United in their
struggle against PH, attendees of PHA’s
6th International PH Conference represented nations from around
the world. |
At the end of its conference in June 2000 in
Chicago, PHA called its first meeting of
international attendees. Many had already
left but the meeting between the PHA board
and about a dozen international registrants
initiated the formation of new relationships
marked by continuing contact. Following that
conference, in 2001 both PHA UK and PHA
Israel were formed and held their first
conferences.
As PHA organized its 2002 conference,
greater attention was taken to encouraging
the possibilities for international cooperation.
With their registration confirmation, all
non-U.S. attendees were invited to an international planning session.
Over 80 people attended from nations in Asia, Europe, North America,
Latin America, as well as New Zealand and Australia. The beginnings
of a cooperative strategy were laid out, which recognized that
PHA, as the largest and oldest PH organization, had a special role
to play in coordinating and fostering the growth of the international
PH community. PHA accepted the challenge and agreed to create an “international
desk” to help coordinate international cooperation. This
challenge was fulfilled in 2004 with the support of the Medtronic
Foundation and the hiring of an International Program Associate.
At the 2004 conference in Miami, Florida, PHA expanded the international
attendee meeting to two separate sessions instead of one. The conversations
at these meetings again stressed the importance of communication
and information sharing. PHA is working hard to ensure that positive
developments similar to those resulting from past conferences are
repeated in time to share for its 7th International PH Conference.
