President’s Message

It is difficult to believe that it is almost 18 months since our Paris World Congress took place and that our 11th World Congress in Seoul will soon be upon us. My first message is clear. Plan to come to Seoul and register before the online registration is scheduled to close on 24th January 2014. Congress registration to date has been very strong and SG Lee and his colleagues have packed the programme, complementing the traditional sessions of original presentations, debates and symposia, with live operating and an extensive postgraduate programme.

I could not have imagined the challenges that I would face on assuming the presidency in 2013 but your executive has achieved much. Our main objectives have been to professionalize and strengthen our organization, improve communication and educational opportunities while at the same time ensuring value for membership subscription.

Your executive has not been idle and we have been well supported by Camilla and Alison of ACS Global who have put our administration on to a much sounder base than in the past. Our committees have been urged to be more active and a council strategy meeting will be held immediately before the next World Congress to deliver a strong business plan and future vision for the Association. We have had a very encouraging response from the membership survey that was launched in December and which will inform our strategy. I urge those members who have not yet completed the survey to do so now, to ensure that we incorporate the membership views on our future direction.

Our Journal goes from strength to strength and has established itself as the specialist journal for our membership. Manuscript submission remains high and acceptance rates have inevitably fallen further. However, our new publisher’s contract with Wiley Blackwell has allowed for an increase in page numbers per issue which will provide the editorial team greater scope for including key submissions. I trust that you have had the opportunity to engage with our new look website (www.ihpba.org) and the educational platform, myHPB, which has the potential to deliver an ongoing legacy from our biennial Congresses but also provides an interactive forum for the membership year round. We have now also attracted our first Corporate Partner, Takeda and would envisage that closer working links with industry will be of mutual benefit. I remain excited about the ways that this will allow us to more easily achieve our aims and objectives as a global organisation.

It is gratifying that recruitment and retention of members continues to grow and that our membership is at an all time high. That this has been achieved in a non World Congress year is truly remarkable. However, we do need to look beyond simply delivering quality world congresses and a high quality specialist journal. The members of your council and its committees appreciate their responsibilities in working for the membership to deliver a strong specialty network that meets the aspirations of the membership.

I trust that when I hand over the presidency at the World Congress in Seoul on 22-27 March 2014 that the IHPBA will continue on a strong trajectory.

James Garden, President

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