President's Message

December, 19 2008

This message comes towards the end of 2008, another productive year for the Association. I would like tho thank all the members for their support and hope we can continue to thrive. I would also like to wish members of the association and everyone else who visits the web site the warmest of season's greetings and hope everyone has a safe and happy new year.

The Latin American meeting was held in Buenos Aires last month, another very successful meeting in South America with more attendees than ever covering 5 days of workshops and thematic sessions. Four board members were present: myself, Alain Verstraete, Hans Maurer and Marc Lebeau and one of our past presidents, Marilyn Huestis. The meeting included the centenary celebration of the forensic medical facility in Buenos Aires including the mortuary. A plaque with the TIAFT logo commemorates the occasion, a truly wonderful tribute to our Association. On behalf of the membership I would like to thank Dr Oscar Locani and his team for organising this meeting in the vibrant city of Buenos Aires.

Survey responses have been extended to end January. Please provide feedback on any activity of TIAFT, or suggest future activities. This will help the board to better serve its members. All comments will be considered at the next board meeting (March in Bangkok) and will form part of the boards planning for the next 3 years. Responses can be sent through the web page, by sending in the completed responses to the address or fax listed on the web site.

Please consider sending in your scientific contributions for the next editions of the Bulletin. The Bulletin editor Anya Pierce and her editorial team are keen to have short papers, analytical methods or interesting cases for publication in the Bulletin. This will all help to increase the scientific content of the Bulletin.

See you soon.

Olaf H. Drummer
TIAFT president.

Olaf H. Drummer PhD(med) ARCPA MRACI CChem
Head (Forensic & Scientific Services)
Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine
Adjunct Professor,
Department of Forensic Medicine, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine
Monash University, 57-83 Kavanagh Street, Southbank, 3006, AUSTRALIA
e-mail: olaf@vifm.org