Dear ESGAR Members, Colleagues and Friends,
Finally, ESGAR has arrived in the heart of Europe, in the City of Salzburg, Austria! We come together 24 years after the first meeting took place under the meeting presidency of Prof. Dr. Nicholas Gourtsoyiannis in Crete in 1990. At this time our society was named „The European Society of Gastrointestinal Radiologists“, which was changed to „The European Society of Gastrointestinal and Abdominal Radiology, ESGAR“ in 1994.
What a successful “ESGAR”-story over the last 24 years! Now our annual meetings require large conference venues allowing capacities of more than 1000 attendees and enough space to host our partners from the industry.
Accordingly, as Meeting President and on behalf of the Local Organising Committee, it is my great honour and pleasure to invite you to the 25th Annual Meeting and Postgraduate Course in Salzburg, Austria, from June 18 – 21. Our meeting venue, the Salzburg Convention Centre, is located in the heart of Salzburg and allows short walking distances to all historic landmarks of the city.
The congress centre in Salzburg opened in 2001 and offers a versatile, modern and spacy venue, with cutting-edge technology, hosting international and national conferences, meetings and other events.
Thus, whether you are already a dedicated ESGAR member, a specialist in gastrointestinal radiology or a novice with an interest in learning more on all subjects of GI radiology, you should visit the 25th ESGAR Meeting.
The Programme Committee under the chairmanship of Prof. Dr. Filipe Caseiro Alves is in the process of developing an attractive educational and scientific programme. Traditionally, the high quality of the meeting programme has been the cornerstone of the successful Annual ESGAR Meetings. The Salzburg programme will be an evolution of the well-established and appreciated ESGAR meeting format: 90-minute lecture sessions, joint sessions with other societies and organisations will continue the multidisciplinary flavour of previous meetings in Barcelona, Edinburgh and Venice.
The topic of the Postgraduate Course is „Abdominal vascular imaging: a multimodality approach“ and will follow the tradition of interdisciplinary, comprehensive teaching on the highest level.
We do invite you to also take some time off to explore the beautiful city of Salzburg, to enjoy its atmosphere, stroll through the historic centre on both sides of the Salzburg river, and discover its art and architecture, especially the historic castle “Hohensalzburg”. The climate in June promises to be a perfect one to go experiencing the city. Salzburg is the fourth-largest city of Austria with 150.000 inhabitants. It can be easily reached by plane (Salzburg Airport), train and car.
Salzburg is famous for the yearly “Salzburg Festival” of music and drama, its historic centre, cultural activities and schools. Standing on Makartplatz, in walking distance from the convention centre, you will have both Mozart’s residence and Doppler’s birth place in your sight!
Personally, I want to thank the ESGAR Executive Committee and ESGAR Membership for accepting Salzburg as the meeting place in 2014 and myself as Meeting President. I never supposed to serve in this position when becoming an ESGAR member in the last century! Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schima and I applied for Salzburg as a possible meeting place some years ago, and I want to thank both Mrs. Lindlbauer and Ms. Morpurgo for their overwhelming support so far. Fortunately, we have had some fruitful, friendly and even funny co-operation regarding the organisation of meetings of ESGAR-size in the past, which keeps me optimistic even in times that have become more difficult.
We hope to welcome you in Salzburg, June 18 – 21, 2014!
Univ. Prof. Prim. Dr. Gerhard Mostbeck
Meeting President, ESGAR 2014