Prof. J. William McEvoy
NIPC Medical and Research Director, Chair of Executive Council
Welcome to December’s NIPC ebulletin. I feel we can close out the year 2020 with some much-needed optimism. Vaccinations for COVID-19 will start becoming available soon and, while I am sure the rollout will be complicated and at times frustrating, we should all recognise the scientific marvel that these vaccinations represent.
The speed of development and effectiveness of these vaccinations has been amazing to behold and I am personally proud to consider myself part of the global academic medical community (though I had no personal role in developing these vaccines). Medical science has been under fire for over a decade, often for good reason, but to me this vaccination effort should be a reminder to us all how vital medical science is to humanity.
Closer to home, our CVD prevention ‘home’ that is, there are also grounds for optimism. Our NIPC conference in November was a great success and highlighted the many exciting developments in this space. Among them I am particularly interested in the digital transformation of lifestyle and risk factor management programmes like CLANN and MySláinte. These will likely represent advances that persist in the post COVID world. The new Sláintecare programme also moves forward with plans in place for community hubs for chronic disease management. I plan on advocating strongly, with the rest of the NIPC team, for much needed investment in CVD prevention as part of the roll-out of these hubs.
On that note, I wish you a Merry Christmas and a happy 2021!
Bill
This post is an extract from the monthly NIPC Alliance e-Bulletin.
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