Reaching the golden milestone. The 2013 ERS Dublin summit: preparing the road to Rome

Abstract

The Milliarium Aureum (or golden milestone) was a monument erected by the Emperor Caesar Augustus near the Temple of Saturn in the central forum of ancient Rome, Italy. All roads were considered to begin from this monument and all distances in the Roman Empire were measured relative to that point. To travel a road and to reach a milestone, one often needs a roadmap. At the first Annual Presidential Summit in Leuven, Belgium, in 2011, the European Respiratory Society (ERS) reflected on what must be done to prevent the rise of respiratory diseases in the future and produced the European Respiratory Roadmap [1, 2]. This roadmap has served as a guide to subsequent summits as they address the varying and complex issues of policy as it relates to respiratory medicine. The summits have developed into key advocacy events where the leadership of the ERS interacts with a wide range of decision makers in Europe relevant to respiratory medicine. Last year’s summit in Tallinn, Estonia, focused on the austerity of the times we live in and the rise of health inequalities in Europe [3]. Next year with the opening of the Italian Presidency of the European Union, the summit will travel the road from basic science to translational research and will arrive in Rome [4]. The objective of this year’s 2013 Presidential Summit in Dublin, Ireland, was to identify priority research topics that should be addressed at European level. All stakeholders were involved: medical professionals, patients, pharmaceutical industry representatives, research funders and research policymakers. The …