Dear Colleagues,
I trust this message finds you well. It has been an unbelievable year for all of us. Who could have imagined a year ago, how the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic would upend our personal and professional lives? I am conscious that many have suffered greatly, and it will take time to recover. But, there is now hope with widespread vaccination that we many have a path to normality.
Unfortunately, the vaccination programmes throughout our region are patchy at present and while they offer the promise of a better future, they will not permit the majority of us to travel and meet at congresses safely before the end of the year.
This led Council to make the very difficult decision that the E-AHPBA 2021 Biennial Congress will be a fully virtual meeting from 15th-17th September 2021. This is a great disappointment to all of us given the work that Professor Valdivieso and his colleagues from Bilbao had done to welcome us in person to their great city.
However, the prevalence of the pandemic remains high and sadly it is just too much of a risk for us to hold a face-to-face meeting this year. Your safety is our priority, and it goes without saying that we have followed all advice given by the local authorities and national governments. As you cannot come to Bilbao, we will bring it to you!
The Local Organising Committee in Bilbao will continue to be the Congress hosts and the Spanish flavour will be felt throughout our meeting. The theme for the E-AHPBA 2021 Biennial Congress is FOCUS ON INNOVATION and an outstanding scientific programme that combines current evidence and state of the art technology has been prepared by Professor Marc Besselink and the Scientific Programme Committee. They have created an exciting and INTERACTIVE experience that will include leading keynote speakers, engaging breakout sessions, meet the professor opportunities, exclusive product updates from industry, and much, much more. Best of all, plenaries and breakout sessions will be easily accessible on-demand for conference attendees to view at their own convenience. It really is an invaluable opportunity to become INFORMED about the latest updates from the HPB Community and a chance to educate and INSPIRE yourself, we look forward to having you join us!
Despite the challenges of the last year, your Association has remained active and focused on the goals we set at our strategic meeting in Amsterdam during our last Congress. We have enhanced our Educational Programmes, pivoting to an on-line platform by launching our successful E-AHPBA Webinar series. We have run 6 sessions so far covering Liver, Biliary and Pancreas topics. Over 400 colleagues have registered for each session, and it is planned in the coming months to have further webinars on the management of pancreatic fistulae and robotic liver and pancreatic surgery. In addition, the Scientific and Research Committee has also been extremely active, and I would recommend that you visit their link on our website to see the wide breath of activity ongoing.
A personal regret is that I have been unable to attend any Chapter meetings during the past year. It would have been great to meet colleagues, let them know what is happening with our Association and hear of their achievements. We continue to expand membership and it is with great pleasure that I acknowledge the creation of the Hungarian Chapter. I will look forward to welcoming Professor Prof. Attila Szijarto and his colleagues to the E-AHPBA family during the General Assembly in September.
In Amsterdam, we set the goal of enhancing gender and regional diversity within the leadership of our association. We are not there yet! But we are making progress. The Council and various Committees now more reflect the diversity seen in our region. We have appointed more young, female HPB surgeons to Committees and am pleased to say that this has been a real positive development and I promise you that this process will continue. I am also delighted that our Congress in September will have a diversified faculty with young members to the fore. It was especially important to me that we would achieve greater gender diversity not by using quotas but by encouraging our superb female colleagues to take more prominent, active and leading role in our Association and bi-annual meeting. You will see in September that this is happening! I am incredibly grateful to my colleagues Andrea Frilling, Isabella Frigerio and Michelle De Olivera for their advice and leadership in this project. It is a journey, but I am delighted to say that we have left the “safe harbour”.
Finally, the strength of our Association depends on your active participation. We want you to get involved in your local chapter and if one does not exist, create one! Contact us, let us know your thoughts; what works, what could be better, what should be done next. Be active!
Until the next time, take care, keep in touch and stay safe!
Kindest Regards,
Professor Kevin Conlon
E-AHPBA President
