MILANO MEETING

22-25 November 2008

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this promotional event, named MILANO MEETING, was to present the City of Milan's candidacy to host the 20th European Congress of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine – EUROMEDLAB 2013, held by the International Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (IFCC) and the European Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (EFCC).

PROMOTERS

This initiative was promoted by the Società Italiana di Biochimica Clinica e Biologia Molecolare Clinica (SIBioC) through its dedicated “Promoting Committee of the Euromedlab Milan 2013 Congress” chaired by Prof. Mauro Panteghini of the Università degli Studi di Milano, who SIBioC has appointed to coordinate the event.
The Società FieraMilanoCongressi (in the absence of the Milano Convention Bureau) and the Comune di Milano, Assessorato alla Salute, took part in the initiative.

PROGRAM

The program, outlined in detail in the following pages, included:

Social and touristic features devoted to getting acquainted with the City of Milan, with tours of Sforza Castle, La Scala Theater, Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, the Duomo, Palazzo Marino (including viewing Caravaggio’s The Conversion of Saint Paul on loan from the Odescalchi family), and Santa Maria delle Grazie, home of the “Last Supper” fresco by Leonardo da Vinci;
The official candidacy presentation for Euromedlab 2013, with meetings and contacts with Prof. Mario Plebani, President of the Società Italiana di Biochimica Clinica e Biologia Molecolare Clinica (SIBioC), with the directors of the MIC – Milano Convention Center (including a tour of the center), with Prof. Giampiero Sironi, Prorector of Research at the Università degli Studi di Milano, and with Dr. Manfredi Palmeri, Chairman of the Milan City Council;
An international scientific meeting, promoted by the Interdepartmental Center of Metrological Traceability in Laboratory Medicine (CIRME) of the Università degli Studi di Milano, whose topic was “Standardization in Clinical Enzymology: A challenge for the theory of metrological traceability.”

MILANO MEETING PROGRAM

		SATURDAY 22 NOVEMBER 2008
Day		Arrival of participants and free time
19.30		Informal dinner at hotel


		SUNDAY 23 NOVEMBER 2008
9.00		Meet in hotel lobby
9.30		Sightseeing: guided tour of Milan (part one)
		Sforza Castle, Duomo, Palazzo Reale, the Galleria, La Scala Square
12.30		Lunch
14.30		Sightseeing: guided tour of Milan (part two)
		Santa Maria delle Grazie church and the Last Supper fresco by Leonardo da Vinci
17.00		Free time
19.30		Meet in hotel lobby
20.00		Gala Dinner


		MONDAY 24 NOVEMBER 2008
9.00		Meet in hotel lobby and transfer to SIBioC office
9.45		Presentation of SIBioC organization and activities
11.00		Transfer to Milano Convention Center
11.30		Presentation and tour of the Milano Convention Center
13.00		Quick lunch
14.30		Transfer to the University of Milan
15.00		Meeting with the University Rector and tour of “Ca’ Granda” campus
15.45		Transfer to City Hall
16.00		Meeting with the City of Milan authorities
17.00		Transfer to hotel and free time
19.30		Meet in hotel lobby
20.00		Dinner


		TUESDAY 25 NOVEMBER 2008
8.45		Meet in hotel lobby and transfer to meeting venue
10:00 16.30		2nd International Scientific Meeting on Standardization in Clinical Enzymology
Evening		Departures

PARTICIPANTS

Invitations have been sent to the presidents (or their representatives) of the 38 European national societies that belong to the EFCC, who will vote among candidate venues. The table below lists the countries and EFCC delegates who attended the Milano Meeting.

COUNTRY	REPRESENTATIVE	OFFICE
AUSTRIA	Andrea Griesmacher	National Representative
CROATIA	Ana Maria Simundic	National Representative
CZECH REPUBLIC	Ludìk Šprongl	Treasurer
FRANCE	Bernard Gouget	National Representative
GERMANY	Karl Lackner	National Representative
GREECE	Katerina Psarra	President
IRELAND	Alan Balfe	President
LATVIA	Dzintars Ozolins	President
LITHUANIA	Dalius Viktus	Vice-President
MACEDONIA	Valentina Koloska	National Representative
THE NETHERLANDS	Hans Janssen	National Representative
POLAND	Grazyna Sypniewska	President
PORTUGAL	João Tiago Guimarães	Vice-President
ROMANIA	Gheorghe Benga	National Representative
SERBIA	Nada Majkic-Singh	President
SLOVAKIA	Jan Balla	Member of the Board
SPAIN	Josep M. Queraltó	Member of the Board
SWEDEN	Per Bjellerup	Vice-President
SWITZERLAND	Lorenz Risch	National Representative
TURKEY	Abdurrahman Coskun	National Representative
UNITED KINGDOM	Julian H. Barth	President Elect
UKRAINE	Olena Beregova	Vice-President
IFCC	Mathias Müller	IFCC Past President
IFCC	Tomris Ozben	IFCC C-CC Chair
EFCC	Mario Pazzagli	Member of the Board

In addition, the following SIBioC members were in attendance to receive and brief the foreign guests:

Mario Plebani - SIBioC President
Mauro Panteghini - Chair of the Promoting Committee
Pierangelo Bonini
Luigi Caimi
Ferruccio Ceriotti
Maurizio Ferrari
Carlo Franzini
Gianvico Melzi d’Eril
Paolo Mocarelli
Andrea Mosca
Guido Tettamanti

SUMMARY OF ACTIVITIES

Saturday 22 November was given over to arrivals. Guests were taken to Hotel Sol Melià Milano, a five-star facility in the FieraMilanoCity – Lotto area, where they were put up during the Milano Meeting. Dinner that evening was served at Ristorante AlaCena dell’Hotel, where special preference was given to the house specialty, Catalan crème, which garnered great praise.

Sunday 23 November was devoted to touring Milan. Sunshine and clear skies rose to the occasion, though the temperature was brisk. Accompanied by a guide, five Milanese professors, and three local tour guides, the foreign guests toured Sforza Castle. In its museums, they were able to take in several works by renowned artists, including Michelangelo’s Rondanini Pietà and the Sala delle Asse (“hall of wooden panels”) with frescoes by Leonardo da Vinci.

Upon leaving Filarete Tower the guests were able to witness the Milan Marathon and all its logistics at full tilt. A stroll down Via Dante brought a chance to view an outdoor photo exhibit about Planet Earth. The tour went through Piazza Cordusio, with its palazzi where banks and major companies are headquartered, on the way to La Scala Theater. The visit to the temple of opera was swift but intense, thanks to the guide’s fascinating explanations.

Milano Meeting

A walk through the Galleria, “Milan’s parlor,” was punctuated by a stop in the central octagon to watch tourists pirouette on “the bull,” which as age-old legend has it, will assure a return trip to Milan. This leg culminated in Piazza del Duomo, where the stunning cathedral gleamed with its recently cleaned facade under the bright winter sun. Palazzo Reale, which had three ongoing art exhibits, the Arengario (unfortunately under restoration), and all the old palazzi that overlook the piazza shone along with it.
A quick tour off the medieval Palazzo della Ragione and the Palazzo dei Giureconsulti was followed by a luncheon on a high terrace only a couple dozen yards from the Duomo. That allowed everyone a close look at all the Candoglia marble spires and the golden Madonnina atop the main steeple. The tour of the Duomo’s terrace, on such a lovely day, with its breathtaking view of the Alps is a memory that will certainly stay with all the participants in the Milano Meeting.

Milano Meeting

The following SIBioC members were also on hand to greet the foreign guests and show them around: Ferruccio Ceriotti, Maurizio Ferrari, Paolo Mocarelli, Andrea Mosca.
The afternoon brought a tour of Santa Maria delle Grazie, both the church and its cloister, where admission was also granted to Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece, “The Last Supper.” An intense fifteen minutes’ contemplation of the famous fresco was hosted the Dominican monks’ refectory.
As the day came to an end, guests returned to the hotel to get ready for the gala dinner, which was held at Ristorante Boeucc in Palazzo Belgioioso, a luxurious fifteenth-century building. During dinner, SIBioC president Prof. Mario Plebani thanked all those participating in the Milano Meeting.

Monday 24 November was devoted to presenting Milan’s candidacy. All guests were taken to SIBioC headquarters, where Prof. Mario Plebani, President of SIBioC, described the society’s operations and its strong commitment to IFCC and EFCC activities. The floor was then given to Prof. Mauro Panteghini, Chairman of the Promoting Committeeof the Euromedlab Milan 2013 Congress, who illustrated the main advantages of Milan’s candidacy:

perfect congress venue,
vast availability of hotels at broad range of prices,
ease of access to Milan from throughout Europe, thanks to three international airports, as well as good railroad and highway connections,
excellent local surface transport network and subway system,
Milan and Lombardy Region, home to six schools of medicine and 80% of companies that carry out biotechnology research,
international, cosmopolitan city.

Milano Meeting

A video on Milan, provided by Expo 2015, and a coffee break rounded out this first part of the day.
The group then visited the Milano Convention Center – MIC, where two officers, Dott.ssa Valeria Guarisco and Dott. Duccio Ulivelli, greeted the guests and took them around the vast spaces inside the MIC, more than large enough to house Euromedlab, with its at least 5,000 delegates. The modular lecture halls and their excellent equipment made an excellent impression on all the foreign delegates, showing the structure to be flexible, easy to find one’s way around, clean, and in good order (even though no events were taking place).
A brief presentation gave a further idea of the space available today and that planned for the new Milano Convention Center, which is slated to become Europe’s largest in 2011, offering more than 100,000 square meters. A short video on Milan and its congress structures wound up the meeting before it was adjourned for the working lunch.

At an early afternoon meeting, Prof. Giampiero Sironi, Prorector of Research at the Università degli Studi di Milano, illustrated the university’s biomedical research activities. He also made the official announcement of the university’s support for Milan’s candidacy to host the Euromedlab 2013 Congress.
There was no way to pass up the chance to tour Filarete’s Cloisters, the heart of central campus, which were built as a “Hospital for the Poor” in the fifteenth century at the behest of Francesco Sforza. A visit to the “Crociera,” ancient chambers in vaulted brick that once held beds for the sick and today are study halls, wrapped up the trip to the university.

The final official appointment of the afternoon was with Milan City Council Chairman Dr. Manfredi Palmeri in the gorgeous setting of the Salone della Giunta inside the ancient Palazzo Marino that stands opposite La Scala Theater and has long served as Milan’s city hall. Dr. Palmeri bore greetings from Milan’s mayor, Dott.ssa Letizia Moratti, and the superintendent of health, Dott. Giampaolo Landi di Chiavenna, whose duties kept them from attending personally. Dr. Palmeri expressed hope that the Euromedlab 2013 Congress can be organized in Milan, announcing the full support of city government for its candidacy.

Milano Meeting

As a surprise, the guests were invited to view the exhibit of the famous painting of “The Conversion of Saint Paul” by Caravaggio. A guide explained numerous details that made it possible to appreciate the importance of the work. In the evening all the delegates were taken back to Piazza del Duomo, where, in the seventeenth-century Palazzo dei Giureconsulti, a sumptuous dinner provided renewed proof of the good flavors of Italian cuisine and the fine taste of Italian wine.

Tuesday 25 November was devoted to the scientific meeting. The international conference on “Standardization in Clinical Enzymology: A challenge for the theory of metrological traceability” was sponsored by the Interdepartmental Center of Metrological Traceability in Laboratory Medicine (CIRME) of the Università degli Studi di Milano, directed by Prof. Mauro Panteghini. More than 100 delegates were in attendance as seven important specialists in the subject from throughout Europe spoke to those gathered. All the presentations are available on the CIRME website.

RESULTS

The degree of appreciation on the part of participants gives reason to believe that the meeting organized with the aim of presenting many key features of Milan as a convention city can be considered a huge success.
Some dozen delegates, representing so many national societies with the right to vote for choice of venue for the congress, declared, either during the Milano Meeting or at the end of it, in favor of Milan’s candidacy to host the Euromedlab 2013 Congress. In addition, two other national societies, though unable to send a direct representative, had already expressed their intention to vote in favor of Milan. Overall, this is an excellent start towards attaining the final nomination as congress venue.
Activities designed to promote Milan’s candidacy will continue with other initiatives up to the June 2009 vote.