Newsletter 01/2007 Dear Members, Everybody is aware of the beauty this lovely North-Italian city (Turin) possesses. Needless to say, the local organizers together with EUPSA Executive Board and Offices, are striving to prepare a well-balanced event which can be beneficial both professionally and socially. The EUPSA Executive Board evaluated the opinions of its members, along with the criticisms regarding the Maastricht meeting. Besides many positive aspects of the organisation, there was criticism to mention the presence of many short papers (3 minutes) and the lack of time for discussion. So, your wish is our command: We have decided to include less short presentations and to devote more time for discussion. At a glance, let me entice you to attend the Congress: the 2007 European Lecture will be presented by John Hutson (Melbourne) and the Duhamel Lecture shall be delivered by Alberto Pena (Cincinnati). The tradition of “Meet the expert lunches” shall continue: Donald Nuss (Norfolk/USA) will be there! If you want to know more about the meeting, please pay a visit to the EUPSA website (www.eupsa.org). The Scientific Office is engorged in the process to score the abstracts (more than 400 have arrived) and select the best ones for oral and poster presentations. This year we have planned to accept more abstracts for poster presentation than last year. This year we had hoped to provide faultless abstract-submission. Many of us did not have problems in submission of abstracts, but there were more than a few of us who were again annoyed at the technical difficulties which impeded their task of submitting their abstracts. My sincere apologies to all the affected individuals. After the Maastricht meeting, Prof. Ahmed Hadidi’s (Mannheim/Cairo) 3 year term as Chairman of the Intercontinental Office expired and the members of the Intercontinental Office had to elect a new Chairman. Following a secret, double envelope-ballot, the new Chairman of Intercontinental Office is Prof. Yasen Fayez Alalayet of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. We would like to thank Prof. Hadidi for all his work and efforts made for the EUPSA. The Executive Board of the EUPSA had its regular January meeting, this year in Budapest (January 13-14, 2007). The Maastricht meeting was evaluated for its scientific, educational and financial performance as recorded on the evaluation forms. It was agreed that Dr. Ernest van Heurn, was doing an exceptional good job in all aspects. The size (1000 members, hundred of them outside of Europe) and the versatile function of the EUPSA requires a person who is able to help the Secretary of EUPSA, currently Prof. Schleef. We are currently seriously thinking of employing a part-time secretary to Prof. Schleef to streamline the work and efficiency of EUPSA. During our EB meeting, Prof. Parigi represented the Paediatric Surgical Section of UEMS, in Budapest. It was emphasized again that close and harmonized cooperation is essential between the EUPSA and UEMS. The EUPSA helps the UEMS to prepare a “Syllabus in Paediatric Surgery” for universal postgraduate paediatric surgical training in Europe. It was stated that the preparation for the future EUPSA meetings (Istnabul 2008, Graz /joint meeting with the BAPS, 2009/, Berne 2010) are running according to plan. Of note, a very well-attended congress is foreseen in Graz (BAPS+EUPSA). In Budapest, it was unanimously decided that the EUPSA will join the WOFAPS (World Federation of Associations of Paediatric Surgeons). The EUPSA has a membership category which has not been awarded yet: Honorary Membership. This category should be awarded to a senior person, not necessary to paediatric surgeon, who made significant contribution for the development of paediatric surgery in Europe. This person can be non-European, too. We are going to award this title in Turin for the first time. Finally, please note the important dates of the Turin meeting: We are looking forward to meeting you in Turin in May. Jürgen Schleef
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