We are indeed very grateful to Pfizer and EDACT for giving APSSM the opportunity to kick off our maiden issue of APSSM Newsletter.

With the turn of the century, APSSM will be embarking on a new era to try to reach to all our members, to have more interactive activities, to keep all our members fully informed in this rapidly developing field, and of course to enhance the reputation of our society which is coming of age.

APSSM – founded in 1987 by our honorary president, Prof. M. Shirai, is actually an offshoot of the oldest society for impotence research the JSIR (Japanese Society for Impotence Research) which was established in 1978. We should all be proud of this long legacy and with the incoming executive committee and new secretariat, we are hopefully looking forward to a new dynamic and exciting era.

We have therefore, established a protem Editorial Board for the Newsletter under Prof. Young Chan Kim, and the APSSM website under (chairman to be confirmed at next executive meeting). We will encourage all our members to actively participate and contribute to these 2 projects which will certainly foster a stronger comradeship and enhance the reputation of our Society as one of the oldest and established society in the field of Impotence Research.

TAN HUI MENG
President

HISTORY OF APSSM

Executive Committee

Honorary President : M. Shirai (Japan)
President : Hui-Meng, Tan (Malaysia)
Secretary General : Clarence C. M. Lei (Malaysia)
Treasurer : Hin-Wai, Yap (Malaysia)
President-Elect : N. Ishii (Japan)
Committee Members :

• P. G. Adaikan (Singapore)l A. Kongkanand (Thailand)
• R. A. Cartmill (Australia)l H. K. Choi (Korea)
• N. Ishii (Japan)l S. C. Kim (Korea)
• S. Krishnamurti (India)l H. S. Chiang (Taiwan)
• Clarence C. M. Lei (Malaysia)l J. S. N. Lin (Taiwan)
• K. Marumo (Japan)l J. K. Suh (Korea)
• E. C. Tan (Singapore)l H. M. Tan (Malaysia)
• S. Wibowo (Indonesia)l ZS Wisniewski (Australia)
• R. Yuwana (Indonesia)

Established in 1987 in Hong Kong under our founder president Prof. M. Shirai. Credit also goes to Prof. HK Choi and Prof. G. Adaikan who were also in the founding committee.

The objectives of the Society are :-

1. To act in promoting standards of clinical care and improving the quality-of-life of patients suffering from impotence in the Asia-Pacific countries.
2. To encourage scientific research to benefit the public in member countries.
3. To serve as an information resource and a communication base between member countries.
4. To promote fellowship of its membership.
5. To promote an international drive to improve the quality-of-life of the impotent men in the world.
6. To ensure that Society activities are not of a political nature and that no profit is made by the Society.

Subsequent biennial meetings were / to be held at :

1. Hong Kong 1987 (President – M. Shirai)
2. Seoul 1989 (President – HK Choi)
3. Taipei 1991 (President – JSN Lin)
4. Bali 1993 (President – R. Yuwana)
5. Perth 1995 (President – RA Cartmill)
6. Kuala Lumpur 1997 (President – HM Tan)
7. Tokyo 1999 (President – N Ishii)

APSSM PROJECTS 1997 – 1999

Establishing of full-time secretariat to co-ordinate the following activities:-

1. APSSM Book on Erectile Dysfunction. This unprecedented task involving 23 contributors, tapped from our pool of talented APSSM members would be the first comprehensive book on ED with largely Asian flavour and experience. This timely book will hopefully satisfy partially the immense thirst for knowledge in the field of ED, particularly from the oriental point of view.  <View abstracts here>

2. WHO sponsored First Consultation on ED, July 1999, Paris. Eight members from the APSSM were involved in drafting the world consensus. These members worked very hard for more than a year in the various subcommittee (mentioned below) and their reports were discussed in Paris recently. The consensus book will be published and distributed worldwide. Special mention goes to Dr YC Kim who was the only chairman from Asia heading a subcommittee.

 

APSSM MEMBERS	SUB-COMMITTEE
1) Dr Y Kimoto (Japan)	Symptom score & quality-of-life
2) Dr H M Tan (Malaysia)	Clinical Evaluation: Patient/Doctor dialogue
3) Dr Y C Kim (Korea)	Endocrinologic aspects including Treatment
4) Dr S Krishnamurti (India)	La Peyronie’s disease & other penile abnormalities
5) Dr K Kihara (Japan)	Ejaculatory disorders
6) Dr K K Chen (Taiwan)	Future research & perspectives for investigation
7) Dr R Cartmill (Australia)	Priapism
8) Dr H K Choi (Korea)	Sociocultural problem

3. APSSM Booth in the 4^th Asian Congress of urology held in Singapore - September 1998. The response was good and we managed to recruit many new members. Many APSSM members also presented numerous papers and participated in the symposium on ED.

4. Formation of APSIR Website. The website features include :

• An Interactive Bulletin Board
• APSSM events and news
• APSSM Newsletter
• APSSM book on ED
• New resources and link to other resourceful sites (including abstracts of APSSM meeting and other International Meetings on ED, Summary of IJIR, AJA etc.)

It will be an exciting project. Our members could interact with each other, communicate with the APSSM secretariat and executive committee and of course, our senior resourceful members will be updating us on the latest knowledge and information on ED. This will keep all our members fully informed in this field with minimal expenditure, as many of our members do not subscribe the IJIR and are unable to attend international meetings.

APSSM Website Subcommittee : Dr Krishnamurti (Chairman), Dr PG Adaikan, Dr Woo Shik Chung,  Dr Wong Hee Lee, Dr Peter Eng Pin Ng

5. APSSM Newsletter