EAES Annual Report 2019

7 Word from the President Introduction by the President In 2019 the EAES has strengthened its leading position as global provider of high quality education and in the arena of surgical research. Our Fellowship programme is a well-established and successful platform operated by the Education & Training committee, now chaired by Prof. Dorin Popa and new research grants have been funded by the Executive Board, following the advice of the Research committee, chaired by Prof. Nader Francis. The Technology committee, chaired by Prof. Alberto Arezzo, is today focusing on the next Wintermeeting that will provide an overview on how technology can help us to prevent and treat complications. We are also expanding the number of young members on board of each committee by advertising new positions to be operative by 2020. I would like to thank every member of each committee for the time and expertise that they dedicate to EAES. That is, by and large, the key to the growing success and popularity that our association is encountering across the world. Finally, our renewed office is working hard to support all the above goals and it’s a true pleasure to work with these highly professional and motivated people; the backbone of our association. Thank you Gisela, Muriël, Thérèse and Arjan! Having recently attended several meetings of national societies and continental ones, and having had the chance to exchange experience and vision with many colleagues from all over the globe, I can testify that the growing sense of community that surgeons from any corner of this planet are building together, combined with the willingness to enhance our effort to make this world a better one. Surgery should and can have a place in improving our future, and I would love to see our members becoming true champions of “global surgery”. Indeed, despite unprecedented technological advancement over the past three decades, progress in surgery has not been uniform. The Lancet commission on Global Surgery collected impressive data: 5 billion people do not have access to safe, affordable surgery and anaesthesia when needed and 143 million additional surgical procedures are needed in low and middle income countries each year to save lives and prevent disability. The urgent need for surgical care in the world’s poorest regions is widely unrecognised. EAES now sees as a priority to spread awareness about this problem and contribute to coordinate and sustain efforts that are solution-oriented. The EAES Forward Programme will be launched in 2020 to address the issue of quality surgical education in some target European countries. This will be the first of a list of steps from EAES aimed to generate political priority, mobilise resources, and assure meaningful improvements in the field of endoscopic surgery. More actions are needed and will follow and I am grateful for the strong partnership that we have been able to establish with our friends from the Endoscopic and Laparoscopic Society of Asia (ELSA), who have long been committed to sustain underserved countries in those regions, through their “Out-reach Program”. Together we’ll be stronger and I believe that it’s time to get ready for a Global Network of Endoscopic Surgeons to achieve a more inclusive, equitable, and sustainable future for our profession, our patients and our world. Working with you this past year has been an amazing venture and the whole EAES Executive Board values its opportunity to serve you and look forward to continuing doing so in the future. Best wishes for a prosperous new year of continued teamwork. Yours sincerely, Andrea Pietrabissa , President