The Italian Society for Osteoporosis, Mineral Metabolism and Bone Diseases was funded in 2000 from the union of the Italian Society of Mineral Metabolism (funded in 1979) and the Italian Society of Osteoporosis. With currently more than 500 members, SIOMMMS represents the most important scientific society for the study of osteoporosis and metabolic bone diseases in Italy.
It is organized with a board of directors of 13 members, including the President (Maurizio Rossini), the Elected President (Iacopo Chiodini), and the Secretary (Davide Gatti). Each board member is elected for four years; elections take place every two years to renew the board by half. Board members coordinates 7 committees, to which other members of the Society may join; the committees are Scientific, Editorial, Guidelines, Teaching and Training, Website and Members Services, Center-North Activities, South-North Activities. The last two committees coordinate the activities of the regional committees, that have been established with the aim of favoring the widespread of scientific knowledge and support for clinical and research activities all over the country.
Several specialties are involved in the society, as testified by the multidisciplinary of its members: rheumatology, internal medicine, endocrinology, nephrology, physical medicine and rehabilitation, radiology, orthopedics, basic science, biotechnology, biology. Application for membership may be filled out online in a dedicated page of the website.
As the outstanding scientific society in the field of metabolic bone disease in Italy, the most important specialized centers all around the country are affiliated to SIOMMMS. To obtain affiliation, the center has to fill out a detailed request in the website. In the request, the center needs to demonstrate that researchers/clinicians from the center are current member of the society, and that the center has specific facilities and knowledge in metabolic bone disease. A list of all the affiliated centers is published on the website and continuously updated with the aim of offering connections to healthcare specialists, researchers, as well as providing useful support to patients looking for specialized centers.
The scopes of SIOMMMS are: to promote the spread of knowledge in the field of osteoporosis, mineral metabolism, and bone diseases; to promote the scientific training of young researchers and their involvement in corporate activities; enhance the academic teaching of mineral metabolism. The society is committed to stimulate the progress of experimental and clinical studies by providing connections among research groups from different parts of the country, as well as by providing research funding. Finally, the development of research methods and guidelines for diagnosis and treatment of metabolic bone diseases, also in collaboration with other scientific societies, are major scopes of SIOMMMS. Recently, guidelines on the osteonecrosis of the jaw, vitamin D, and the management of osteoporosis and fragility fractures have been released by SIOMMMS, many of them as a product of collaboration with other scientific societies.
The most important event is the national SIOMMMS meeting; it is organized as an annual conference and held in October, in a different host city per year. It is a three-day conference offering different types of sessions covering many aspects of mineral metabolism, osteoporosis, metabolic bone disease, rare skeletal disorders. In the last five years, SIOMMMS has organized a pre-meeting one-day workshop, the “Fellow day”, during which young investigators have the opportunity to meet with international experts. Young investigators may listen to experts’ talk, present and discuss their own research data in a positive and informal environment.
This year, the 20th National Conference was organized as a virtual conference with live sessions from October 22nd to 24th and recorded sessions that will be available until the end of the year. Lecturers, symposia, meet-the-expert sessions, abstracts are part of the program, as well as special sessions completely organized and lead by young members. These are clinical and research fellows and PhD students who form the Young Edition SIOMMMS (YES!) group, an active and recently established group of members younger than 35 with its own organization. During the conference, winners of research fellowships and grants are announced, as well as prizes for the best abstracts from young and senior investigators. The annual conference is the most important event for the SIOMMMS members, who have the possibility for meeting, discussing, and socializing.
Other activities of SIOMMMS are regional conferences that are held annually or every other year in many regions of the country. It could be either a multidisciplinary or a more focused conference of one or two days. Also, training for young members is organized by SIOMMMS on a local basis and webinars will be soon available.
The Editorial committee has intense activity that lead to the annual publication of a syllabus focused on different topics. Recently, the Editorial committee has announced that the SIOMMMS own journal will be soon released and freely offered to members.
Since its foundation, SIOMMMS has had the peculiarity of gathering outstanding researchers and clinicians in a multidisciplinary environment involving not only Italian but also international experts. Collaborations are indeed made with international members from the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR) during the annual conference and the Fellow day. Members of the society, of the board of directors and of many of the aforementioned committees are currently members of international scientific societies dedicated to the study of bone and mineral metabolism, as the ASBMR and ECTS. In most cases these members have covered or currently cover outstanding positions in the board of directors or in several dedicated committees of ASBMR and ECTS.
All the SIOMMMS activities are listed on our website that summarizes also the most updated evidence in metabolic bone disease. The 2020 conference program may be found at the page www.siommms2020.it. All the news are also shared on the Facebook page “Osteoporosi SIOMMMS”.