President's Update

Welcome by the President

Dear Friends

Being the President of the ISS/SIC is a huge honor for me and I have been working hard since I last wrote.

It’s been a busy time with travel and with working to grow our society. Amongst other things I’ve travelled to Sri Lanka, the USA, and to Switzerland

I’ve just completed a trip to Sri Lanka to visit with the College of Surgeons of Sri Lanka (CSSL). I was there with our Secretary General Ken Boffard and we both gave two presentations, including in an ISS/SIC branded session on education. We spoke with their leadership and they are keen to work with us. As such we in-

tend working on an MOU which will include ways that CSSL members can be members of both societies and some practical support. We hope to develop other relationships with other similar societies. If these relationships develop as we hope they do it should lead to increased numbers of members for our society and opportunities to work with surgeons in the developing world.

A few months ago, Ken Boffard and I travelled to Chicago to meet up with leaders from the American College of Surgeons. We met up with David Hoyt (the CEO), Girma Tefera (Director of Operation Giving back), Barbara Bass (the President) and Ron Maier (the President Elect). We talked in some depth about our two societies and how we could work together. We have decided on a very practical project of mapping what Surgical Societies are doing in the area of Surgical Education in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMIC). I was able to talk about this with two of the Presidents of the UK Colleges who were also in Sri Lanka and they were very enthusiastic about the ISS/SIC taking the lead on this project. They see the ISS/SIC as being a Society that can rise above the local politics of the major surgical societies who have to look after their own constituents first. I think that the ISS/ SIC is really back on the World Stage and as we develop a strong vision and focus.

Plans are well progressed for the conference in Krakow next year. I remain confident that this will be a fantastic conference and I have added a Global Surgery programme and have invited some exciting international speakers to contribute. We are currently working on sponsorship and we have a great team working on the details to produce a stimulating and interesting programme that will be of value to surgeons from all over the world.

We have joined G4 (www.theg4alliance. org), a strategic advocacy group of Surgical, Obstetric, Trauma and Anaesthesia Societies. I visited with them in Geneva earlier in the year and when I was in Chicago at the ACS I also visited with their chairman who is based just around the corner from the ACS. This is an exciting opportunity for us to be at the forefront of advocacy efforts towards surgery for all.

In my travels has become clear to me that the ISS/SIC is valued very highly around the world and we often do not appreciate this. One of our roles is and will be to act as a link between surgical organisations. It is very clear that some surgical societies in Low and Middle Income countries have a lot to offer to the rest of the world and we are key to helping them to unleash their potential. Our traveller programme (funded by our Foundation) is absolutely key to this. Our biggest supporter in Sri Lanka, for instance, is a previous traveller to our Congress and is a past president

of their national society. He is now our national delegate and is very keen to push forward the relationship between both societies.

We do a lot of good things and we are appreciated for doing so. Growing our brand and our footprint internationally is at the top of my agenda.

Andrew G. Hill President ISS/SIC & Congress President WCS 2019