Serono Symposia International FoundationAnnual Report - 2011

Our Vision

A warm welcome from our Board of Directorsand Scientific Committee

Governance

Donors

Progress across all our specialist areas

Main achievements

Medical education activities

Statement of activities

2012 and beyond

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Index

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Improving the patient’s life through medical education

Everything we do begins and ends with improving outcomesfor patients. We believe that by offering the very best in medical education,we empower health professionals to provide better care withgreater confidence, greater insight and greater empathy forthe needs of their patients.

At SSIF we believe that private and philanthropic support hasan ever increasing role to play in improving healthcare.

Our contribution is to drive excellence in medical educationand help ensure a brighter future for patients everywhere.

Our Vision

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The many developments outlined in these pages reflect therapidly changing face of continuing medical education. It is anexciting time for SSIF, with so many opportunities to reach outto health professionals and help improve the care they give topatients. We believe this is directly enriching the quality of lifefor patients with conditions ranging from cancer to multiplesclerosis, from infertility to growth disorders.

SSIF also continues to expand into new parts of the world –Latin America and Asia – working in close partnership withmedical academics in those countries. We want to bring thesame educational benefits to their health professionals andhelp raise standards of care. With advancing technology in-cluding live feeds from conferences, online lectures, video andsocial media, it means that even health professionals whocannot reach a particular conference can draw on theknowledge, enthusiasm and inspiration they provide.

Another achievement for SSIF is bringing those who have at-tended our conferences into a closer professional relationshipwith each other and with SSIF. Our MS Alumni Program andour MS Nurse Club are just the first, with more to follow. Weare launching regular e-newsletters to promote upcomingevents and to report on ones just held.

With our expansion into oncology and endocrinology and me-tabolism we are deepening our commitment to improving pa-tient lives through medical education. We have forged newpartnerships with organizations such as MTTC (MolecularTargeted Therapy of Cancer). We have introduced our Lear-ning Effectiveness Program to monitor the impact and qualityof educational resources. The list goes on… but always itcomes back to the patient. Many of the developments repor-ted here are already bearing fruit in 2012, which we believewill be for the benefit of everyone.

A warm welcome from our Board ofDirectors and Scientific Committee

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Giancarlo ComiPresident of the SSIF Scientific Committee

Olivier Dunant President of the SSIF Board of Directors

Governance

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Board of Directors

President

Olivier DunantBorel & BarbeyGeneva, Switzerland

Executive Vice-President and Member

Maria Grazia CalíMerck SeronoRome, Italy

Member

Sophie CaillatDucrest, Heggli Avocats LLCGeneva, Switzerland

Member

Giancarlo ComiDirector of Neurology Department Institute of Experimental Neurology Vita-Salute IRCCSSan Raffaele HospitalMilan, Italy

Member

Jean-Marie HainautLombard Odier & CieGeneva, Switzerland

Scientific Committee

President of the SSIF Scientific Committee

Giancarlo ComiDirector of Neurology Department Institute of Experimental Neurology Vita-Salute IRCCSSan Raffaele HospitalMilan, Italy

Secretary to the Board of Directors

Michèle PirauxManaging Director of the SSIF Operational Office

Member

Daniel CohenCEO PharmanextParis, France

Member

Robert FischerMedical Director Fertility Centre Hamburg, Germany

Advisory Committee

Member

Nenad BlauProfessor Doctor Division of Metabolism University Children's HospitalZürich, Switzerland and Senior Consultant in Biochemical GeneticsUniversity Children's HospitalHeidelberg, Germany

Member

Carlos SimónProfessor of Obstetrics & Gynecology Valencia University Scientific Director of Instituto Valenciano de Infertilidad (IVI)Valencia, Spain

Member

Christoph ZielinskiChairman, Department of Medicine Iand Cancer CenterGeneral Hospital Medical University Vienna, Austria

Our vision is to encourage excellence in medical education tohelp patients. Our programs are organized solely to promotethe exchange and dissemination of scientific and medical in-formation. No form of promotional activity is permitted. The Foundation receives educational grants from 30 donorsto help develop our numerous activities. Without this supportour programs would not be possible. A very big thank you toall the organizations which believe in the work of SSIF:

• Arseus Medical•Celgene•Centre d’Esclerosi Multiple de Catalunya(Vall d'Hebron University Hospital)

• ComtecMed•Congrex •Cryo-Save•Datanalysis•Dos33•Esaote•European Society of Endocrinology• Ferring • Fondazione Humanitas• Fundación IVI•GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals• Johnson & Johnson Medical• ISFP International Society for Fertility Preservation• ISMH International Society of Men’s Health•K.I.T.E.•Karl Storz• Lumenis•Merck Serono Group•PregLem•Richard Wolf Endoscopie•Stallergenes•Sanofi-Aventis• Stopler• Teva Pharma • Toshiba Medical Systems •Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL)•University of Catania

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Donors

2011 has seen many advances for SSIF and the educationalprograms we offer.

Oncology In 2011, SSIF made a strong commitment to medical educa-tion for healthcare professionals working in oncology. We aredeveloping live events such as workshops, expert meetingsand preceptorships and e-learning activities. We have become the Scientific Secretariat and the CME pro-vider for the Medical Education Initiative on Molecular Targe-ted Therapy of Cancer (MTTC), holding meetings in StPetersburg, in Latin America and Asia for the first time.The 12th International MTTC Workshop, held in Rome in May

2011 and the Latin American Workshop, held in Santiago,Chile in November 2011 were part of the International MedicalEducation Initiative run by the MTTC. Led by internationallyrecognized oncologists, the events looked at everything frombiological targets in the treatment of cancer to clinical appli-cations from the lab to the clinic.Other programs also focused on multidisciplinary approachto patient management and preceptorship programs in on-cology. The desire to meet in a multidisciplinary setting andopportunities to liaise and question experts featured stronglyin the feedback from the seven preceptorships in oncologyheld at the Paul Brousse Hospital, Villejuif, Paris, during 2011.Medical oncologists and surgeons from nine countries somuch enjoyed the preceptorships that feedback was 100% for

overall satisfaction, delivering on the objectives set and be-nefiting future care for patients. Participants commented onthe high scientific level of the events, hosted by Professor RenéAdam and his team, and the ability to see sophisticated sur-gery in action using the latest approaches, particularly for liverand colorectal cancer. Some have now started multidiscipli-nary meetings in their own oncology departments.Another significant event in the field of oncology was the roun-dtable meeting chaired by Professor René Adam in Rome, at-tracting key experts in the field of hepato-biliary medicinefrom a range of disciplines and countries. The meeting - Mul-tidisciplinary approach to managing liver metastases fromcolorectal cancer: focus on resectability and combined che-motherapy and surgery – the ‘OncoSurge’ approach– inspi-

Progress across all our specialistareas

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red a position paper submitted to an international scientificjournal for publication in 2012.

NeurologyNeurology is a major field of work for SSIF and in December2011 we had an historic opportunity to run an educationalevent in Shanghai, China. As part of the Congress on Parkin-son’s diseases and related disorders we held a satellite sym-posium on the future of Parkinson’s disease. The symposium,chaired by Antony Shapira of the Institute of Neurology, Uni-versity College London, provided an overview of neurodege-neration in Parkinson’s disease, and also a review of stem celland gene therapy research.In 2011 we also organized the 8th edition of the “MS Precep-torship: Updating knowledge in Multiple Sclerosis” linkingonce more with the renowned Multiple Sclerosis Center ofCatalonia (CEM-Cat ) in Barcelona, a unique educational pro-gram offering a balanced mix of comprehensive lectures andinteractive sessions. These covered all the main aspects ofthe scientific background to multiple sclerosis and its mana-

gement. Acquiring the most up to date knowledge and sha-ring their experience with top-level experts and highly quali-fied colleagues, gives participants greater competence inmanaging their patients’ conditions. In May 2011 also a second SSIF Award was launched with theEuropean Neurological Society (ENS) at the annual ENS con-gress in Lisbon.

Reproductive MedicineA ground-breaking development in 2011 was SSIF’s event inJapan – “Individualized controlled ovarian stimulation andobjective gametes and embryo selection”. This educationalevent was organized as a pre-congress course of the 56thmeeting of the Japanese Society for Reproductive Medicine

pharmacogenomics by Lilien Chertkoff of Argentina and ab-normal growth in Noonan syndrome by Alexander Jorge ofBrazil. The conference gained a very high satisfaction ratingfrom participants of 99%.Our events now cover a broad range of topics in endocrinologyand metabolism, in both adult and paediatric settings, inclu-ding thyroid disease, diabetes mellitus and inborn errors ofmetabolism such as Phenylketonuria (PKU). In 2011 we con-tinued to expand the dedicated PKU Academy website to bringthe very latest information and online education to health pro-fessionals in this field. For everyone engaged in work on en-docrinology and metabolism, CME live events, online coursesand specialist publications are helping improve both the careand the outcomes achieved for their patients.

CardiovascularIn November 2011 SSIF held the First European-Middle Eastforum on cardiovascular risk factors in clinical practice inRome. The forum focused on three major risk factors, hyper-tension, diabetes and hyperlipemia which can affect patientswith heart disease and end stage renal failure. It looked par-ticularly at the Middle Eastern experience of these risks, asthe area moves towards an increasingly westernised diet andlifestyle. Internationally recognized experts, such as G. Mancia(Italy) and J. Redon (Spain) shared their expertise with renow-ned cardiovascular experts from Middle Eastern countries in-cluding Dubai, Qatar, Lebanon, and the Kingdom of SaudiArabia.

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(JSRM) held in Yokohama on December 8-9, 2011. Japan isone of the countries where research on fertility treatment ismost advanced, so it was a great opportunity to tap into Ja-panese knowledge of individual infertility profiles, procedures,and treatment protocols. Another advance was a link up between SSIF and RBM Onlineto feature all of SSIF’s reproductive medicine events. Also in 2011 Professor Carlos Simón, from the Instituto Valen-ciano de Infertilidad received the first SSIF Award for excellencein reproductive medicine during the European Society of HumanReproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) in Stockholm in July.

Endocrinology and MetabolismIn 2011, SSIF’s increasing educational work in this field rea-ched Latin America once again with a conference on the“Ge-nomics and pharmacogenomics of growth disorders”. Theaim of the meeting was to update paediatric endocrinologistsand others on the use of genomics and pharmacogenomicsin managing endocrine diseases. Presentations by eminentLatin American physicians included a basic introduction to

More educational events than ever beforeIn 2011, we held 32 live educational events worldwide coveringfive specialist areas:

8 for neurogenerative diseases

10 for reproductive medicine

10 for oncology

3 for endocrinology and metabolism

1 for cardiovascular

Improved success indicatorsAt SSIF we see participant feedback as fundamental to deve-loping our educational events.

for his great contribution to medical education and for expan-ding the scientific horizons of his field. He received his awardduring the ESHRE 2011 congress in Stockholm. A second SSIFAward was launched with the European Neurological Society(ENS) in May 2011 at the annual ENS congress in Lisbon.

The Learning Effectiveness ProgramDuring 2011 SSIF’s Learning Effectiveness Program, whichaims to monitor the impact and quality of SSIF educational re-sources, was piloted at five educational events and is now beingextended across all the SSIF’s activities. We are constantly stri-ving to improve our CME programs and this innovative projectinvolves learners in a structured series of evaluations.Learners

in three new scientific fields – oncology, cardio-metabolic andfrontotemporal dementias.

New approaches to medical educationIn 2011 SSIF developed a range of new educational tools andformats – giving greater accessibility and flexibility to its pro-grams and making them more interactive.

Awards in Medical EducationIn July 2011 the new SSIF Award for excellence in medical edu-cation in the field of reproductive medicine, in partnership withESHRE (European Society of Human Reproduction and Em-bryology), was made to Professor Carlos Simón of the InstitutoValenciano de Infertilidad. Professor Simón was recognised

At each event participants are asked to rate our performanceand suggest improvements. The average figures for 2011 col-lected on participants' feedback were:98% of participants were very satisfied with the educationalevent they attended95% felt that the scientific program of the event they attendedmet the learning objectives93% felt that the event was not commercially biased97% believed that knowledge gained from the event wouldbenefit their patients.

New scientific fieldsSSIF widened its role in medical education still further in 2011,

Main achievements

2011

10Oncology

3Endocrinology & Metabolism

8Neurogenerative

Diseases

10Reproductive Medicine

Satisfactionrate

100%

0%

Meet objectivesrate

Free of commercialbias rate

Benefit to patientsrate

1Cardiovascular

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95% 93% 97%

2011

98%

2011 2011 2011

are involved in four main steps following initial registration:•Pre-event: learners are asked to complete a questionnaireevaluating their knowledge of specific topics to be covered inthe conference. This allows faculty members presenting atthe event to tailor presentations to the needs of their audience.

•During the conference: learners are asked to evaluate va-rious aspects of the event such as whether information wasunbiased and whether it will influence the care they give topatients in future.

•Post–event: three weeks after the event SSIF contacts par-ticipants to ask if their daily practice has altered at all.

• Follow-up: a final questionnaire three months after the event.All information gained is treated with complete confidentialityand results are fed back to participants.

Widening scientific debateIn 2011, SSIF submitted two position papers, one in multiplesclerosis and one in oncology and published the following ma-nuscripts in reproductive medicine and phenylketonuria: - “Management of Phenylketonuria: current position” in the“Molecular Genetics and Metabolism” scientific journal

- “Reproductive ageing : a basic and clinical update” in the“Fertility & Sterility” scientific journal

- “ A window into the reproductive era research” in the “Pla-centa” scientific journal.

Achieving accreditationSSIF helped no less than 23 medical societies manage theaccreditation process for scientific programs at their an-

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Additional e-learning activitiesSSIF is developing a range of online courses, with six comingon stream in 2011. There was also one online symposium withthe Satellite Symposium held during the European Neurolo-gical Society (ENS). A new PKU Academy and Masters web-site launched in 2010 was expanded with three additionalonline courses and still more e-learning activities.

Making the most of social mediaSocial media tools such as Twitter are playing an ever increa-sing role for SSIF, enabling us to reach a wider audience. Bydriving interest to our website we reached 4100 registeredusers in 2011 with a monthly average of ‘pageviews ̀of 80.000.

nual congresses. These included:• The 50th Congress of the European Society of PaediatricEndocrinology (ESPE)

• The 13th Congress of the European Congress of Endo-crinology (ECE)

• The 27th Annual Meeting of the European Society ofHuman Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE),

• And many more…We also took advantage of our presence at these congres-ses to promoteour commitment to medical education andscientific areas of interest, particularly in the areas of neu-rology, oncology, reproductive medicine and endocrino-logy.

ONCOLOGY 7 Preceptorships in OncologyFrom April to November 2011, Paris, France

12th International Workshop, Molecular Targeted Therapyof Cancer (MTTC), Medical Education InitiativeMay 6-7, 2011 Rome, Italy

Multidisciplinary approach to managing liver metastases from colorectal cancer: focus on resectability and combined chemotherapy and surgery – the “OncoSurge” approachOctober 20-21, 2011 Rome, Italy

9th Latin American Medical Education Workshop on MolecularTargeted Therapy of Cancer (MTTC)November 4-5, 2011 Santiago, Chile

NEUROLOGY CME Annual Meeting in Multiple Sclerosis: Evolving managementin the new scenarioMay 6-7, 2011 Saint Petersburg, Russia

European Neurological Society Satellite SymposiumMay 30, 2011 Lisbon, Portugal

MS Preceptorship: updating knowledge in multiple sclerosisJune 7-9, 2011 Barcelona, Spain

Cognition disorder in multiple sclerosisSeptember 30 – October 1, 2011 Florence, Italy

MS Academia: multiple sclerosis advanced course(pre- European Committee for treatment and research in multiple sclerosis)October 18, 2011 Amsterdam, The Netherlands

13th Multiple Sclerosis Nurse Workshop (pre- European Committee for treatment and research in multiple sclerosis)October 18, 2011 Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Multiple Sclerosis Preceptorship - Fall editionNovember 7-9, 2011 Barcelona, Spain

Satellite Symposium on the future of Parkinson diseaseDecember 12, 2011 Shangai, China

ENDOCRINOLOGYDietitians Workshop (pre - Phenylketonuria meeting)March 24, 2011 Lisbon, Portugal

Medical education activities

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Live educational events

Neurology

Reproductive MedicineOncologyEndocrinology

Cardiovascular

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Advanced course in human reproduction and embryology (Pre- European Society Human Reproduction Embryology)July 7, 2011 Stockholm, Sweden

A Window into the reproductive medicine era researchSeptember 30 - October 1, 2011, Milan, Italy

Advanced workshop on embryologyOctober 26-27, 2011 Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Advanced workshop on oocyte retrieval and embryo transferNovember 23-24, 2011 Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Advanced workshop on oocyte retrieval and embryo transferNovember 25-26, 2011 Dubai, United Arab Emirates

IVF Preceptorship: current practice in the 21st centuryDecember 1-2, 2011 Madrid, Spain

Individualized controlled ovarian stimulation and objective gameteand embryo selectionDecember 7, 2011 Yokohama, Japan

E-learning activities It was a very exciting year for e-learning activities, with in-creased use of video resources and new communicationchannels such as Twitter. Amongst the highlights were: • The further development of the PKU Academy website whichprovides e-learning courses, glossary of important termino-logy in PKU, calendar of events and links to international so-cieties dedicated to inherited metabolic disorders.

• The launch of six online-lectures.• A “virtual symposium” held through three online lecturesfrom the SSIF Satellite Symposium at the 21st ENS (Euro-pean Neurological Society) Congress in Lisbon.

• Increased use of Twitter to communicate to a global au-dience and for “real-time” reporting from key events.

• Enhancing technical components in the online lectures,greatly improving delivery.

• A growing number of e-newsletters to update on recent andupcoming events.

3rd European Phenylketonuria Group Symposium “Advances and challenges in Phenylketonuria”March 25-26, 2011 Lisbon, Portugal

Genomics and pharmacogenomics of growth disordersOctober 27-28, 2011 Buenos Aires, Argentina

CARDIOVASCULARCardiovascular risk factors in clinical practiceNovember 25, 2011 Rome, Italy

REPRODUCTIVE MEDICINECME Annual Meeting in Reproductive Medicine: IndividualisedCOS to optimize the quantity and quality of oocytes and embryosgenerated in ART cyclesApril 1-2, 2011 Paris, France

Reproductive ageing - a basic and clinical updateApril 29-30, 2011 Taormina, Sicily, Italy

Defining patients subgroups to personalize infertility treatment(2nd edition)May 27-28, 2011 Copenhagen, Denmark

Statement of activities

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EURO

ACTUAL ACTUAL ACTUAL2011 2010 2009

Income from donations & registration fees 6’861’188 5’677’559 5’477’783

Total Congress Costs 6’982’033 5’500’751 5’279’351Fixed Costs 171’108 131’160 121’549Total Expenses 7’153’141 5’631’911 5’400’900Financial Income 7’933 14’322 12’602Net Surplus (Deficit) (284’020) 59’970 89’485

2011

2%Fixed Costs

98%Congress Costs

Expected costs as per 31.12.2011

2010

2%Fixed Costs

98%Congress Costs

Expected costs as per 31.12.2010

2009

2%Fixed Costs

98%Congress Costs

Expected costs as per 31.12.2009

ners (GPs). Until now SSIF has worked mainly with specialists.A website focusing on basic and advanced knowledge of hy-pertension will be launched at the European Society of Car-diology (ESC) congress in Munich in August 2012. A diabetessite will provide both basic and advanced information on Type2 diabetes and will be launched in October 2012 at the Euro-pean Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) congressin Berlin.

Further strengthening our relationship with health professionals and developing the dialogueWhen participants leave our events that should not be the endof the story. We want a continuing relationship with the healthprofessionals we have brought together, enabling them toshare experiences and continue to learn more about theirspecialty. This is the idea behind two projects launched in 2012– the MS Alumni Program and the MS Nurse Club. TheMS Alumni Program is aimed at inspiring young physi-cians who have attended one of our preceptorship programsin multiple sclerosis. SSIF is keen to create a lasting commu-nity of energy and talent, supported by three main MS centresin Europe: • CEM-Cat, the MS Centre based in Barcelona;• The Institute of Experimental Neurology, Vita-Salute SanRaffaele University, Milan;

• Valens Clinic Rehabilitation Center, Valens, Switzerland.Leading clinicians will act as ambassadors to help shape theprogram’s e-learning activities. There will be direct interactionwith alumni through a specialist web microsite created bySSIF.Our MS Nurse Club is responding directly to the question frommany participants when an event ends – “What next?” TheClub provides online educational support and a forum for nur-ses working in the field of multiple sclerosis to discuss queriesand developments. As with the Alumni Program there will be“ambassadors” to ensure the quality and diversity of materialon a dedicated microsite.

Launching a new award in oncologyJoining the awards already in place for other specialties, anSSIF Award for educational excellence in the field of oncologyis being launched in 2012. It will be awarded to the expert whoSSIF feels has made the greatest contribution to furtheringknowledge in oncology.

2012 and beyond

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2012 is an exciting year for SSIF with a number of major pro-jects becoming a reality.

Delivering our new SSIF website (www.seronosymposia.org)Our website, the “shop window” to the world for our educa-tional activities, is now fresher, brighter and more accessible.It has been completely re-designed with the emphasis on fun-ctionality and easy connections to online media such as videolectures, podcasts, RSS feeds and interactive learning. Navi-gation in our new site has been simplified to allow registered

and new users to access to medical education at the touch ofa button.

Launching a new website in oncology(www.mttc-worldwide.org) Just a month after the new SSIF website was launched, a newsite for the MTTC (Molecular Targeted Therapy of Cancer) hastaken to the internet. It updates and expands the MTTC’s webpresence but with a simplified attractive design. The websiteis managed by SSIF in our role as Scientific Secretariat to theMTTC. Users can now access key slides and follow up mate-rials from live educational events. It also provides authoritativeintroductions to essential topics in molecular targeted therapyof cancer.

Introducing new websites for general practicionersNew educational websites on diabetes and hypertension arereaching out to a new audience for SSIF – general practitio-

Rew

arding Scienti!c Excellence in Med

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Sero

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mposia International FoundationSSIF AWARD2013

Serono Symposia International Foundation

Representative OfficeSalita di San Nicola da Tolentino 1/B 00187 Rome, Italy.T +39.06.420.413.1, F +39.06.420.413.677

Headquarters14, Rue du Rhône, 1204 Geneva, Switzerland

Copyright © Serono Symposia International Foundation, 2012. All rights reserved

Improving the patient’s life through medical education