ITEMS: International Federation of Societiesfor Surgery of the Hand

Secretary-TreasurerJames R. Urbaniak, MDBox 2912Duke University Medical CenterDurham, NC 27710(919) 684-5388

IFSSH Executive and Delegates Meetings in Amsterdam, TheNetherlandsPresident Guy Foucher presided over a meeting of the

Executive Committee and the Delegates on May 23 and 24, 2002.Sixteen countries were represented at the Delegates Meeting.President Foucher announced that he had selected the chairmen

for the federation committees and that a new Federation Web sitehas been developed that will be free of charge to Federationmembers. The committee chairmen will be responsible for postingtheir reports on the Web site on an annual basis. It was agreed thatthis would be the best manner of keeping the committee reportscurrent. It will be an improvement over the past, when they wereintermittently published on a three-year basis.Currently there are 46 established members of the federation,

with the newest members being the Hand Society of the CzechRepublic and the Slovak Association of Hand Surgery. All themembers are encouraged to send the name of their officers, dele-gates, and members’ roster.Again, congratulations are given to Professor Ridvan Ege and

his host committee for the highly successful 8th Congress Meetingin Istanbul in June of 2001, which was truly a financial success andcontributed a remarkable $55,871 to the treasury of the IFSSH asprofit from the meeting. This amount more than doubled theprevious most profitable IFSSH Congress.The IFSSH has lent the Organizing Committee of the 9th

Congress in Budapest, Hungary, in 2004 $50,000 as startup funds.Dr. Szabo, representing the Organizing Committee for the 2004Congress, has stated that by August 2003 there will be a call forabstracts, and they will be submitted over the Web with theabstract submission deadline being January 14, 2004. The presen-tations will be PowerPoint presentations 97-2000. The registrationfees and hotel accommodations will be kept as low as possible tostimulate attendance from all countries.The Executive Committee approved Dr. Al. V. Georgescu’s

proposal for a postcongress meeting sponsored by the RomanianHand Society to be held 18-21 June 2004 in Vata, Romania. Thetheme will be Advanced Treatment of Kienbock’s Disease andEmergency “All-in-One” Reconstruction of Complex Trauma tothe Upper Extremity.The 10th IFSSH Congress will be held in Sydney in 2007 as

reported by Roland Hicks, the Chairman of the Organizing Com-mittee.The presentations and proposals for the 11th Congress in 2010

will occur at the 2004 Congress in Budapest. All submissions forthis Congress should be sent to the Secretary General, James R.Urbaniak, Box 2912, Duke University Medical Center, Durham,NC 27710 well before the 2004 Executive Committee meeting inBudapest.

The Executive Committee expressed sadness over the death ofthe historian Douglas Lamb, and selected William P. Cooney, MD,as the Interim Historian for the next two years.

International Center for Orthopaedic EducationWhether you seek postgraduate training in hand surgery or wish

to educate others, the International Center for Orthopaedic Edu-cation (ICOE) can bring you a world of opportunity. Find out howyou can expand your reach with just a few clicks by visiting theICOE Web site (http://www.icoe.aoassn.org).

ICOE Web site visitors can search from about 2,500 opportu-nities for postgraduate training and service in more than 80 coun-tries, including more than 400 opportunities in hand surgery.Experiences can be short term (shorter than 3 months) or long term(up to 2 years). The ICOE offers the following types of opportu-nities:

● Fellowships (direct patient care)● Clinical observerships● Research (basic science and clinical)● Service (locum tenens, practice exchange, care to needy areas)● Teaching (eg, visiting professorship)For more information, please contact the ICOE office via phone,

(847) 318-7358, or e-mail: icoe@aoassn.org.

International Hand Library and Information Resource CenterThe full-service International Hand Library located on the

campus of Jewish Hospital, Louisville Medical Center, Louis-ville, KY, USA. It is the official library of the InternationalFederation for Societies for Surgery of the Hand. Membershipto the library is free. As the official library of the IFSSH, weoffer each hand society their own homepage at no charge.Forwarded news and events, meetings, officials and member-ship will be posted in the International Hand Library web site.International Hand Library, 100E Liberty St, Suite 100,Louisville, KY, USA 40202. Telephone: (800) 361-9965, Fax:(502) 583-4636, Web site: www.handlibrary.org, E-mail:info@handlibrary.org.

The IX IFSSH Congress in Budapest, Hungary, June 13-17,2004The Hungarian Society for Surgeyr of the hand has already

started preparations for the IX IFSSH World Congress to be heldin Budapest on June 13-17, 2004. Professor Antal Renner is theChairman of the Organizing Committee. Important dates associ-ated with this Congress include the following: Second Announce-ment will be mailed in September 2002; Call for Abstracts andRegistration Forms will be mailed in March 2003; Abstract sub-

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mission deadline is October 31, 2003; Early registration deadlineis January 31, 2004.

The IX Congress of the FESSH

Dr. Joao Mota da Costa, President of the SPOCMA hasannounced the IX Congress of the Federation of the European

Societies for Surgery of the Hand, Lisbon, Portugal, June 25-28,2003. Please refer to www.fesshlisbon2003.org, where you willfind information regarding the meeting, scientific program, reg-istration, free papers, hotel reservations, etc. Dates to rememberinclude October 31, 2002, deadline for abstract submission; andJanuary 31, 2003, early registration deadline.

181ITEMS: International Federation of Societies for Surgery of the Hand