Short report 20th European Congress of Internal Medicine (ECIM), Malaga Spain

From 9 to 11 June 2002 the 20th European Congress of Internal Medicine (ECIM) has been held in Malaga, Spain, originally meant to be held in March 2022, but postponed because of Covid 19. The slogan was “Internal Medicine in the Front Line of Health Care”.

The Foundation for the Development of Internal Medicine in Europe (FDIME) was involved in both congress organization and performance. Several Board members did evaluate abstracts, chaired sessions and awarded prizes for the three best abstracts.

A session together with EFIM was organized for the first time, during which the FDIME Secretary General gave an overview of Internists as informants and advisers of citizens, the case of Covid 19. It was explained what internists actually do, what the activities of the FDIME have been during the last two years, including the circulation of 14 newsletters (FAQs) on Covid 19. The role of the internist in Covid 19 care was explained and emphasized.

During the session, chaired by the Presidents of EFIM and FDIME, also a presentation by Gilead on Patient perspective in COVID-19, education, care and clinical research was included and a talk by representatives of Spanish patient organizations.

For the first time also there was a FDIME booth at the exhibition area with posters on diverse aspects of FDIME. The booth was well visited, especially by Young Internists.

During the closing ceremony the FDIME Grant winners of 2020-2021 (Lanzillotta, Marco (Italy, 2020: Towards treatment optimization in autoimmune pancreatitis (AIP) and Wolff, Peter. (Austria 2020): Musculoskeletal comorbidities in acromegaly – from identification of a disease specific profile to the development of a diagnostic algorithm in growth hormone excess were honoured and the prize for the three best abstracts as judged by a FDIME jury were presented by the Treasurer and the Secretary General of FDIME.