Newsletter International Society of Surgery (ISS) SociĂŠtĂŠ Internationale de Chirurgie (SIC) November 2020
Welcome by the ISS/SIC President John G. Hunter, President ISS/SIC & Congress President ISW 2022
It is rare to wish a year away, but I think we all are looking forward to having 2020 behind us, to having Covid-19 under control, to restoring the world’s economy, to advancing health equity, and to getting back together as an earnest but energetic international brotherhood and sisterhood of surgeons! This year has taken a toll on human life, with many thousands of healthcare workers dead because of their dedication to patient care. For them and their families, we grieve and stand in awe of their selfless dedication to the highest mission on the planet, in my humble opinion. For all, and especially for those who lost family or friends, the emotional toll has been substantial. Social distancing, masking, and working from home have isolated us from those whose ideas, energy, hugs, jokes and smiles bring joy to
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our work. On the flip side, families have grown tighter… and in some cases weary of each other A. As we in the northern hemisphere enter our winter and the usual cold/flu season, it is even more important that we do not let down our guard. Already Europe is back to lock down, and it is likely that we will see this elsewhere in the world as the season progresses. In this light, the global pandemic has made an in-person world congress in Kuala Lumpur next year too risky. We do not know whether it will be safe to get together in 10 months. Worry alone would keep many delegates at home even with an effective vaccine and travel restrictions removed. Hoping that another year will clear the world of this deadly scourge, we are now rescheduled for August 2022 in Malaysia and will delay the following World Congress until 2024. The greatest challenge in front of us is adapting a highly interactive society into one that can serve its members without face to face meetings. We are taking on this challenge in several ways. In 2021,
we will go virtual. A virtual International Surgical Week to be held in August is in the planning phase. In addition, our integrated societies will be holding virtual tumor boards, roundtables, panel discussions, and original research presentations. Keep an eye on your email and our website. At the ISS/SIC, we have adjusted to ‘watercooler conversations’ occurring in our Zoom studies and living rooms, halfway around the world from each other. Most of our meetings have been held during waking hours for those living close to Greenwich Mean Time, but for those of us farther away, on the west coast of the US or in New Zealand or Japan, we find ourselves meeting well into the night or early in the morning. Nevertheless, the work is getting done and the ISS/SIC is healthy. The finances are solid and the new European arm of the ISS Foundation has been launched.
running at 5-10% for a decade, this year will see a 25% increase in submissions. The prevailing theory is that the pause in elective surgery caused by the pandemic allowed busy surgeons around the world time to put the final touches on scientific studies and manuscripts. Despite shrinking the acceptance rate down to 20% (roughly), this wave of submissions has resulted in some pretty fat issues of the journal. Great work, Team WJS! As we approach the holiday season and the New Year, let me wish you, your families, your surgical teams, and your close friends a joyous holiday season. Keep up your guard. Stay safe. Stay healthy, because I am looking forward to seeing you in Kuala Lumpur in 2022 if not before! John G. Hunter President ISS/SIC & Congress President ISW 2022
The other great arm of the ISS/SIC, the World Journal of Surgery is seeing its busiest year by far. While the annual growth in manuscript submission was
ISS/SIC Executive Committee, LOC and Administration meeting in August 2020
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Report Secretary-General Kenneth D. Boffard, Secretary-General ISS/SIC
How do we write a Newsletter, and avoid mentioning the C word? With great difficulty, it seems. The pandemic has touched everyone’s lives and finances. There is almost no country in the world that has not been affected in some way. There has been massive change in attitudes to Climate change (dolphins in a Venice Canal, elephants downtown in a city in India), a discovery of new priorities and values worldwide. We have changed our views on what is normal, how we communicate, educate, and lead our daily lives. Many have lost loved ones, and many Health Care Workers lost their lives caring for others. Many who otherwise would not have done so, have come together. We have learnt new words, such as “lockdown”, and new terms such as “social distancing”. Our habits have changed as have our values as to what we regard as really important.
What I miss most, is the opportunity for social contact. The strength of the ISS/ SIC has always been our unique ability to network and communicate, for developed and developing country members to meet face-to-face and exchange ideas, for Professors and Students to meet each other over a cup of coffee, for oncologists and trauma surgeons to find that they have more in common than differences, and for the unique mix that the International Surgical Week brings to the Global Surgical world. There will never be a true substitute for face-to-face communication. The new “Normal” is Zoom. Even the dress code has changed – one can buy tracksuits advertised to look like a shirt (or is it a shirt that looks like a tracksuit), and we don’t even fully dress for meetings any more.
We are hoping that what took a decade from which to recover in the Spanish Flu epidemic, will be a year or two thanks to modern technologies, though many scars will be with us for an awfully long time. What we have learnt, and what we have achieved globally in only nine months has been absolutely extraordinary. In August, this year we made the decision that there were too many uncertainties to continue planning for ISW2021, and the Council made the decision to postpone the meeting for a year. Rather than cancel the meeting, we have postponed it for a year, and it will take place at the same time of year, in Kuala Lumpur, but in 2022, then again in 2024. Although ISW takes place every two years, in this era of technology that is too long, and the success of others has also stimulated us. From
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2021, in alternate years, we will hold a Virtual Surgical Week, which will be free of charge to all ISS/SIC paid members. The ad-hoc Working Committee for this, under the able leadership of Alessandro Fichera is developing a great program which like ISW cuts across all disciplines and will take place in August 2021. More about this in the April newsletter. We have developed strong associations between your Society, and Surgical Colleges and organizations across the globe. Our partnerships include strong relationships and agreements with Colleges of Surgeons across the world, where we welcome their members at our meetings, ISS/SIC assists with speakers at meetings in their own countries and their members receive discounts for ISS/SIC membership. If you would like to participate, let us know. Working with the many local organizations, the Society and its Integrated Societies has developed educational initiatives globally, aimed at what individual countries need, not what outsiders think they want.
We have also recognized that economies in all countries are not equal. ISS/ SIC membership subscriptions have been adjusted in line with World Bank recommendations so that there are significant discounts for members’ subscriptions for more financially challenged countries, and a further discount applies for younger surgeons. In recognition of the economic effects of the pandemic, and with the help of the ISS Foundation, ALL membership rates have been discounted by 20% for this year. We have created a European ISS Foundation, chaired by member Peter Vogelbach, which in Association with our US Foundation, will allow tax relief for donations from Europe. More information as these initiatives develop. It is with particular pride that we are creating a milieu which caters for medical students, young doctors and trainees with an interest in Surgery, Anaesthesiology, and Critical Care from across the world, specialists and world household names, to
come together. We hope that this mixed village will be an example of what can be achieved when we all have the same goal. We welcome our new National Delegates representing individuals in each country, as well as our Fellows whom we have recognized for the impact they have made within their profession. I would like to thank the Administrative Office for their incredibly hard work on behalf of all our members. Stay safe, and whether we see you virtually or in reality, I look forward to working with you and furthering our aims for the benefit of all. Kenneth D. Boffard Secretary-General ISS/SIC
Indigenous tribe in Malaysia
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Report General Treasurer Gerard M. Doherty, General Treasurer ISS/SIC
For the upcoming years the society calculates for 2020 and 2021 a surplus of approx. 60’000 USD/a. This due to less travel costs of committee members. Some costs have been put aside for scientific admin costs for the vir tual meeting in August 2021.
For 2022 and 2023 approx. 25’000 USD profit per year has been calculated. Due to the current pandemic situation these numbers have to be handled with care as multiple parameters within the budget are speculative. As we have modified the dues last year we do recommend to leave the dues for 2022 and 2023. Gerard M. Doherty General Treasurer ISS/SIC
Kek Lok Si Temple, Malaysia
Budget 2020/2021
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Budget 2022/2023
Cable car and sky bridge, Langkawi island, Malaysia
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Report Editor in Chief WJS Julie Ann Sosa, Editor in Chief WJS
Hello and greetings to members of the ISS/SIC from San Francisco, where we are still masked, socially distanced and continuing to successfully flatten the curve! The COVID-19 pandemic continues to transform the world around us, and I hope that all of you are remaining healthy and safe. With the pandemic, we have experienced a sharp increase in the number of submissions to the World Journal of Surgery (WJS), such that at one point this year we were receiving more than 120 submissions per week, putting us on track to have more than 3’000 total submissions for the year. This is sharply increased from our high of 2’378 submissions in 2019; 561 articles have been published so far. Our editorial board, associate editors, managing editor and publisher (and yours truly!) have worked harder than ever to accommodate, and we have maintained an overall acceptance rate of 22%, keeping quality very high. In the last year, our authors have reported being more satisfied with the WJS peer review process than in the two prior years, which is testament to the fantastic editorial team we have assembled. We have worked hard to engage with readers via several new initiatives that were created with the leadership of Sanziana Roman, MD, of the United States, who is our Associate Editor for Special Features and Innovation.
Sanziana Roman, MD Ombuds for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
These include: (1) ‘My First Paper,’ which recognizes the publication of an author’s first manuscript; (2) ‘We Asked the Experts,’ which is a new feature providing expert techniques, tips, and pitfalls to avoid by international thought leaders that include many members of our editorial board; (3) more Invited Commentaries, 15 of which had been published through August 2020; and (4) more published submissions from Lower and Middle Income Countries. Together, we hope these creative approaches to publishing will appeal to a larger swathe of WJS authors and readers! Dr Roman also was named this fall to serve as our inaugural Ombuds for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, which was an important position created in the wake of the #MedBikini controversy that went viral on Twitter, which highlighted pervasive gender bias in how we think about professionalism in surgical science and peer review. In her new role, Dr Roman will review all accepted manuscripts to help assure scientific rigor, specifically around unconscious/implicit bias. As EIC of WJS, I am one of just 17 editors who are women (6.7%) among 252 editors at a total of 215 surgical journals. Women now represent 47% of the editorial leadership at WJS, the result of active and intentional efforts over the last several years to diversify our editorial board. I laid out our commitment to DEI at WJS in my editorial ‘Doubling down on diversity in the wake of the #Medbikini controversy’ www.dx. doi.org/10.1007/s00268-020-05751-4. While we have made incredible strides around DEI initiatives, there is still work to be done, and I am committed to keeping WJS on the leading edge of progressive change.
WJS continues to engage with a Twitter account that has tweeted more than 550 times over the past 18 months and which has generated 1.2 million online impressions with more than 8,080 followers. Visual abstracts continue to be an important tool for generating interest and energy around potentially high impact publications. On average, each visual abstract reaches more than 4,000 impressions. Finally, I would like to welcome again Dr Olivier Soubrane of Clichy, France as a new associate editor WJS, primarily responsible for the management of hepatobiliary manuscripts.
Olivier Soubrane, MD Associate Editor for Hepatobiliary Surgery
He will replace Drs Jacques Belghiti and Francois Cauchy, who rotated off after many years of faithful service. Again, I’d like to thank the ISS/SIC for the privilege of serving as EIC. It has been a most challenging year for all of us, but we continue to advance the field of surgical science at WJS with passion and commitment! Julie Ann Sosa Editor in Chief WJS
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Report ISS-Foundation Michael G. Sarr, Secretary/Treasurer ISS Foundation
I submit a brief report from the ISS Foundation. The Covid pandemic has pretty much hindered any attempts at fund raising. This report will address: 1. The current financial assets of the ISSF 2. Plans for ISW 2022 3. Other initiatives
1. Financial Assets The ISSF has three separate accounts a) Checking = $75’000; expenses this year really have only been $3’300 for tax preparation by Dobrusin and Associates in Chicago. They have done our tax work for years and are very approachable; when I took over this Secretary/Treasurer position, I went and met them. Very nice people and they know us well. b) CD = $40’000 matures yearly c) We have $237’761 invested in the American College of Surgery JIP investment program. We have not moved any monies out of this or invested any monies into it in the last few years. The worth in 2015 was $203’516. So in the following 5 years it has increased about $35’000 to $237’000. History as of December 2106 it was 227’000, as of 2017 it was 243’000, as of 2018 it was 224’000, and 2019 it was 259’000. So you can see that the growth of this was good, BUT since December 2019 we have lost about 17’000 it fell as low as $ 218’000 in March of 2020 but has gained since them to $237’000.
2. Plans for ISW 2022 a) Concerning the travel scholars, there were 4 travelers who could not make it to Poland in 2019. We have confirmed that they will come to ISW 2022 in Malaysia and we are holding their awards until then. We plan to disperse the usual $20’000 from the ISS/SIC to travelers for 2022 but in addition, IATSIC will again fund 2 travelers, ASAP will fund one, and ISDS will fund 2 as well. Also the Japan chapter of the ISS/SIC also funds one scholar via the ISSF as well as funding travelers themselves. In addition, the 2019 fund drive to selected members of the US Chapter of the ISS/SIC was not as successful as I had hoped. In conjunction with Dick Reiling of the US Chapter of the ISS/SIC, we sent 55 personal letters asking for donations to the ISSF and only $3’500 were obtained - these monies will be used to support 2 more ISSF travelers. I want to remind that BSI and IAES have their own travel scholars
and fund these travelers directly. In summary the ISS/SIC via the ISSF will be able to offer about 18 travelers if the decision is to award each $2’000 or if the decision is to make the award $2’500 the number of ISS travelers via the ISS/SIC will be at 16. b) The relationship of the ISSF and the IASSS (International Association of Student Surgical Societies) is being further developed and hopefully will materialize in Malaysia in 2022. This is a work in progress.
3. Other initiatives a) Proposals to Medtronic and Bard were not accepted b) For the calendar year 2021 because of the pandemic, the ISS/SIC agreed to decrease the membership costs. The ISSF will pick up the lost revenue for this membership decrease (maybe as much as $60’000)
Kuala Lumpur Convention Center KLCC
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c) Again the ISSF voted to award $20’000 to BSI for 2021 and 2022 to continue to hold their fabulous outreach teaching sessions in Malaysia and Vietnam and hopefully in Africa in the future d) For these next two years, the ISSF has awarded IATSIC $20’000 to help them to set up a program in Ethiopia
e) In conjunction with BSI, IAES, and IATSIC, the ISSF has been trying to develop relations with COSECSA and with Dr Anthony Charles at the University of North Carolina in Malawi. Representatives of each of these groups have met once, BUT the pandemic has halted these endeavors to date.
Respectfully submitted Michael G. Sarr Secretary/Treasurer ISS Foundation In conjunction with Drs Patti (President of ISSF), Hunter, Boffard, Doherty, Sosa, Fingerhut, Parkyn, and Mr. Iliopoulos
Report Administrative Office Visit http://iss-sic.com/membership/fel lowship.html for details and to see the list of fellows. Are you active on social media? Check the channels from time to time of ISS/SIC - you will find pertinent updates, published featured papers, and other valuable infor-mation. Visit us on: Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn
ISS/SIC Administrative Office team Chris, Laurie, Mike, Denise
ISS/SIC Honorary Fellowship Your Administrative Office team has not met in person for quite a while now due to the governmental recommendation for home office. Luckily, we are well used to work from any place, and our equipment allows for all flexibility needed to serve the committees and membership. We do have weekly virtual team meetings with our Secretary-General to discuss ISS/SIC related issues. Actually, we prepare for the planned Webinars and the virtual Congress in August 2021 and look forward to meeting the challenges. With the email sent on November 3rd, 2020, ISS/SIC has announced the new https://www.issmembership.org/login The platform offers following possibilities: • to set up automatic dues payments • to send private messages to other members
• to find colleagues that are members of any Integrated Society • and last but not least, to easily handle donations towards the ISS Foundation Given the current COVID pandemic, the ISS/SIC Council and the ISS Foundation board felt that ISS/SIC members should be compensated for a time when only limited activity could take place. Therefore, it was decided to offer our members a 20% discount on membership fees for 2021 in recognition of your ongoing support towards ISS/SIC endeavors. The membership fee to be paid already includes this discount. The ISS Foundation will cover the gap in income for ISS/SIC.
ISS Fellows The Council is happy to announce that more members have been approved as Fellow of the International Society of Surgery ISS/SIC. All approved Fellows may use the FISS title officially in their documents.
We take great pleasure to announce that ISS/SIC Honorary Fellowship has been bestowed on Prof. Frank J. Branicki, UAE, for his many years of services and dedication towards ISS/SIC. In view of the postponement of ISW 2021 the official award and recognition will be at ISW 2022. Our heartfelt congratulation to Prof. Branicki for this achievement. Frank J. Branicki
We we wish you an enjoyable festive season and a prosperous 2021. Stay healthy! Your Administrative Office team
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Report LOC ISW 2021/2022 Hisham Abdullah, President LOC ISW 2022
Hanafiah Harunarashid Secretary LOC ISW 2022
International Surgical Week ISW 2022, 28th August – 1st September 2022 Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, Kuala Lumpur Malaysia would like to welcome you to the World Congress of Surgery 2022. With trials and tribulations 2020 has brought upon the respective industries, the Malaysian government has successfully rolled out and quickly implemented new normal measures together with the local industry’s concerted effort reflecting Malaysia as a safe destination for all. Through perseverance, dedication and effort, Malaysia welcomes you to a safe country full of endless possibilities. Together, let’s enrich the business events industry. Let’s Meet in Malaysia. BE Greater, Together. Here are the updates: Postponement of International Surgical Week ISW 2021 The Council of the International Surgical Society has decided to postpone the ISW 2021 which was slated to be held from 29th August to 2nd September 2021 at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in view of the great uncertainties and the situation of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021. Currently, the preparations are for a physical meeting for ISW 2022.
Preparations for International Surgical Week ISW 2022 ISW 2022 will still be held at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre from 28th August to 1st September 2022 with the support of the College of Surgeons of Malaysia, the Ministry of Health of Malaysia and the Malaysian Convention and Exhibition Bureau. The Local Organizing Committee is confident that the Congress in 2022 will be well supported and attended as many surgeons and participants would have missed not being able to network and renew acquaintance for two years. Local Organizing Committee (LOC) Line-up for ISW 2022 The Local Organizing Committee will remain the same for ISW 2022 as per the below: Local Congress President ISW 2022 Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah CSAMM Congress President Professor Dr April Camilla Roslani Local Congress Secretary, ISW 2022 Professor Dato’ Dr Hanafiah Harunarashid Local Organizing Committee Members ISW 2022 Professor Dato’ Dr Yip Cheng Har Dato’ Dr Imi Sairi B Hadi Dr Ng Char Hong Dr Rizal Alwi Dr Siow Sze Li Dato’ Dr Yusof Abdul Wahab
COVID-19 situation in Malaysia As of the date of writing, the COVID-19 situation in Malaysia is relatively stable with 42,872 cases (0.13% of the population) and a mortality rate of 0.7% (302 cases) since March 2020. We hope that everyone will keep safe during these pressing times and that Malaysia will be able to welcome the Congress attendees to a safe and productive International Surgical Week come August 2022. Hisham Abdullah President LOC ISW 2022 Hanafiah Harunarashid Secretary LOC ISW 2022
Kuala Lumpur Convention Center KLCC – Aereal View
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Report IAES Akira Miyauchi, President IAES
Janice L. Pasieka, Secretary-Treasurer IAES
• Welcomed 7 new active members, 12 new associate members • Sadly announce the passing of Professor Radan Dzodic from Serbia • Publications from our Krakow meeting in February WJS 44:2;2020
• 35 peer-reviewed papers • 5 editorials for accompanying papers • Dr G Doherty’s Presidential Address • A summary paper from the panel session on Surgeon’s Wellbeing • 2 ‘Endocrine surgery without the Bells and whistles’– on Parathyroid & Adrenal Thankful to all authors and reviewers for meeting WJS deadline • IAES 18th Post-Graduate Course in Xiamen China April 2019 • 19th course was to be in Singapore May 2020 – cancelled COVID • Running the course virtually on November 21 – 22, 2020 • Look to our website for details and uploads following the meeting • INTEREST Program International Endocrine Surgical Teams
• October 2019 7th Malaysian Endocrine Course with BSI • Published editorial of the Malaysian INTEREST program WJS 44;2020 • November 2019 3rd Viet Nam Endocrine Course – Hanoi • Grateful to the ISS Foundation for helping to support these initiatives • All future programs cancelled or on hold due to COVID Akira Miyauchi President IAES Janice L. Pasieka Secretary-Treasurer IAES
Report IATSIC Elmin Steyn, President IATSIC
Report on the activities of IATSIC April 2020 – November 2020 The unprecedented epidemic of 2020 significantly curtailed the educational activities of IATSIC, as trauma courses are strongly reliant on practical skills training in hands-on laboratory facilities. Despite the cancellation of courses and conferences, plenty of planning and strategizing has taken place.
Training during 2020 Educ ation Commit te e Chair: Scot t D’Amours DSTC – Chair: Tarek Razek • Courses applied for in 2020: 28 • Courses completed: 8 • Still planned: 2 • Cancelled or postponed: 18 • A basket of slide sets and lectures are available to structure each course to the needs of the environment. The slides have been reviewed by Scott and will be ready by 2021. Clinical cases have been updated. DATC – Chair: Jonathan White • Combining DSTC/DATC programs internationally are becoming the norm • Few courses occurred in 2020: see above
• Development of online course material ongoing NTMC – Chair: Ranjith Ellawala • After establishing NTMC instructor training in Ethiopia during 2019, 2 further courses, planned for 2020, unfortunately were cancelled due to the pandemic. Global commitments: ongoing and future projects • A new basic trauma life suppor t course, (yet unnamed) for medical students is being developed and will be tested in Cape Town in November 2020. • To compensate for the unavailability of IATSIC training courses, a series of monthly webinars will be on offer from January 2021. Themes such as clin-
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ical governance, leadership and development of Trauma Systems will be included, with presentations and panel discussions. The webinars are intended for a wider audience of international trauma care professionals and trainees across the economic divides, hopefully also creating opportunities to expand membership. The web presentations will be recorded for future access by IATSIC members. • A series of online meetings with all DS/ATC course directors internationally is in progress, to discuss the concept of a theoretical trauma course, based on case discussions and trauma surgical decision-making. This would be an interim training solution until standard DSTC courses with their unique group practical skills teaching sessions can resume. • The Sri Lanka Surgical conference changed to an online event, was successfully completed in November 2020: Tarek Razek, Ken Boffard and Elmin Steyn represented the ISS/SIC and IATSIC. KL conference 2021: online event • As we all know, the Kuala Lumpur 2021 ISW will now take place in August 2022.
• An abbreviated virtual ISS/SIC conference is being set up for August 2021. The freshly compiled program, consisting of two different IATSIC sessions, will include short presentations and panel discussions on provocative topics incorporating a global theme. Speakers representing all quadrants of the globe promise to provide some stimulating online conversations. KL 2022 conference preparation: • The excellent programme, topics and speakers, compiled by Tina Gaarder for the original 2021 conference, will be retained. Closer to the event, topics will be reviewed in conjunction with the allocated speakers, for updating if required. The program provides plenty of opportunities for debates, discussions and interrogation of controversies, while also providing a platform for speakers from LMICs • IATSIC Travel Scholars will be selected via the ISS Foundation infrastructure. • A specially selected IATSIC hotel and an illustrious Gala dinner will be on offer – prioritized for IATSIC members and guests.
Collaborations • AAST in San Diego: the IATSIC representative on the International Relations Committee is the past president of IATSIC, Tina Gaarder. • Cooperation with ECTES in the form of an IATSIC Guest symposium: This was deferred to ECTES April 2021 (Oslo). Membership • The ISS administrative team have graciously enabled us to offer a first year of free membership to attendees at DSTC and DATC courses who apply for membership while attending the course. Please contact Chris Storz at the ISS/SIC central office for slides to advertise membership during courses. More information regarding the webinars and events in 2021 will follow. The executive committee wishes you safety and good health over the festive season, until we (virtually) meet again! Take care! Elmin Steyn, President Hayato Kurihara, Secretary/Treasurer Tina Gaarder, Past President Scott D’Amours, President Elect
Petaling Street, Kuala Lumpur
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Report IAES Anders Thorell, President IASMEN
Dear IASMEN members As all are aware, today´s reality is continuously changing, which also affects ISS/ SIC´s as well as the Integrated Societies´ activities. During the spring/summer 2020, the IASMEN Executive Committee has held repeated video conferences in order to finalize the scientific programme for ISW 2021 in Kuala Lumpur. The IASMEN programme was somewhat ex tended compared to previously congresses and included 6 Main Sessions of which 5 were collaborative with other Integrated Societies and one being an IASMEN only session. In addition, two State-ofthe-Art sessions were planned with the titles ERAS and LONG TERM CANCER OUTCOMES (Olle Ljungqvist) and “PREHABILITATION IN ELECTIVE SURGERY: DOES IT WORK?” (Mattias Soop), respectively. Except for some local contributors, all invited speakers are approached and have confirmed their participation. Although not completely unexpected, in August we were all informed that ISW 2021 will be postponed to 2022. We all accept and agree that this is an appropriate decision. However, the question as to what extent some virtual alternatives, such as webinars, to cover for the lack of activities in ISS/SIC during this long period is yet to be finally answered. Nevertheless, we all expect that we will be able to meet the need for updates and educational activities in this very unfortunate situation which is beyond our control and has affected us all. We intend to continuously post information on the progress in
this respect on our website in order to facilitate planning for all members and other interested colleagues/students. In parallel, the IASMEN Executive Committee (and in particular Joji Kotani, Japan), has made efforts in order to improve IASMEN SNS (Social Network Service) activities. In collaboration with Denise Eggler Braun at the Administrative Office ISS/SIC, we have agreed that support will be given in order to the setup of a Facebook page and a Twitter account, which is be launched November 1st, 2020 with weekly feeds after that. We have good hope that this will improve our visibility and provide relevant information to all with an interest in our various fields. E xamples of issues intended to be posted: • Introduction of the members of the IASMEN Executive Committee • Highlights from the WCS 2019 in Krakow, Poland • H i g h l i g h t i n g of I A S M E N r e l a te d articles recently published in World Journal of Surgery • “Journal Club” activities • Webinars We realize that these improvements of the IASMEN activities also call for some changes in the constitution of members in the IASMEN Executive Committee, not least due to the increased workload associated with the SNS activities mentioned above.
• Joji Kotani, Japan: (formerly SNS Communication) shall take the role as IASMEN Secretary General. • Naomi Nakayama, Japan: (new) shall act as the IASMEN Secretary SNS Communication (Social Network Service) and will be a new member of the IASMEN Executive Committee. • Anders Thorell, Sweden (President), Ho-Seong Han, South Korea (Scientific chair) and Steven Wolf (President elect) will remain for an extended total period of 3 years. • Chris Storz has approached all members by mail for information and to give opportunity to object. (A formal Ballot not considered necessary). With hope to be able to communicate further in the near future and with best wishes to all. Anders Thorell President IASMEN
According to the IASMEN statutes, changes in the constitution of the Executive Committee should be decided at the General Assembly during the biannual congresses. However, due to the extraordinary current situation, with a hiatus of three years between two consecutive meetings we are suggesting the following: • Dileep N. Lobo, UK: (formerly IASMEN Secretary General & Treasurer) shall act as IASMEN Treasurer only.
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Report BSI Gaurav Agarwal, President BSI
Sharon W.W. Chan, Honorary Secretary BSI
The International Surgical Week, the 49th World Congress of International Society of Surgery has been postponed to year 2022, due to the ongoing COVID pandemic. The BSI expects to welcome you in Malaysia with world’s leading experts in breast surgery on 28 August to 1 Sep-
tember 2022. An exciting world class scientific program covering most contentious and contemporary topics in breast surgery and breast surgical oncology awaits us. The most prestigious oration of BSI - the Umberto Veronesi Lecture - will be delivered by Dr Krishna Clough from Paris Breast Center, a renowned and pioneer oncoplastic breast surgeon. Debates, Symposia and Workshops, all planned to impart knowledge and skills needed in modern day breast surgery have been lined up, relevant to surgeons from all parts of the world. Abstract submission deadline is now changed to 28 January 2022. In addition, we are planning a virtual meeting in August/September 2021. Please stay tuned for updated news. Under the influence of global COVID pandemic, we have used a new platform for teaching and sharing – virtual meeting. This allows us to partner with national and regional surgical societies for continual education. In the past few months, BSI
had actively participated in on-line meeting hosted by Senaturk from Turkey and Hong Kong Society of Breast Surgeons from Hong Kong.
Senaturk Meets Breast Surgery International, 20 June 2020 It was an exciting webinar with international experts meeting online! The meeting was hosted by our council member Bahadir M Gulluoglu and our president elect Owen Ung. Panelists included our current President Gaurav Agarwal, and our past presidents Omar Youssef and Sarkis Meterissian. Together with Shawna Willey,
Senaturk meets BSI, June 2020
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SVS Deo and Sankaran Narayanan, there was great interactions and discussion on the topic “How to overcome challenges in breast surgery: global collaboration matters�. It was a very successful meeting, all participants enjoyed the meeting very much. We will continue to collaborate with Senaturk for more education activities in the future.
Hong Kong Society of Breast Surgeons ASM supported by BSI, 5 September 2020 The Breast Surgery International (BSI) is happy to partner with the Hong Kong Society of Breast Surgeons (HKSBS) for the meeting. This virtual meeting is organised by Dr Sharon Chan and Dr Polly Cheung, which attracted substantial participation from both BSI and HKSBS. Our president Gaurav Agarwal gave a keynote lecture on Breast Cancer Management during COVID pandemic, which is informative and enlightening. Together with our president elect Owen Ung, they also covered important topics on management of axilla on Breast Cancer Surgery. It was a great meeting with lively discussions and inter-
Webinar Participants from BSI and HKSBS, September 2020
actions between the two societies. We are committed to support HKSBS in their future activities. Before ISW 2022, we plan to carry out a number of educational activities partnering with other societies and organisations, e.g University of Malaya, Association of Breast Surgeons of India, Senaturk and Hong Kong Society of Breast Surgeon, to name a few. Please contact us if you have a proposal for the BSI to conduct any other academic or professional activities,
or if you would like to contribute to the BSI activities. Hoping to see you in Kuala Lumpur in August/September 2022, and before that, virtually, over the internet ! Gaurav Agarwal President BSI
Sharon Chan Honorary Secretary BSI
Prof Gaurav Agarwal giving keynote lecture for Hong Kong Society of Breast Surgeons, September 2020
Prof Owen Ung giving a lecture on Management of Axilla in Breast Cancer Patients, September 2020
Hong Kong Society of Breast Surgeons Committee
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Report ISDS Alessandro Fichera, President ISDS
As we were finalizing the program for the International Surgical Week - The World Congress of Surgery (ISW 2021) in Kuala Lumpur in August 2021 we were notified by ISS/SIC leadership of the cancellation of the meeting. While this was, without a doubt, the right decision we were hoping for a different scenario. We have notified all the speakers originally contacted for the 2021 meeting. Several members of the Executive Committee reached out to me with suggestions to take advantage of the hiatus year by increasing visibility of ISS/ISDS, recruiting more members and engaging the existing ones. With those goals in mind, the ISDS Executive Committee is proposing a series of monthly one hour free webinars (April 2021 to March 2022) covering different basic topics geared toward young general surgeons and trainees run by members of the Executive Committee and therefore at no cost, not limited to the members of the Society. Those will be run live at a convenient time for the speakers, will be recorded and available for free on the ISDS website for a month afterwards. With aggressive advertising this initiative should generate traffic on our website and new members.
This is the general schema: UGI 3 webinars • Benign • Malignant • Miscellaneous HPB 3 webinars • Benign • Malignant • Transplant LGI 3 webinars • Benign • Malignant • Anorectal Hernia 2 webinars Bariatrics 1 webinars Standard format will include three basic topics per webinar as 15 minutes talks and 15 minutes for questions and discussion at the end. At the time of this report we are in the process of finalizing the agenda. We have gone back to the drawing board to select topics not included in the original program for KL 2021, as we are planning to use the previously vetted 2021 program in 2022, with very minor edits. We have tasked the Program Committee divided by segments of the GI tract, staffed by Executive Committee members with few exceptions and chaired by the ISDS President with selecting topics and speakers for the webinars. As Winston Churchill once said “Never let a good crisis go to waste”. We can turn this postponement into a positive for our societies. Respectfully submitted Alessandro Fichera President ISDS
Towers in KL
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Report ASAP Russell L. Gruen, President ASAP
1. 2020 has been an enormously disrupted year for all, and ASAP has found it challenging to maintain momentum gained in 2019. We congratulate the ISS/SIC leadership on navigating this year and its clear-headed decision-making about the Kuala Lumpur WCS/ISW. 2. ASAP continues with our agenda for this (now) triennium: Mission, Membership, and Money, in which we are aiming, respectively to:
a. update the preamble to our constitution and clarify the distinctive purpose and value proposition for ASAP in the context of the ISS-SIC and the broader Global Surgery community, centred particularly on advancing the field of Global Surgery through mentoring, career development, and opening doors to opportunity; b. grow membership through a coherent and enduring strategy; and c. ensure there is sufficient income to not just be sustainable, but to fully fulfil our mission, and to ensure the entire ISS/SIC membership can be effective advocates for access to safe affordable surgery and anaesthesia when needed. I look forward to discussing how we engage with other Integrated Societies, and the ISS/SIC Global Surgery Committee in this regard.
3. We have continued to invest in G4 Alliance as a representative advocacy organisation for global surgery. 4. We are now beginning planning for the virtual events of 2021, and look forward to planning for a spectacular WCS/ISW in 2022. Russell L. Gruen President ASAP
Report IASSS ShadĂŠ Breedt, Administration Officer IASSS
Jessica Davies, Office-Secretary IASSS
The International Association of Student Surgical Societies (IASSS) is reaching the end of a productive and eventful year, despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Our vision is to promote surgical education and interest through supporting surgical interest groups and as such, one of our main goals for 2020 was to strengthen our membership base. Over the last few months, we have welcomed 70 new members to our society. This brings our membership base to 462. The International Surgical Week (ISW) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, has unfortunately been postponed due to COVID-19. However, we look ahead to the hosting of a virtual conference in 2021 as a bridge to the ISW in 2022. Academy The IASSS Executive Committee did not view the COVID-19 pandemic as a hindrance or obstacle to our plans for 2020, but rather a spring board for new opportunities and ideas. Through the diligence of our Academy Portfolio, we were able to
author a research article entitled: Effects of the Coronavirus pandemic on medical and surgical education: Results of an international survey by the International Association of Student Surgical Societies (IASSS). We are currently in the process of finding a journal for submission purposes. Additionally, to foster research mentorship as part of our vision, the Academy Portfolio is running an international study on Surgical Training Videos Uploaded to YouTube. Data collection is complete and the manuscript draft is under review. The portfolio is also in the process of drafting a document of guidelines for students exploring their own research projects.
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A database of collaborative research opportunities segregated by continent for the use by our members has been compiled. Our Chapter Leads are involved in data collection for ongoing research projects that we can add to the database. We hope to make this database available on our website. Editorial To increase our visibility throughout our term, the Editorial Portfolio facilitated many social media campaigns on Instagram and Facebook. These included a twelve-week campaign introducing the committee, collaboration with One.Surgery and a campaign on Famous Surgeons worldwide. The collaboration with One.Surgery generated a large interest on our pages and helped to spread our name on new platforms. Our followers have been steadily increasing throughout our term and we hope to increase our reach next year. We have worked to ensure the improvement of our website through the edition of new pages. The graph below depicts the number of visits to our website since June 2018. Last month, October 2020, we had the greatest number of website visits in the last two years.
Capacity The Capacity Portfolio is our main method of communicating with key IASSS role-players around the world. With an IASSS Chapter Lead based in each continent except for North America), we dedicated 2020 to mapping and identifying existing student surgical societies around the world while continuing to strengthen existing ties. Although this endeavor was successful (as can be seen from the membership growth mentioned in previous paragraphs), there is still much work ahead as our next steps will be to assist these various member societies according to their needs in the term ahead. The newly elected IASSS National Delegates (mostly situated in Asia and Africa) will support us with these next steps. We hope to also introduce them to the ISS/ SIC National Delegates in the near future. Administrative In order to improve communication between the IASSS and its members the Administrative Portfolio established a Monthly Circulation that includes a short, 1-page summary of what the IASSS did that month as well as the opportunities in which members can become involved.
Projects in the making The IASSS is in the planning stage of establishing a Mentorship Program in collaboration with the Alliance for Surgery and Anesthesia Presence (ASAP), our Australasian Chapter Lead is in the process of creating content for a Global Surgery e-learning module, our Academy Portfolio aims to establish a student surgical journal, our Administrative Portfolio has recently launched a Book Review project, and we intend to host a surgical skills course in collaboration with One.Surgery via their web platform. The 2020 IASSS Committee has had a unique term in office and COVID-19 brought forth fresh challenges for us to navigate. However, the year has been a success and we look forward to the new term for the IASSS, with applications opening in mid-November for the 2021 committee. ShadĂŠ Breedt Administration Officer IASSS Jessica Davies Office-Secretary IASSS
In line with providing support to surgical interest groups, we assisted the East Africa Surgical Students’ Society (EASSS) in facilitating the 2nd African Regional Online Anatomy Competition in July this year. The competition was a huge success, with students participating from various countries across Africa.
Number of IASSS website visits since June 2018
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Obituary: Dorothea Liebermann-Meffert b. 06/05/1930 d. 03/09/2020, Aged 90 years
comment: “We need tough men in the operating room, not soft women.” Unimpressed by this attitude, she continued her anatomic studies and started to publish on various surgically relevant aspects of the development of the human upper gastrointestinal tract during embryogenesis.
A life dedicated to surgery ISS/SIC Historian ISS/SIC Honorary Fellow 2013 As everyone who knew her will agree, Dorothea Liebermann-Meffert was a special person. Doris, as she was called by colleagues and friends, passed away in September 2020 at the age of 90 in her hometown Opfingen-Freiburg, Germany. Born in Rastatt, Germany, to the surgeon Dr. Karl Peter Meffert and his wife Irene Wrede she grew up in the turbulence of World War II in the southwest of Germany, close to the Swiss and French border. In her teenage years she took classes with the then famous artist Ernst Honigberger and soon painted oil portraits of her family members, friends and classmates. After the war, at the age of 19, she started to study medicine at the University of Freiburg amongst only 30 other medical students. She graduated as medical doctor in 1955 with a doctoral thesis on the effect of adrenocorticotrophic and somatotrophic hormone on the thymus. Probably influenced by her father, who was then head of a surgical clinic, she started surgical training in Freiburg, Paris and Zürich. This was supplemented by a rotation into the anatomy department of the University of Freiburg. Although fully qualified as surgeon in 1965, she was rejected for the position as a staff member, by the Head of the Department of Surgery in Freiburg with the
Martin Allgöwer, following Rudolf Nissen as chairman of the department of surgery in Basel, Switzerland, became aware of her work and offered her a position in his unit. In addition to clinical work in the operating room he encouraged her to continue her anatomic studies. She gladly accepted, since this allowed her to combine her unique interests and talents as surgeon, anatomist, embryologist, scientist and artist. After the retirement of Martin Allgöwer she was happy to continue this line of work in Munich with Rüdiger Siewert at the Department of Surgery, Klinikum rechts der Isar of the Technical University Munich and in Los Angeles with Tom DeMeester at the Department of Surgery, University of Southern California. - 1958 Resident District Hospital, Bad Säckingen - 1959 Pediatric Surgery, University Zürich - 1960–1964 Diakonie Hospital, Freiburg - 1965–1969 Senior resident, associate professor, Anatomy University Institute, Germany - 1970–1987 Associate professor University Hospital general surgery, Basel - 1987–2002 Professor surgery, Technical University of Munich - 2003–2004 Professor clinical surgery, University of Southern California, Los Angeles - 2004 Professor surgery, Technical University of Munich Her work, assessing clinical questions by diligent and meticulous study of human anatomy with the eye of a surgeon, resulted in several landmark publications for gastrointestinal surgery:
- the first detailed anatomic/morphologic description of the lower esophageal sphincter in man with its “string- and clasp-fiber” components (1), - a monography on the anatomy, physiology, pathology and surgery of the greater omentum, which she named a ‚forgotten organ’ (2), - a detailed anatomic study of the blood supply of the human esophagus as prerequisite for safe transmediastinal esophagectomy (3), - a beautiful description of the vascular anatomy of the gastric tube used for esophageal reconstruction (4), - a surgical look at the anatomy of the recurrent and superior laryngeal nerve as they are at risk during esophagectomy (5), and - a monography on the life of Rudolf Nissen with a detailed account of the development, international impact and evaluation of the Nissen Fundoplication (6) Due to her almost pedantic diligence in performing her research, analysis of her data, graphic presentation of key findings, and preparation of her manuscripts each of these publications has become a timeless classic and can be considered a piece of art by itself. Legendary, also, was her teaching of medical students and surgical residents in the manual techniques of performing sutures, tying knots, and creating gastrointestinal anastomoses. For many years after her retirement, far into her eighties, she continued to travel from her home town to Munich every few months, in order to personally teach at yet another fully booked “Suture Course for Future Surgeons.” In my opinion her undisputed reputation in the surgical world is, amongst many other honors, best underlined by the fact that she was the first women ever to be awarded a honorary fellowship of the International Society of
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Surgery (ISS/SIC), for which she has served as both Official Historian, and Editor of the Festschrift on the occasion of the Society’s 100th anniversary (7). Everybody, who knew her, will miss Doris. She is survived by her husband Eduard Liebermann (a former judge and administrative court president), three daughters, a son and six grandchildren. The inscription at the top of her tombstone in Opfingen-Freiburg reads: ‚Ihr Leben galt der Chirurgie’ – ‚She dedicated her life to surgery’. With thanks to HJ Stein, MD, PhD, Professor of Surgery Chairman, Department of General, Gastrointestinal and Thoracic Surgery, Paracelsus Medical University, Klinikum Nürnberg, Germany
Bibliography: 1. Liebermann-Meffert D, Allgöwer M, Schmidt P, Blum AL: Muscular equivalent of the lower esophageal sphincter. Gastroenterology 1979;76:31-8. 2. Liebermann-Meffert D, White H, Vaubel E: The Greater Omentum. Anatomy, Physiology, Pathology, Surgery. With an Historical Survey. Springer, Berlin New York 1983, ISBN 978-3-66202374-7. 3. Liebermann-Meffert D, Luescher U, Neff U, Rüedi TP, and Allgöwer M: Esophagectomy without thoracotomy: is there a risk of intramediastinal bleeding? A study on blood supply of the esophagus. Ann Surg. 1987; 206: 184–192. 4. Liebermann-Meffert D, Meier R, Siewert JR: Vascular anatomy of the gastric tube used for esophageal reconstruction. Ann Thor Surg 1992;54:1110-5. 5. Liebermann-Meffert D, Walbrun B, Hiebert CA, Siewert JR: Recurrent and superior laryngeal nerves: a new look with implications for the esophageal surgeon. Ann Thor Surg 1999;67:21723
6. Liebermann-Meffert D, Stein HJ: Rudolf Nissen and the World Revolution of Fundoplication. Johann Ambrosius Barth Verlag, 1999. 7. Liebermann-Meffert D, White H: A Century of International Progress and Tradition in Surgery. An Illustrated History of the International Society of Surgery. Kaden Verlag Heidelberg, 2001
Medical equipment in low resource settings We have at the Administrative Office received the below e-mail. You might be in a position to share your experience with Ms Kristin Seidl – please contact her directly at kristinseidl13@gmail.com Dear Sir or Madam, My name is Kristin Seidl, I'm a final year product design student at the University of Leeds, UK. I am currently in the process of researching for my final year project which will be a design project with the premise to redesign medical equipment for low resource hospital or emergency settings. From my research I have found that much of the donated equipment is inappropriate for the environment in these settings and hence breaks or remains unused. I was wondering if you could possibly share some experiences/advice from
surgeons working in low resource areas regarding the issues with medical equipment they face on a daily basis and which devices are missing or broken. This would be so I can design something that is actually needed by those healthcare workers in the field and currently a problem area and not end up with a redundant product that no one really needs.
INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY OF SURGERY Administrative Office (ISS/SIC) Seefeldstrasse 88 CH-8008 Zurich Switzerland Phone: +41 44 533 76 50 Fax: +41 44 533 76 59 E-Mail: surgery@iss-sic.com Web: www.iss-sic.com
Any advice, on-the-ground contacts or other help that you can give regarding this would be greatly appreciated and really help me design for and with the actual end user, keeping their environment, culture and other factors as an important part of the development process. Many thanks for your time! Kind regards, Kristin Seidl
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