Letter from Wolfgang Klauser, MD
ISOC Chair 2012 -2013

Dear ISOC members, dear friends and colleagues

This year, we met in wonderful Chile, not only to discuss science and economics, but also to share new insights and experiences of this beautiful country. At this point, on behalf of all of us, I would like to once again thank Claudio and his team for having made this meeting such a complete success.

While I‘m fully aware the meeting in Chile has set the levels of quality extremely high, I am still willing to pick up this challenge and I invite you in the name of the whole team of the Helios Endo-Klinik in Hamburg to our next meeting, which is going to take place from April 4-6, 2013, in Germany.

As you all know, we had a number of discussions during our last meeting about the format of this meeting, which is driven not only by a scientific approach but also by the exchange between surgeons and hospital management in order to discuss problems.

We found this time spent in discussion fruitful, as it provided practical experience and insight into issues affecting both physicians and hospital management. It was greatly appreciated. Therefore, we would suggest we increase the time of these discussions and meeting groups during our next event.

In addition, we discussed the concept of creating a general working title for this meeting, which we might use to focus on problems and find solutions. We suggested “Medical Standards for Hospitals of the ISOC Group,“ which we will discuss during our next board meeting at the AAOS in San Francisco.

So, there are a lot of activities and programming to be planned, and we are working hard to make it all happen. But meetings often are defined by the quality of participation--I would encourage you to mark the date in your calendar and to make sure to provide your abstracts for the symposium in time. We will send you reminders and hope for your active cooperation.

Hamburg is a bustling city, as I showed you during my recent presentation. There will be plenty of things to see and we are already working hard to provide a social program that will compare favorably against the one we just recently experienced. Be sure to bring some warm clothes and raincoats, as the weather might change quickly here in the north of Germany. We also will try to provide some insights into the hospitality and culture of Germany, and hope very much that you will enjoy it.

See you in Hamburg in 2013.

Wolfgang Klauser
Chair of ISOC 2012-2013