Report IASSS Gabriella Hyman, IASSS President
We, at the International Association of Student Surgical Societies (IASSS), are honoured and excited to be formally included as the official pre-specialist society of the ISS/SIC. We are confident that our partnership will continue to enrich aspiring surgical care physicians’ academic careers; facilitate meaningful interpersonal experiences; and provide more collaborative opportunities in the field of surgery. We are particularly excited to be hosting the Future Surgeon Track at the World Congress of Surgery (WCS) next year. Having led the first student delegation to WCS in Basel last year, we look forward to expanding the program to encompass career development, research capacity development and leadership development. Our focus will be on enhancing
mentorship opportunities for the world’s brightest and most inspired aspiring surgeons, with the worlds most respected and influential surgeons - WCS members. We acknowledge students’ crucial role to play in establishing and actualising global surgical care priorities and facilitating this contribution is a core priority for our organisation and the Future Surgeon Track. IASSS, as a grassroots organisation, has grown significantly since its inception in 2011; we are proud to represent member societies from every continent. Our organisation prides itself on providing members with annual international symposia that provide students with the opportunity to engage the most recent surgical innovators and innovations; network with like-minded individuals; engage fellow students’ research; and learn crucial surgical skills at our renowned workshops. Both high and low-middle income countries including the Namibia, Romania, Australia and South Africa - have hosted our symposia. We prioritise affordability and equitable access to the unique career development opportunities we offer. In the spirit of collaboration, our most recent meeting was co-hosted in Cape Town earlier this year by 2 universities: Stellenbosch University and the University of Cape Town.
We are looking forward to our upcoming symposium in Australia 2019, which we will be co-hosting with the Australasian Students Surgical Association. The IASSS team is committed to making a meaningful contribution to the field of surgical care. We are in the process of registering as a Non-Governmental Organisation, hosting a series of career development webinars, supporting the establishment of a student surgical journal and undertaking research projects, all the while supporting the establishment of local student surgical societies across the globe. We remain committed to fostering a pre-specialist passion for surgery and global surgery, in particular, to nurturing a passion for safe, equitable, accessible surgical care for patients and to working towards establishing an equitable, accessible and productive environment for surgeons to redefine the future of surgery. The future of surgery is exciting; the journey towards it more so! We look forward to seeing you at our Future Surgeon Track in Krakow. Gabriella Hyman, IASSS President On behalf of the IASSS Executive Team 2018/19
Global Surgery Report Breast and Endocrine Surgery Course in Malaysia – collaboration between BSI, IAES and Malaysia (MOH Malaysia and CSAMM) One of the objectives of ISS/SIC, including BSI and IAES is to partner with surgical societies and organisations in lowand middle-income countries for capacity building, specifically to assist these countries with educational and training efforts for surgeons within their own countries. BSI is committed to the advancement of the science and art of breast surgery, and maintenance of high standards in practice of breast surgery - with an area of emphasis toward developing quality breast cancer care in the developing countries. IAES on the other hand, provides an educational mechanism to enhance the quality of endocrine surgery on a global
perspective through its global outreach programmes. On 25th May 2012, the Honourable Minister of Health Malaysia witnessed the signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MOU between the College of Surgeons, Academy of Medicine (CSAMM) Malaysia, and IAES and BSI, to introduce the Breast and Endocrine Surgery (BES) Course in Malaysia, with active involvement of MOH Malaysia. Following this MOU, five BES Courses were conducted, and during each course, 2 faculty from BSI and IAES respectively came to Malaysia and gave lectures at the course, which were
organised by local organising committee. The airfares of the faculty were provided by their respective organisations, while CSAMM provided the local travel and accommodation. These 5 courses were very successfully held, with inaugural course done in Putrajaya (2012), followed by Kuala Trengganu (2013), Johor Bahru (2014), Kota Bharu (2016) and Kota Kinabalu (2017). In 2015, there was no BES Course due to the overlapping World Congress of Surgery which was held in Bangkok that particular year. After the expiry of the 2012 MOU, discussions were held between the BSI, IAES,
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