IHPBA Newsletter

Abstract

Six months have passed since I last communicated with members of the IHPBA through our Newsletter. A lot of things have happened since then, and I feel it appropriate that I should update you on what the Council has been doing. We had two very successful regional congresses. The 4thAmerican HPB Congress was held in Istanbul, May 28–31, 2003. In spite of the political events which led to the war in the Middle East, and the epidemic of SARS which affected many countries, everyone attended these two meetings would agree with me that these two meetings were extremely successful in terms of the scientific contents and the social events. I would like to take this opportunity to thank those who worked so hard to make these meetings such a success. During these two regional meetings, the Council and the Committees of the IHPBA had the opportunities to meet and to iron out a lot of issues. The meetings between the Executive Members of the IHPBA and the three Regional Associations have been especially fruitful. It has been the wish of the IHPBA to have a three‐tier structure. At the first tier is the IHPBA which is the umbrella organization. At the second tier is the Regional Associations which consist of Americas, Europe‐Africa, and Asia‐Pacific. At the third tier is the National Chapters. We have been making great progress with the European HPB Association (EHPBA) which is now amending its Bylaws to be closer to those of the IHPBA. The EHPBA is restructuring to include National Chapters from Africa, and to work to develop a reserve account for the Association. Unfortunately, money has to come from somewhere; and beginning in 2004, EHPBA member dues will be increased from US $100 to US $135, the additional $35 will go into the EHPBA reserve account. This increase in dues will not affect IHPBA members who are working outside of Europe and Africa. With the major changes, Christoph Broelsch and Andrea Frilling will remain the EHPBA President and Secretary respectively for another term of 2‐years. The EHPBA has set a very good example for the other two Regional Associations. We have been making good progress with the American HPB Association (AHPBA) headed by Dr. Wright Pinson who is the President of the AHPBA until 2005, and he is also the Congress Chairman for the 2004 IHPBA World Congress in Washington. Progress in the development of the Asia‐Pacific HPB Association has been hampered by the illness of Professor Tadahiro Takada who was unable to attend the Istanbul meeting. It was real good news that I heard when I returned home to learn from Professor Takada that he had recovered from his illness and is now back to work. Some of the Executive Members will have the opportunity to talk to him during the Japanese Gastroenterological Society meeting in July in Tokyo. Discussions will focus on the formation of the Asia‐Pacific HPB Association, after the dissolution of the Asian Society of Hepato‐Biliary‐Pancreatic Surgery (ASHBPS). The 7th Congress of ASHBPS will be held in Chennai, India, August 28–31, 2003. Professor B. Krishna Rau, Chairman of the local organizing committee has come up with an exciting scientific and social programs for this meeting. During this meeting, members of the Executive Committee of IHPBA and representatives from the ASHBPS will have more opportunities to talk about the formation of the Asia‐Pacific HPB Association. A major achievement for the IHPBA is the new Publishing Agreement with Taylor & Francis for HPB. Thanks to the efforts of a lot of people, especially to Henry Pitt who has spent so much time negotiating with our Publisher,HPB is now owned by the IHPBA and is expected to become profitable in the near future. In the old contract with our previous publisher, the term of the Chief Editor was 4 years, and the term is now up. The Publication Committee of the IHPBA has been delegated the duty to recommend to the Council a new Chief Editor. Many names have come up, including of course Professor Robin Williamson who has done such a lot of good work for HPB. Don't be surprised if you are being approached to see whether you are interested in the job! The IHPBA Membership Committee has been working very hard. National Chapter representatives have been asked to approach those members in the countries who have not been paying their annual subscription dues. Please also encourage your colleagues to become IHPBA members. The Membership Committee has also decided that we should communicate more by email. Please send your email address to our Executive Secretariat if you have not done so before. The third Warren Follow has been chosen. Mickaël Lesurtel will continue research with Pierre‐Alain Clavien on a project entitled “The Role of Platelets in Liver Regeneration” with partial support from the Warren Fellowship. We have been making significant progress in quite a number of issues in the past six months. I am sure that the coming year before my term ends as your President will even be more exciting and rewarding for me. I would like to thank every one of you once again for your support during my Presidency of the IHPBA. The fourth Americas Congress was held in Miami February 27–March 2, 2003. Over 300 members and guests attended this Congress which was the largest regional meeting for the American Hepato‐Pancreato‐Biliary Association (AHPBA). More importantly, the quality of the program created by Sean Mulvihill's committee was outstanding, and the quality of the free papers and posters presented by the attendees was clearly the best of the four America's Congresses. During the Congress, the strong leadership of Steven Strasberg as President from 2001–2003 was passed to Wright Pinson who will be the AHPBA's President until 2005. Wright Pinson is also the Congress Chairman for the 2004 IHPBA World Congress. Ted Pappas will become the President‐Elect and will remain the AHPBA's Secretary. Bruce Schirmer will become the new Treasurer. The AHPBA's Fifth Americas Congress will be held in April, 2005 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in conjunction with the Society of American Gastrointestinal Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES) and the American College of Surgeon's Spring Meeting. Similarly, the fifth European Congress of the European Hepato‐Pancreato‐Biliary Association (EHPBA) held in Istanbul from May 28–31, 2003 was very successful. Despite world political and disease events, the EHPBA and local organizing leadership made a difficult but correct decision to go forward with the Congress. More than 500 members and guests were treated to an outstanding medical and social program designed by Yaman Tekant and Ali Emre. In addition, the EHPBA is working to amend its bylaws to be more compatible with those of the IHPBA. In this regard, Christoph Broelsch and Andrea Frilling will remain the EHPBA President and Secretary, respectively, until 2005. However, Dirk Gouma was elected President‐Elect, and Pierre‐Alain Clavien is the new EHPBA Secretary‐Elect. Finally, beginning in 2004 EHPBA member dues will be increased to US$135 (from US$100) with US$35 going to the EHPBA to develop a reserve account. The sixth European Congress will be held in May, 2005 in Heidelberg, Germany with Markus Buechler, the IHPBA Treasurer, as the Chairman. By the time this Newsletter appears, the 7th Congress of Asian Society of Hepato‐Biliary‐Pancreatic Surgery (ASHBPS) hosted by the Indian Chapter of the IHPBA in Chennai, India will have taken place. The hard work of the Local Organizer, B. Krishna Rau, will certainly have come to fruition with a successful Asian Congress. Under the leadership of Tadahiro Takada, ASHBPS President, Joseph Lau, IHPBA President, and James Toouli, IHPBA Past‐President dialogue has been taking place now for a year regarding the creation of an Asian‐Pacific Hepato‐Pancreato‐Biliary Association (A‐PHPBA) with dissolution of the ASHBPS in 2005. Tadahiro Takada has been the only President of the ASHBPS since its inception. However, a new President of the A‐PHPBA would serve a two‐year term. Similarly, the terms of all officers and Council members would be limited, and Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws would be similar to those of the IHPBA. The American Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Association (AHPBA) is serving as the Local Organizer for the 2004 IHPBA World Congress. The meeting will be held at the Washington Hilton Hotel at Dupont Circle June 2–6, 2004. Jacques Belghiti, Chairman of the IHPBA Scientific Committee along with Ravi Chari, representing the AHPBA, have created an outstanding program. They have invited 124 world experts to give keynote addresses, update lectures, symposia, debates and invited videos. C. Wright Pinson, the AHPBA President and World Congress Chairman, is organizing an outstanding social program. BSC Management is the Professional Congress Organizer. For more information, go to our websites, http://www.IHPBA.org or http://www.ahpba.org. Also, do not forget the Abstract Deadline, December 12, 2003. Mickaël Lesurtel, M.D. was recently chosen to be the third Kenneth W. Warren Fellow by the IHPBA Warren Fellowship Committee. Dr. Lesurtel is a native of France and has received some of his surgical training with Jacques Belghiti and with Daniel Cherqui. He is presently working in the laboratory of Pierre‐Alain Clavien in Zurich, Switzerland. He will continue his research with partial support from the Warren Fellowship. His research project is entitled “The Role of Platelets in Liver Regeneration.” The second Warren Fellow, Andrew Biankin, M.D. from Australia, began working in the laboratory of Steven Leach, M.D. at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, M.D. in January, 2003. Dr. Biankin's research project is entitled “Novel Gene Discovery in the Development and Progression of Pancreatic Cancer.” In an initial report from Andrew Biankin, he writes that fresh frozen samples of human pancreas containing PanIN lesions have been identified and sectioned. Laser capture microdissection of PanIN lesions and normal ductal epithelium is currently in progress. After assessment of RNA yield and quality, hybridization of Affymetrix oligonucleotide microarrays will be performed. Data from this analysis should yield candidate genes associated with PanIN lesions which progress to pancreatic cancer. HPB, the official journal of the IHPBA, was first published in 1999 by Isis Medical Media. In 2001 Martin Dunitz, a subsidiary of Taylor and Francis, purchased Isis and publishedHPB volumes 3 and 4 in 2001 and 2002, respectively. Taylor and Francis, the parent company with over 200 years of publishing experience, took over the production ofHPB in September, 2002. For the past two years,HPB has been published in a timely fashion through the combined efforts of the publisher and the Editor, Professor Robin Williamson. Over the past nine months, the IHPBA has been negotiating a new Publishing Agreement with Taylor and Francis. The new agreement will run for six years from January 1, 2004 through December 31, 2009 for volumes 6 through 11. During this time,HPB which is owned by the IHPBA is expected to become profitable. Abstracts from the World Congresses in 2004, 2006 and 2008 as well as European Congresses in 2005, 2007 and 2009 will be published inHPB. In addition, the IHPBA leadership strongly encourages all members to publish papers presented at World and Regional Congresses as well as other original papers and review articles inHPB. HPB is already partially indexed, but we need to submit our best work which will be cited in order to have full indexing and a world‐class journal in the future. All IHPBA members received the 2003 Membership Directory earlier this year. Presently, the IHBPA has more than 875 active members with 31 senior members and five honorary members. Members live in 71 countries worldwide, and 21 countries have more than ten members. Countries with the largest number of members include: United States 106 Japan 85 Australia 82 China 58 Italy 49 United Kingdom 46 Greece 34 India 29 Brazil 26 Argentina 25 South Korea 25 Germany 24 During the regional association congresses this year, meetings have taken place with National Chapter representatives to the IHPBA Membership Committee to discuss growth strategies. A brochure encouraging membership in the IHPBA is being sent by e‐mail or conventional mail to attract new member. Membership applications are available via the Association's website, http://www.ihpba.org. Please encourage your colleagues to become IHPBA members. In addition, a special registration fee will be available for nonmembers who wish to become IHPBA members when they register for the 2004 World Congress in Washington, D.C. IHPBA Executive Secretariat Available For any questions regarding your membership status, dues or change of contact information, please contact Bridget Fischer or Laura Myers at: MedConnect GmbH Bruennstein Strasse 10 DE-81541 Munich E-mail: [email protected] Tel: +49 89 4141 9249 Fax: +49 89 4141 9245 Future World Congresses 6th World Congress Washington, D.C, USA Dates: June 2–6, 2004 Chairman: C. Wright Pinson, MD Secretariat: BSC Management, LLC 11300 West Olympic Blvd., Suite 600 Los Angeles, CA 90064 Telephone: + 1310–437–0557 Fax: + 1310–437–0585 E-mail: [email protected] Homepage: http://www.ahpba.org 7thWorld Congress Edinburgh, Scotland, UK Dates: September 3–7, 2006 Chairman: O.James Garden, FRCS Secretariat: Department of Surgery University of Edinburgh Royal Infirmary Edinburgh, EH39YW Scotland, United Kingdom Telephone: +44–131–536–3812 Fax: +44–131–228–2661 E-mail: [email protected] 8th World Congress Mumbai, India Dates: February, 2008 Chairman: Dr.Palepu Jagannath Secretariat: Department of Surgical Oncology Tata Memorial Hospital Lilavati and Jaslok Hospitals Mumbai, India Telephone:+91–22–413–7316 Fax: +91–22–413–6937 E-mail: [email protected] 2003 National Chapter Meetings American Hepato‐Pancreato‐Biliary Association Date: October 25, 2003 Program: AASLD/AHPBA Surgical Forum Evaluating and Treating HCC & Metastatic Liver Tumors President: C. Wright Pinson, MD. Executive Director: Colleen Elkins Secretariat: BSC Management, LLC 11300 West Olympic Blvd., Suite 600 Los Angeles, CA 90064 Telephone: + 1310–437–0557 Fax: + 1310–437–0585 E-mail: [email protected] Homepage: http://www.ahpba.org Brazilian Chapter of the IHPBA Dates: November 13–15, 2003 Program: Chapter Congresso Internacional President: Dr. Mauro Montiero Correia Congress Chairman: Dr. Eduardo Linhares R. de Mello Fax: 55–21–2511–2609 E-mail: cb‐[email protected]