Dear ISSHP members,

At the end of 2015, I would like to reflect on a few issues relevant to pre-eclampsia.

First and foremost we need to stay aware of the global scale of this disorder. I know that living in a developed country like Australia I can easily become complacent about the impact of this disorder. We almost never see maternal deaths and have remarkably low perinatal mortality rates from pre-eclampsia, just like all other developed countries. Yet in other parts of the world this past year many mothers and almost half a million babies will have died, a truly sobering thought with a massive effect on their families. I’m not meaning to dampen your Xmas as it’s a positive thing for us to remain aware of this and try to make a change.

Against that background I’m excited that we now have a grant of $30,000 US per annum to enhance practical research in low and middle income countries. This is a combined initiative of the Pre-eclampsia Foundation, Co-Lab and ISSHP. Many people have helped get this off the ground but I’d like to thank particularly Eleni Tsigas, Tom Easterling, Jim Roberts and Peter von Dadelszen for their efforts. This is a great initiative that should bring real changes to the outcomes of pre-eclamptic pregnancies in such countries.

Your Society has also been changing ‘behind the scenes’. We have a new Executive that meets regularly; the Journal (Pregnancy Hypertension) has been Medline listed (including all papers published in this Journal before this year); several groups are working towards an International consensus on diagnosis and management of hypertensive pregnancies; some countries have celebrated a dedicated day to increase the public profile of pre-eclampsia; and of course we continue to meet and discuss new knowledge. ISSHP Europe is fast becoming a major conference. This year’s meeting was held in the stunning city of Budapest where Janos Rigos and his colleagues hosted a fabulous meeting, both scientifically and socially.

Of course our next meeting is in Sao Paolo in October 2016. The program is just about finalised and this promises to be another exciting meeting with a deliberate blend of science and clinical medicine.

Hopefully the best achievement of ISSHP this year is that you feel more connected to the Society than before, through our newsletters, website and other communications. I’d like to thank Louise Kenny for helping us achieve this aim by doing such a great job as secretary-treasurer this year; that job is a lot of work which Louise does enthusiastically.

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas, that you get some time to relax, and perhaps reflect, and importantly to spend time valuing friends and family.

Merry Christmas.

Mark Brown

President, ISSHP.