The present congress of the Spanish Society of Clinical Immunology and Pediatric Allergology celebrates a particular period in the professional life of the Spanish Society of Clinical Immunology and Pediatric Allergology the first 25 years since its foundation. The Society originated in Segovia, seat of the present congress. The aim of this congress is to remember this phase of the Society's existence. The Society began life as a specialist section of the Spanish Association of Pediatrics and later became an independent Society with its own statutes, although it has maintained excellent scientific and personal relations with the Spanish Association of Pediatrics.
During these 25 years the progress made by our Society has been considerable. In looking back, we should remember and admire the group of pediatricians who, 25 years ago, were able to foresee that the way forward for Pediatrics was through the pediatric specialties and, overcoming the predicted resistance to the change, decided to found the Allergy and Pediatric Immunology Section.
That vision of the future is reflected today in a Society with a growing membership, in the large number of patients treated for allergic and immunological diseases, in our scientific output, in the dissemination of knowledge to all pediatricians through diagnostic and therapeutic protocols, professional training courses, working groups, interactive seminars, institutional participation in the congresses of the Spanish Association of Pediatrics, in the growing prestige of our journal Allergología et Immunopathología the Society's official publication and in other scientific and human activities that are too numerous to mention in this short Editorial.
This anniversary provides an opportunity to thank all the members, the presidents and boards of the Society who preceded me, and CBF LETI SA for their disinterested administrative support as well as the industry as a whole and other collaborators who have, through their combined efforts, enabled our Society to become stronger and to grow in prestige.
Nevertheless, future challenges remain to be overcome, such as improved specialist care in outpatient clinics and hospitals, improvements in staffing levels and in the infrastructure of the departments of immunology and pediatric allergy, the promotion of the Society's working groups, increases in the number and quality of our members' publications, and official recognition from the Area of Specific Accreditation in Immunology and Pediatric Allergy of the Ministry of Health.
Above all, I hope that the XXV Anniversary Congress of the Spanish Society of Clinical Immunology and Pediatric Allergy will be a scientific meeting at the highest level, an emotional and friendly activity for all that will inspire us with renewed strength for the future.
