LAUSR

At the time of its founding in 1974 as the International Study Group for Diabetes (ISGD), most children and adolescents with diabetes received care from adult diabetologists, general pediatricians or general practitioners. With the emergence of pediatric endocrinology as a subspecialty in the latter half of the 20th century little attention was paid to children with diabetes mellitus. Indeed, many pediatric endocrinologists did not consider diabetes mellitus to be an endocrinologic disorder that warranted their professional attention. The neglect of pediatric diabetology by pediatric and adult endocrinology organizations such as the International Diabetes Federation, the American Diabetes Association, British Diabetes Association and European Association for the Study of Diabetes prompted the founders of ISGD, the forerunner of the International Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Diabetes (ISPAD), to take matters into their own hands. All but one of the founding members of the study group (Zvi Laron, born in Romania, working in Israel) were from countries in Europe— Belgium, France, Italy, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, West Germany and Yugoslavia. Soon thereafter, membership expanded to include the USA, Finland, Norway, Sweden and UK, and subsequently there has been sustained growth with new members each year from South America, Australasia, Middle East, Africa and the Asia Pacific region. In 1993, with membership burgeoning and guided by the principles stated in the Declaration of Kos, ISGD was transformed into the fullyfledged professional society (ISPAD) that exists today. Year-after-year annual ISPAD conferences occurred at venues either in Europe or North America, only occasionally venturing to locations such as Japan, Singapore, Durban, Buenos Aires, Istanbul and Brisbane, when a vocal and persuasive ISPAD member advocated to convene the meeting in his or her country. Despite the large population of children with diabetes in India (second only to the USA), ISPAD members from India were relatively sparse and ISPAD had never previously hosted its annual meeting on the Indian subcontinent. After several ISPAD members had been invited to speak at conferences in India, Dr Banshi Saboo suggested to Ragnar Hanas, ISPAD President at that time, that he would like to have the opportunity to host an ISPAD annual meeting in India, a country where many healthcare professionals are unaware of the disease, to spread the voice of pediatric diabetes in India. Ragnar was impressed by how well the Indian meetings had been organized and, after contacting Dr Anju Virmani representing the Indian Society for Pediatric Endocrinology (ISPAE), encouraged them to submit a formal application from India. The ISPAD Executive Committee initially reacted to the nomination of India as the site for its 44th annual meeting with some hesitation. Nonetheless, Banshi Saboo and Anju Virmani were confident and persuasive and, guided by ISPAD's mission to improve the lives of children, adolescents and young adults with diabetes mellitus throughout the world, the Executive Committee awarded them the privilege to convene the meeting with the theme “Reaching the Unreached” in Hyderabad in October 2018. It should also be noted that Ben Hainsworth, Executive Director of our management company, K.I.T., had previous experience organizing meetings in India and encouraged the ISPAD Executive Committee to make this decision. Ben Hainsworth and his staff at K.I.T., with crucial input from Banshi Saboo, secured an outstanding conference venue and identified suitable hotels in the immediate vicinity; and with the assistance of an enthusiastic local and international organizing committee, Anju Virmani and Banshi Saboo created an outstanding scientific program that included a parallel program, referred to as “Diabetes 101” consisting of seven lectures, specifically designed to meet the learning needs of local delegates who are not diabetes specialists. Each of the lectures in the “Diabetes 101” program was on a core topic in pediatric diabetes and delivered by a renowned subject matter expert. “Diabetes 101” proved to be spectacularly successful and all the lectures were very well attended. DOI: 10.1111/pedi.12892