PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS

Incoming Presidential Address

Professor T.Lerut,President

Dear Colleagues,

I am highly honored to have been chosen to become the President of the International Society for Diseases of the Esophagus at the occasion of the 8th ISDE World Congress in Sao Paolo last September.
This meeting, the first ISDE World Congress in the new millennium, organized by Prof. Henrique Walter Pinotti was truly a great success that will be remembered as an important landmark in the history of our Society. During this meeting in total 591 papers coming from 33 different countries were presented reflecting the attractiveness of ISDE. But above all the meeting has been unanimously perceived as a very high quality meeting during which many groups presented the results of their latest research. As a result the many symposia and sessions were largely attended with numerous interesting and lively discussions.
The combination of high quality and the flavor of Brazilian Samba (who will forget the image of Prof. Pinotti dancing with the Samba girls!) made the 8th World Congress an memorable event.
This meeting is also the proof that ISDE has reached, less than 25 years after its foundation by Prof. Nakayama, its full maturity, ready to stand the test of time and to face the challenges of the rapidly evolving world of Medicine.
The assets to focus these new challenges are anchored in the ISDE charter, more specifically in Article 2, Section 1.
ÒThe Objectives of this society are:
1. By means of achievements in the fields of research and therapy of diseases of the esophagus, to contribute internationally toward the interchange of scientific and medical knowledge.
2. To maintain active contact with organizations interested in esophageal and related diseases.
3. To encourage and support cooperative research.
4. To encourage, assist and arrange for clinicians and scientists with an interest in esophageal diseases to visit centers for teaching, lectures, study and research.Ó
This section simply reflects the visionary wisdom of the founder fathers who already did realize the importance of exchange of scientific and medical knowledge, today referred to as Multidisciplinarity.
The impact of globalization of medicine, the introduction of new technologies, new diagnostic tools, new drugs, the explosive developments in genetics and molecular biology are increasingly influencing our daily practice.
The need for a multidisciplinary approach for virtually every pathologic condition has become a clich�E The boundaries between different disciplines are fading in favor of the creation of teams joining forces to work out guidelines, protocols, trials...
Multidisciplinarity created Esophagology.
During the nineties also the ISDE leadership began to realize the increasing need for reaching out towards other specialities dealing with esophagology.
My charismatic predecessor Prof. Tom DeMeester took the lead in launching the idea to integrate other subspecialities, in particular gastroenterologists, into ISDE.
As a result an ad Hoc Committee is now preparing a proposal to adapt our constitution to this philosophy. Such an integration of subspecialities, however without loosing the ISDE identity, may only improve cross-fertilization and quality of science.
Along the same philosophy it was felt that esophagologists from all over the world should come together under one single roof. In this respect talks will start with OESO (Organisation Internationale dÕEtudes Statistiques pour les Maladies de lÕOesophage) leadership to investigate the possibilities of cooperation and integration. At this point the ISDE and OESO are linked on the basis of a voluntary association by which the statistical services of OESO are available to the members of ISDE (Bylaws Article 3 Footnote). It is hoped that this voluntary association may become a formal association which undoubtly would be to the benefit for everyone interested in esophagology.
In any case the ad Hoc Committee on the new constitution will continue its activities in order to submit its proposal to the Executive Committee and subsequently to the Council and General Assembly within the coming months. The main purpose is to attract especially young investigators from all over the world into a modern and dynamic ISDE.
In this respect I would like to commend the Secretary General, Prof. Watanabe, and his staff for their important efforts to modernize the ISDE administration including the realization of the website (www.isde.net) that allows all members to remain updated and to have easy access to the secretariat.
With such a dynamic group and with the help of the immediate Past President Prof. DeMeester, the President Elect Prof. Duranceau and all other officers I am confident that we will succeed in fulfilling our mission.