Dear colleagues and friends,
The European Conference of Scientists and Plastic Surgeons (ECSAPS) was founded in 1996 by Alfred Berger, Willy Boeckx and Roy Sanders to focus on interaction, discussion and networking between plastic surgeons, residents and scientists. Since then, 15 very successful annual meetings were organized in various European countries. From the beginning the conference was associated with the European Association of Plastic Surgeons (EURAPS). All those who were able to participate in these meetings will keep valuable and thankful memories.
Finally for 2012 EURAPS has decided to re-integrate ECSAPS and to organize the meetings at the same venue and the same time of the year (for further information see EURAPS by-laws article III, section 4). In this context ECSAPS will be renamed to EURAPS-Research Council (EURAPS-RC). In the future the EURAPS-RC meeting will directly precede the EURAPS meeting.
In the future, there will be a combined session with the best scientific research abstracts from both associations directly before opening the EURAPS meeting. To financially facilitate the access especially for younger research fellows, participants of EURAPS-RC will receive discounts for registration at the EURAPS-convention.
Having personally organized the very first ECSAPS meeting in Hannover/Germany 1996, I feel greatly honored and encouraged to be appointed as the first EURAPS RC chair and local host for the upcoming event. We hope that these changes will help to translate scientific innovations into clinical practice to pursue excellent medical treatment for our patients. Basic research will always be a strong backbone of our surgical discipline both clinically and academically and help us to improve our techniques and technologies to give the best possible treatment for our patients.
Please come and join us for this event. We look forward to welcome you in Munich 2012!
Hans-Günther Machens, MD
Professor and Chairman
Dept. Plastic and Hand Surgery
Klinikum rechts der Isar
Technische Universität München
Ismaninger Str. 22; 81675 Munich/Germany