SOLACI has a new president! Dr. José Luis Leiva Pons (Mexico) has taken over the reins of the Latin American Society of Interventional Cardiology for the next two years, succeeding Dr. Ricardo Lluberas (Uruguay), who was president between 2015 and 2017.
Originally from the city of San Luis Potosí (Mexico), Leiva Pons is not a stranger to SOLACI. In fact, he was one of the founders. He has participated as Secretary and Vice-President to Lluberas administration: “After quite some time, we meet again with SOLACI (…) I never imagined things would turn out this way, from Secretary to President”, stated Pons during the closing ceremony of SOLACI-CACI 2017, celebrated at the Hilton Hotel in Buenos Aires.
In his first statement as President, Leiva Pons thanked Lluberas (“we’ve cultivated a deep friendship, not just from President to Vice-President”) and stated his objectives from here on out: “SOLACI must keep fostering regional participation and integration of our specialty, encouraging all Latin America to be together in this that represents us so well”, he announced.
In addition, he pointed out the importance of all areas that make SOLACI, such as the Regional Sessions (conducted by Drs. Jorge Mayol and Mario Araya), the educational program ProEducar (lead by Drs. Leandro Lasave, Leandro Martínez Riera and Gabriel Maluenda), SOLACI Aid (run by Dr. Marcelo Halac) and the web page (Dr. José Álvarez).
On the other hand, he expressed he will work to “strengthen relationships with the industry and with the international scientific societies, such as TCT, PCR, SCAI, The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, among others”.
“During my administration, I shall not seek the ‘what’ but the ‘how to’; that is to say, what we should do to make things happen, to promote the growth of SOLACI and the specialty across the region”, sentenced Leiva Pons, who has also been SOCIME President in the past (Mexican Society of Interventional Cardiology).
Even though we have not appointed the one to join Dr. Leiva as Vice-President, we do know Dr. Omar Santaera (Argentina) will continue as Treasurer and Dr. Alfaro Marchena (Panamá) as Secretary.
Finally, the brand new SOLACI President announced the next SOLACI-SOCIME to be held next year, will take place in Puebla, México, from August 1 thru 3, 2018: “See you all there. I’m sure we will have a great Congress. Thank you very much!” he concluded.
