The ECTS academy was launched at the ECTS Annual Meeting in 2016. I belong to the first founding members through the New Investigator Committee. It is a great honor to be part of the Academy, to connect and network with my peers, contribute to the ECTS and advance the knowledge in the musculosketal and calcified tissue field worldwide together.
I had the privilege to organize the first ECTS Academy Retreat in Madrid in October 2016 (See attached picture). I am originally from Cyprus, but Madrid has been my home for the last 7 years. It was a highly fulfilling experience to get together with such young talented scientists for an extremely fruitful and at the same time fun activity. We started our retreat with a dinner at a symbolic square in Madrid with some typical Spanish food, and got to know each other both professionally and personally. The next day, we organized ourselves in task forces for the objectives we have determined, came up with a slogan and assigned deadlines for the task forces. I personally am excited to be a part of the Conference organizing committee together with Dr. Graeme Campbell and the Social Media Committee together with Dr. Graziana Colaianni.
The Conference Organizing Committee is in charge of making sure that ECTS Academy is well-represented at the Annual Congress and contributes to the scientific program designed for young scientists. We have an exciting New Investigator Mentoring Session planned. Also stay tuned for some fun activities!
The Social Media Committee is responsible for the visibility of the ECTS Academy. Using Facebook and Twitter, we will have a voice both for educational and dissemination purposes.
I carried out my PhD studies on bone physiology and metastasis at the Washington University in St. Louis in the USA. I moved to Europe at the end of 2009, and since then ECTS has been a supportive family that welcomed me to European Musculoskeletal and Bone research. Over the years, I got to interact with inspiring scientists both in academia and the industry. ECTS meetings are always a special time of year to look forward to. Now I am grateful that I will be a part of the ECTS Academy family for the next 5 years, and will try to contribute to the community in the best possible way.
I would like to thank the ECTS for the opportunity, Amgen and AgNovos for the sponsorship and my peers in the Academy for the enthusiasm.
Özge Uluçkan