Welcome to your May newsletter from the World Muscle Society

It has been a busy month behind the scenes at the WMS. Earlier this month, we held the WMS 2025 Programme Committee Meeting in London. The Programme Committee reviewed all of the submitted abstracts and selected which ones would make it onto our October programme. If you have submitted an abstract, you can expect to hear the outcome of those discussions very soon. 

Those aren't the only decisions we have taken recently. Our latest round of project proposals resulted in the award of financial support to two international projects, SciFam and SOLANE. You can read more about these below. If you are working on a project that would benefit from support from the WMS, have a look at our project proposals criteria, as we may be able to help. 

I was fortunate enough to attend SOLANE over the last weekend in May, along with 500 other scientists and clinicians working in neuromuscular disorders across Latin America and from around the world. It was an excellent event with a strong sense of purpose. 

As well as planning for WMS 2025, we have been busy planning for MYO-MRI+ 2025, which will take place in Berlin in November. It's a smaller conference than our WMS Congresses, but with specialist coverage of imaging in neuromuscular disorders. If you are hoping to submit an abstract, please be aware that the deadline is 6th June. 

As I mentioned last month, the NMD Journal is recruiting a new Editor in Chief. The deadline for applications is 30th June and I am very hopeful that we will have some strong candidates from within the WMS membership. You can find out more about the vacancy on our website. 

We've also included our usual features, including our latest publication highlight, upcoming events and a link to our jobs postings. We always welcome your feedback on our newsletters, so if there's something you'd like us to cover, please get in touch. 

Before I go, I have the sad job of sharing the news that Julaine Florence has died. Julaine was a pioneering physiotherapist in the neuromuscular field and a wonderful person. She will be greatly missed. You can read her full obituary on our website. 

My final message is to look out for an email next week announcing that nominations are opening for candidates in the upcoming Executive Board elections. WMS members will have until 22nd August to put themselves forward. 

With best wishes,