The society for the Study of Androgen Deficiency has continued to be very active during the past 12 months, with a number of significant presentations at international meetings and seminars, and regular training courses in UK and abroad. Its focus on Androgen Deficiency, accommodating worldwide perspective and expertise, has enabled the Society to become a much needed authority for information, instruction and education. This has been supported strongly by national and international academics and clinicians active in this medical field.

Last February, during the 5th ISSAM conference, we ran two satellite seminars with presentations from Tom Trinick, Eva Hogervorst, Mike Wheeler, Malcolm Carruthers, James Goodwin, Lothar Heinemann and myself. The Seminars were chaired by Clem Williams and Adrian Zentner. The seminars were very well received.

On June 24th and 25th, 2006 we ran our fourth training course at the Royal Society of Medicine. 22 delegates attended from a number of different countries including the USA, India, Spain France and Canada. The seminar was awarded 12 CPD points by the Royal College of Pathologists and 12 CME points by the European Academy for Continuing Medical Education (EACCME)

In the Autumn, on September 30th and October 1st, we ran another training course in St. Petersburg for 200 Russian doctors. The course was very well received and much appreciated by the doctors who attended. The teaching team on this occasion was Malcolm Carruthers, Tom Trinick, Jean Coleman and myself.

We have also developed international links with the East and with the Antipodes this year, spreading the word about the importance of androgens for older men. Malcolm Carruthers was invited on a three week lecture tour including Bangkok, New Zealand, Perth and Hong Kong during January and February, 2007.
In Bangkok at the EMAA Asian Congress, Adrian and Malcolm gamely gave 13 lecures between them!
In New Zealand, Malcolm gave a further lecture to doctors and members of the public in Aukland.
The Carruthers-Zentner lecture team then reunited in Perth for two further public/professional talks.
Malcolm gave an invited presentation to Ralph Martin's research team at Edith Cowan University on androgen resistance. Prof. Martin very kindly acknowledged the part Malcolm has played in guiding the direction of research in his department where they are working on Alzheimer's Disease and its prevention.
Finally, Malcolm was invited by the SHARE (Society for Healthy Aging Research and Education) doctors to speak to 100 plus doctors from Hong Kong. This was particularly memorable in the sterling work done by Dr. Ronald Tan in organizing a successful meeting at such short notice.

Hugh Welford has continued to give sterling service as our Webmaster. The update of the website is an enormous ongoing task, demanding of resource, time and finance.

Future plans
Our 5th Internation Conference is scheduled to begin tomorrow at the Royal Society of Medicine. We have X delegates from Y,Z and points east and west.

In September, 2007, an Irish seminar is in planning to be held in Dublin.

Following from Malcolm's successful Far East Tour, a number of invitations to run the two day seminar have been received. The invitation from Buenos Aries has been postponed to 2008.

A "training package" will be proposed for the training course, as these are demanding of time and sponsorship, as well as organisation.

This year there are plans to initiate an information service with three levels of information for the general public, for doctors and for those interested in research papers, to be undertaken by Hugh and Malcolm.

So, in summary, it has been a productive year since our last AGM with another busy year planned ahead.

Mark Feneley
Chairman SSAD