Dear Colleagues and Friends,
We are writing to inform you of the result of the process of finding a new Coordinator for the Medical Section in the UK. After a process of consultation and reflection, we have invited Sibylle Eichstaedt and Dr Rainer Klocke to take on this role jointly.
After the previous Coordinator Dr Stefan Geider retired, the Medical Section Council was formed following the 2019 Medical Section Conference to devise an inclusive process for identifying a new Coordinator. The Council was formed of representatives of the various professional bodies/fields of work within anthroposophic medicine and therapy.
As you may know, three individuals were nominated by the cut off date. They were interviewed by the Council, and their personal statements were circulated to members of the professional associations and others connected with the Section. Everyone was invited to give their views on the nominees either directly to the Council or indirectly via their professional body.
After hearing these views the Council reflected on who would be most suitable for this Coordination task. Based on the perception that Sibylle’s and Rainer’s strengths and visions would complement and enrich each other, and in the light of the fact that ours is such a large Section, we made the decision to invite them to take on this role jointly.
This recommendation was shared with Drs Matthias Girke and Georg Soldner as the Leadership of Medical Section at the Goetheanum, with an invitation to respond. Their response is as follows:
Dear Friends!
We are very pleased with your recommendation and gladly agree with it on the part of the Medical Section. You have our best wishes for fruitful work in the development of Anthroposophical Medicine. I look forward to our hopefully not only virtual meeting in May (Medical Conference at Emerson) and send good wishes for the Easter season!
Matthias and Georg
On 8th April the Council met with Sibylle and Rainer to hear their response to our invitation. Having already had a few conversations among themselves, they responded positively, and the Council warmly welcomed and affirmed them as the new joint Medical Section Coordinators.
From Sibylle Eichstaedt and Rainer Klocke:
We feel honoured and privileged to have been invited and entrusted to jointly coordinate the work of the Medical Section in the United Kingdom at this important time. We very much look forward to this task of serving the Medical Section and wider anthroposophic medical movement, and to sharing our vision at the Medical Section Conference at Emerson from 21st–23rd May 2021, which we hope many of us will be able to attend either in person or remotely.
We would like to thank all those who responded to the consultation process, the nominees, and Sibylle and Rainer for their willingness to take on this task.
We look forward to the May Conference when our new Coordinators will share their hopes and intentions with us all.
With warm regards,
Melanie Taylor & Carol Kirk
For the Medical Section Council
