EURYPA— EUROPEAN YOUNG PAEDIATRICIANS` ASSOCIATION
As EURYPA our aim is to bring young pediatricians and pediatric residents together for educational purposes, research and training opportunities and to facilitate homogenous pediatric education among EPA/UNEPSA member countries.
This idea was developed following a combined conference in January 2015 between Italian (SIP – Società Italiana di Pediatria) and Turkish
(TPK - Türk Pediatri Kurumu) Pediatric Association promoted under European Pediatric Association (EPA/UNEPSA). The EURYPA founding board consisted of 3 Turkish and 2 Italian pediatricians who decided to work together to encourage the communication among all pediatricians in Europe.
The newly formed EURYPA met for the first time in Florence, May 2015 under the frame of the 7th Europaediatrics, the biannual European congress of pediatrics, and held its first scientific session. During this session our members presented the results of our first project; the survey on working conditions of residents in pediatrics and qualified young pediatricians in Turkey and Italy.
The first official EURYPA meeting was held in Padua, October 2015, during 12th Italian National Residents Conference (Osservatorio Nazionale Specializzandi Pediatria, ONSP). 12 representatives from 9 different European countries came together and decided on the structure and function of EURYPA. We also decided on the aim which is to improve the medical care given to children across Europe and wrote our first newsletter.
The first EURYPA Congress was held in Istanbul, December 2015. The differences in pediatric resident programs among Europe was one of the topics. There were also 12 different sessions with case presentations. This was first of many great achievements of young pediatricians working together despite the cultural and educational differences. It had a great impact on residents who had the chance to attend this congress. So we planned for more.
In 2016, we published our first article about EURYPA in the Journal of Pediatrics with the support of EPA/UNEPSA
(https:// www.jpeds.com/article/S0022-3476(15)01523-1/pdf).
Planing our first general assembly was not easy. Our last meeting was held in Cyprus, May 2018, at the 54th Congress of Turkish Pediatric Association. There were 8 young pediatricians from 3 different countries. EPA/UNEPSA Secretary General and Vice President honored us by attending our meeting. A statute was written and discussed on, the decision was made about broadening the questionnaire among all European pediatricians. During the general assembly selecting the executive committee was the prior aim, so it was really crucial to reach out our colleges from different countries.
Our first general assembly took place in Dublin, June 2019, at the 9th Europaediatrics. 11 different countries attended to this meeting with at least one representative. There were 20 young pediatricians from UK, Albania, Denmark, Netherlands, Russia, Italy, Croatia, Turkey, Romania, Hungary and Ireland. First, the statute was discussed and some changes were made. It was decided with majority that our members should include medical doctors in pediatric training and pediatricians within 10 years after the residency program. At the end, the statute was decided unanimously.
The most exciting part for EURYPA’s future; our first Executive Committee was elected. According to our statute, from the all attending countries 7 most voted ones were elected for the board. Each country had only one vote despite the number of attendees to the general assembly. The selected countries were Ireland, Turkey, Croatia, Romania, Denmark, Hungary and Italy. After the election among these; as President Ruya Meric (Turkey), as Vice President Roy Gavin Stone (Ireland), as Treasurer Balazs Andras Maar (Hungary), as General Secretary Vasile Valeriu Lupu (Romania), as Assistant Secretary Marija Slobodanac (Croatia) and Soren Lomholt (Denmark), as Assistant Treasurer Enrica Manca (Italy) was selected.
During 9th Europaediatrics in Dublin, EURYPA had a session where pediatric residency programs from Hungary, Ireland, Turkey and Italy were explained in detail with pros and cons. The collaborate work of Ireland and Turkey questionnaire on the residents expectations and working conditions was presented as well.
