International Liaison Committee for Microcirculation
History:
It was further agreed that World Congresses should be rotating in countries coming from the 3 representative groupings.
The 1988 meeting confirmed the selection system for membership for the Liaison Committee. The European Society, the Microcirculatory Society, Inc. of America and the Asia-Australia Group were invited to provide four names for representation on the International Liaison Committee:
| Europe: | Fagrell, Gaehtgens, Smaje and Reneman| Asia-Australia: | Tsuchiya, Oda, Casley-Smith, Rui-juan Xiu | The Microcirculatory Society, Inc.: | Geert Schmid-Schönbein, Ingrid Sarelius, Roland Pittman and Robert Gore.
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In 1990, a system for electing a Chairman was put into action and David Lewis was duly elected Chairman to take up this role following the Louisville Meeting in 1991.
In 1991, the above mentioned objectives of the Liaison Committee as well as the principle that the 3 major geographical areas should elect 4 representatives to make up an Executive Committee were reaffirmed. It was determined to hold World Congresses at a five-yearly interval, alternating between an American, a European and an Asian/Australian meeting. In 1998, however, there was general agreement that the Committee should be flexible about the precise timing of World Congresses.
In 1999, David Lewis' illness required him to relinquish his role as Chairman and Prof. John Tooke provisionally took over this position.
During its 2001 meeting, the Committee approved a paper outlining the rationale, membership and constitution of the International Liaison Committee. It was agreed that the principle remit of the Committee was to ensure that the decisions in relation to timing, location and nature of Microcirculation World Congresses reflected the needs and interests of the global Microcirculation Community. It was further agreed that there should be three representatives from the three broad areas: Australasia, The Americas, and Europe. The immediate past president, the current president and the immediate future president of the next World Congress would be present in a non-voting capacity. It was agreed that it was a responsibility of area representatives to ensure broad representation from their geographical area. Prof. John Tooke was confirmed as Chair of the Committee.
He declared his resignation from this position in 2006 and Prof. Axel Pries was elected as the new Committee Chairman. It was also agreed during this meeting that the chairpersons' term of office should cover two World Congresses for Microcirculation and, furthermore, that the Liaison Committee and the constituent international and national societies should try to avoid the scheduling of additional international conferences in years of World Conferences for Microcirculation.