IFSO publishes July 2016 e-newsletter
The International Federation for the Surgery of Obesity and Metabolic Disorders has published its July 2016 newsletter, which is now available to download from their website, please click here to access the e-newsletter.
Highlights in the latest issue include a message from outgoing IFSO’s president, Natan Zundel, who thanks IFSO members for their support over the last year. He also highlights the publication of the important Position Statement on “Indications for surgery for obesity and weight related disease” published online in the Obesity Surgery Journal and which will appear in print on the August issue.
As ever, the Presidents of IFSO Chapter provide an update on all the recent activities. Michel Suter, President of the European Chapter, reports on the success of the First European Obesity Summit, in Gothenburg, in June 2016, which was attended by over 1,500. There were several interactive sessions, involving both surgeons and non-surgeons, allowed for intense scientific exchanges and communication. After this first enthusiastic experience, it is hoped that collaboration with EASO will continue and lead to the organization of future joint meetings of the same quality.
Ninh Nguyen, President of the North American Chapter, highlights the IFSO North American Chapter Course at Obesity Week-End that offered a comprehensive review of the metabolic consequences of different bariatric interventions with the latest updates on the available relevant data, comparison among procedures and results. He also looks forward to ObesityWeek 2016 in New Orleans from October 31 to November 4.
Juan Antonio Lopez-Corvala, President of the Latin American Chapter, discusses the III Intermedial IFSO LAC Congress held in Cartagena, Colombia from April 13 – 16th, which was organised in conjunction with the Asociacion Colombia-na de Obesidad y Cirugia Bariatrica during the Ibero/American Congress of Obesity, Bariatric and Metabolic Surgery in the Convention Center of the Hotel Las Americas. He states that the III Intermedial Congress was a great success, and looks forward to the VII IFSO LAC Congress, that will held in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, from April 26 – 29 2017.
Lilian Kow, President of the Asia Pacific Chapter, previews some of the forthcoming meeting for the Chapter including; the 7th Asian Diabetes Surgery Summit (ADSS) will take place at the Taipei International Convention Center October 28 and 29, 2016; the Saudi Society’s (SASMBS) second international conference October 7-9, 2016, the theme of the conference is “Diabesity: a Threatening Epidemic”.
The Obesity Surgery Society of Australia & New Zealand held its first Fellowship workshop for 2016 – the day was themed “Bariatric Surgery – Which Operation & How?”. The interactive workshop was held at the RACS Office in Brisbane and was a huge success – OSSANZ would like to thank all of those involved on the day. In addition, she announced that registration for the OSSANZ Conference “Dilemmas in Bariatrics” being held in Sydney from October 27th – 29th 2016 has opened. The seminar will provide an ideal environment to foster communication and collaboration and to further our knowledge of Bariatrics on an international level. The programme will focus on decision making and dilemmas in relation to adolescents, the super obese, the unique issues associated with public bariatrics and medico legal aspects.
Richard Welbourn, President of the XXII IFSO Congress, looks forward to 22ndIFSO World Congress, to be held in London, UK, 29th August and the 2nd September 2017. With more than eight postgraduate courses, multiple symposia and numerous oral, video and live operating sessions, this is set to be a great meeting. The programme highlights the multidisciplinary nature of this disease and its management with joint symposia with anaesthetic, plastic surgery, paediatric surgery and internal medicine colleagues. There are planned joint sessions with fertility, psychology and psychiatry experts. There will also be special emphasis on Integrated Health and non-surgical treatment strategies. An exciting ‘Dragon’s Den meets Shark tank’ session will take place where participants will pitch ideas for randomised controlled trials to a panel of experts. For more information, please click here
In addition there are also updates from Scott Shikora (Editor-in-Chief of Obesity Surgery), Blanca Rios (Chair of the Integrated Health Committee Committees’ Reports), Abdelrahman Nimeri (Chairman of the Communication Committee), Wendy Brown (Chairman of the Scientific Committee) and Karin Dolezalova (Young IFSO, Chapter President), as well as an update on the 2016 Global IFSO Registry.