Dear Hernia Friends,
As president of the EHS, I have the pleasure to share with you the increasing amount of activities that the EHS is undertaking, and how proud I am of all the people who (secretaries and wing members) engage in the organisation of these on a voluntary basis and with great enthusiasm.
First, I would like to express a warm welcome to Sónia Ribas, our new secretary for Publications! Another big event has been the launch of our new EHS website. Our website is now modern, up to date and very informative. Visit us, and explore all the activities, guidelines, committees, etc. which are easily found. Current announcements contain wonderful and attractive items such as travel grants, dates of meetings, educational activities, and a search for three new board members!
On social media we are one of the most active societies in general surgery. Visit us on X (formerly Twitter), LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram, as well as our YouTube channel! Watch the online activities endorsed by EHS, such as the recent #HerniaGPT vs #HerniaFriends challenge.
This year we are organising five cadaver skills courses in 4 different countries (3 already done in Barcelona, Prague, and Reims), and endorse robot courses (Discovery EHS-Intuitive), besides the many activities attached to Hernia days in Turkey, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Romania to name but a few. All these events are of high quality. In November (28-31) EHS organise cadaver courses in Amsterdam and Reims! EHS has also finalised and published guideline updates of groin hernia treatment, abdominal wall closure, and parastomal hernia, and we have launched brand-new guidelines for Incisional hernia (Midline < 10cm). They are free to access and available at the website.
The EHS registry is FREE to access, and an increasing number of surgeons are using it as stand-alone registry for research, and personal or group audit. This year, we have started a patient wing (so proud of that!) with an active Facebook site that you may want to visit (hernia patients support group). Next year, we will start a resident/young surgeon wing. Increasing/improving diversity in all aspects is an important priority of the board! EHS supports and promotes becoming UEMS certified (FEBS/FAWS) as one of the steps towards increasing the quality of surgical expertise within our field of practice. Our own EHS Journal, JAWS, is offering high quality articles (all free to access) and will hopefully very shortly be listed in PubMed and thereby start acquiring a citation index. Send your manuscripts please!
We are working very hard on great congresses and monothematic meetings (Vilnius, Lithuania on 27 October 2023) and kindly invite you to join the EHS 2024 Congress in Prague (29-31 May 2024) which will be ‘out of the box’ in all aspects!
Our membership is increasing as we speak, and we are actively broadening our scope to Eastern Europe and in full support of our colleagues in Ukraine.
I would like to thank our sponsors and secretariat, CAP Partner, for great collaboration. We really work together. I’m proud of the EHS. We can all be proud of the EHS.
Maarten Simons
President EHS
#IamEHS
