in time for the 2020 conference date. Currently, it would not be possible (or wise) for New Zealand ANZSB members to visit Australia. Given that ANZSB is a small society and that the ABC meetings provide a platform to meet fellow members, we felt that this criteria is essential.

As such, a final decision as to whether ABC12 will go ahead or not will be made mid July 2020. We will release a note to all ANZSB members on this decision. We are still hopeful that we can go ahead with ABC12 in 2020. However, in case this is not possible the ABC12 meeting will be postponed to December 2021 in Adelaide. The Adelaide organisers have agreed to host the meeting and suggested to hold the conference at the same venue, the Adelaide Health and Medical Science (AHMS) building, Adelaide.

ANZSB remains committed to public health and the fight against the Covid-19 disease. I personally wish that you stay safe and healthy and hopefully I will see you in Adelaide.

Best wishes

Peter Pivonka, ANZSB President

Brisbane, April 2020