Season's Greetings

After a challenging couple of years, it was fantastic to see our activities gain momentum with the highlight being the IHPBA World Congress which took place on my home turf, the wonderful city of New York, at the end of March.  Over two years of planning in uncertain times led to some difficult discussions, however despite the challenges we were determined to go ahead with the congress as it is such an important event for our members both in terms of education and building connections.  We were delighted to be able to welcome delegates back to an in-person event, but those who were unable to travel were also offered a virtual registration package.  All of the congress scientific content has now been added to myHPB as a member benefit, and if you missed out on attending, you can view the abundance of world class content here.  Thank you to everyone involved in making this such a successful event. 

Planning for the 2024 Congress in Cape Town is already well under way and we are excited to take the IHPBA World Congress to Africa for the first time, and for the opportunity to leave a lasting legacy in the region.

It has also been great to see our outreach activities resume with recent trips taking place in the Philippines, Argentina and Paraguay, and more planned in 2023.  We are extremely grateful to all the volunteers who donate their valuable time and expertise on these missions.

The IHPBA Foundation was delighted to be able to award two Kenneth Warren Fellowships of $50,000 in 2022 thanks to the very generous grant from the E. Alexander Stent Fund (CGF), Bank of America, N.A., Trustee.  Congratulations to Dr Samuel Cannas and Dr Elisabetta Sereni for their awards.  We have also recently received the fantastic news that another significant grant has been awarded and we will be able to offer another two Kenneth Warren Fellowships in 2023.  Look out for the call for applications which will be circulated later in January. 

Our global HPB community continues to grow, and two new chapters were formed in 2022.  I would like to give a warm welcome to the Austrian Chapter and the Baltic Chapter

Thanks to the hard work of Professor Steve Wigmore and his editorial team we saw the impact factor of the HPB Journal rise once again, to 3.842.  A new type of educational article has recently been introduced which will make for a more exciting and educational reading experience.  Dr Alastair Young’s article on bile duct injury is free to download here, and further articles on fluorescence tumour imaging for liver tumour resection, management of pancreatic neuroendocrine tumours and training in robotic surgery are in progress.

We were deeply saddened by the passing of two giants in our field.  We lost our dear friends and colleagues Dr Leslie H. Blumgart in September and Professor Kees Dejong in October.  Both will be sorely missed, and our thoughts are with their families.  Their legacies will live on in everyone who was fortunate enough to be trained or mentored by them. 

Looking ahead into 2023 we are excited to travel to the three regional congresses, AHPBA in Miami in March, E-AHPBA in Lyon in June and A-PHPBA in Bangalore in September.  IHPBA members are offered a discount on the registration fee for all three events, and we hope to see you there!

I would like to take this opportunity to thank our two Corporate Partners AngioDynamics and Baxter.  We would not be able deliver many of our initiatives without their ongoing support.  We are extremely grateful to both companies and really value our partnerships. 

Thank you to all our committees who have worked so hard over the year to deliver projects which support our mission to improve evidence-based care and optimise the outcomes of patients with HPB disorders throughout the world.  We are particularly excited about the formation of the Early Career Group as the younger generation are the future of our society and their involvement is essential and extremely valued.

Finally, I would like to thank all our members.  The Association has grown from strength to strength, and we welcomed over 500 new members in 2022.  If you have not already done so, we encourage you to renew your membership for 2023 and continue to experience all the benefits that are on offer.  Please do consider adding a donation to the IHPBA Foundation when you renew your dues.  If you have already renewed and would like to make a donation, you can also do so here.  Thank you to all our generous donors through the years!

We look forward to building our IHPBA community in 2023 and supporting our member’s needs.

Wishing you all a very happy and peaceful year ahead.

Dr William Jarnagin
IHPBA President

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