First EFP Graduate-Alumni-Symposium proves to be a hit

Chaired by Prof. Moshe Goldstein and Dr France Lambert, both from the EFP Postgraduate Committee, along with President-elect Dr Filippo Graziani, official coordinator of EFP Alumni, Perio Talks featured eight speakers sharing their own unique journeys in periodontics. Hailing from countries as disparate as Ireland and Israel, the presenters ranged in experience from a knowledgeable professor to a first-year student. Regardless of these differences, their stories were of a uniformly high quality and provided a rapt audience with wisdom about both periodontics and making significant life choices.

Having undergone a special training session in Vienna in Austria earlier in the year on talking without notes, the presenters spoke with confidence for 10–12 minutes each. Prof. Eli Machtei, Director of the School of Graduate Dentistry of the Rambam Health Care Campus in Haifa in Israel, encouraged young attendees to pursue an academic career in periodontics, while Dr Cavid Ahmedbeyli detailed his experiences in forming PERIOAZ, Azerbaijan’s national society for periodontics, in 2012 and helping it become an EFP associate member society by 2017.

Perio Talks was the first event to be held by EFP Alumni, an initiative that commenced in 2017 with the goal of connecting students and teachers in periodontics. There are currently 16 EFP-accredited postgraduate university programmes in periodontics today, with 446 EFP-certified graduates from over 50 countries. According to Dr Michèle Reners, chair of the EuroPerio9 organising committee, over 40 per cent of the conference’s attendees are under the age of 35.

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