Dear OARSI members,
I hope you all are staying healthy and spirited in greeting this winter season.
As the OARSI president, I am glad to congratulate Nancy Lane, Mohit Kapoor and Magali
Cucchiarini who were elected to officer positions of our society as the president-elect,
treasurer, and secretary, respectively, for 2024 to 2026. I expect that these new leaders will
make their best efforts to bring innovative ideas to OARSI and pursue consistent policy to
advance the standing of our society globally. I would also like recognize the teams of
Changhai Ding/Willis Wang and Francisco Blanco/Francisco Castro-Domínguez who were
designated as the National Ambassador representing China and Spain, respectively. We are
expecting a tremendous role from Ambassadors in promoting the membership and
participation from each country to OARSI activities.
Preparation for the OARSI 2024 World Congress in Vienna is well underway. The scientific
program is almost finished thanks to the hard work of Jeremie Sellam, the chair of Program
Committee and other members of the committee. The program will be available from our
website in the next few weeks. I am very pleased to tell you that we received 880 abstract
submissions, which is the highest number of submissions in the last 10 years of OARSI
World Congress. Still, we have room for more papers with late breaking abstract submission
starting on January 5, 2024. Given these encouraging signs, I anticipate a record setting
participation to the OARSI World Congress in Vienna.
I am also delighted to report the success of the Society for Osteoarthritis Research (SOAR)
Conference held on October 1-2 in Agra, India, and the 2 nd Asian Conference Cartilage and
Osteoarthritis (ACCO) held on Oct 19-20 in Seoul, Korea, both held under OARSI umbrella
and attended by many OARSI members. The 2 nd ACCO preceded the OARSI Board of
Directors meeting on Oct 21st. Two full days of scientific talks encompassing various basic
and clinical aspects of OA as well as well-prepared social events were enjoyed by all
participants. We encourage OARSI members to likewise organize regional conferences in
their continents which will promote the global presence of our society. OARSI will provide
non-financial but substantial support and advice for organizing these regional conferences.
Lastly, I’d like to remind interested members to participate in OARSI governance by
volunteering to serve on OARSI committees. OARSI needs energy and devotion of talented
members. The application deadline is December 31, 2023. For a list of committees and
descriptions, please visit the Committee webpage. To learn more about the goals, activities,
and anticipated time commitments for serving on the various committees, please review the
details for each committee on the committee applications page.
I hope you all celebrate a Merry Christmas time and happy year-end season.
December 6, 2023
Gun-il Im, OARSI president
Photograph taken after the dinner party held at the Korean House in Seoul during 2nd ACCO meeting