Dear colleagues,
The Czech Society of Rheumatology (CSR) is a non-profit organisation originally founded in 1969, bringing together Czech rheumatologists and other health professionals, as well as scientists interested in rheumatic diseases.
The new members of the CSR committee were elected by secret ballot in November 2021 and convened the first official meeting on January 13, 2022. Committee members include: chairman prof. Ladislav Šenolt, MD, Ph.D., vice-chairman prof. Jiří Vencovský, MD, DrSc., scientific secretary prof. Pavel Horák, MD, CSc., treasurer assoc. prof. Michal Tomčík, MD, Ph.D., and chairman of the revision committee Šárka Forejtová, MD.
The new CSR committee will strive to build on the legacy of the previous leadership, not only in extensive postgraduate education, publishing the journal, organisation of the annual Czech-Slovak congresses, educational meetings, and traditional conferences, but also in maintaining significant cooperation with patient organisations, negotiating with health insurance companies and the State Institute for Drug Control. We will promote further expansion of biological treatment centres and the functioning of the Czech national ATTRA registry, in order to monitor the efficacy, and especially the long-term safety of biological and targeted synthetic therapies in clinical practice. The committee will continue to support the younger generation by offering travel grants to major European conferences and giving awards for the best publications in a given year.
Our main task includes promoting quality health care for Czech residents with rheumatic diseases and providing our members with opportunities for postgraduate education, professional development, and research support. The CSR will continue to liaise with the European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology (EULAR) and will send representatives of Czech rheumatologists to relevant committees that coordinate international projects. EULAR represents professional and scientific communities, health professionals in non-medical professions, as well as patient organisations in all European countries, and strives to promote the research, prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation of rheumatic diseases. Accordingly, the essential role of the CSR committee is to incorporate the latest advances and tailor information for the Czech population, including the implementation of comprehensible diagnostic and therapeutic recommendations, so as to ultimately improve the care of rheumatic patients.
To ensure the functioning of the society, several committees have been formed to manage drug policy, negotiations with health insurance companies, liaison with patient organisations and the public, the CRS website, educational activities and scientific research, including issues pertaining to rare autoimmune rheumatic diseases, as well as communication with other medical societies.
I firmly believe that intensive cooperation at the level of all members of the CSR committee, including close collaboration with patient organisations, will help to further raise the profile of rheumatology, which already has undoubtedly become a more dynamic and interesting medical field.
Ladislav Šenolt
President of the Society
January 2022