ITEMS: International Federation of Societies for Surgery of the Hand

ITEMS: International Federation ofSocieties for 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, TheNetherlands

President Guy Foucher presided over a meeting of theExecutive 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 chair-

men for the federation committees and that a new FederationWeb site has been developed that will be free of charge toFederation members. The committee chairmen will be responsi-ble for posting their reports on the Web site on an annual basis.It was agreed that this would be the best manner of keeping thecommittee reports current. It will be an improvement over thepast, when they were intermittently published on a three-yearbasis.

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,delegates, and members’ roster.

Again, congratulations are given to Professor Ridvan Ege andhis host committee for the highly successful 8th Congress Meet-ing in Istanbul in June of 2001, which was truly a financialsuccess and contributed a remarkable $55,871 to the treasury ofthe IFSSH as profit from the meeting. This amount more thandoubled the previous most profitable IFSSH Congress.

The IFSSH has lent the Organizing Committee of the 9thCongress in Budapest, Hungary, in 2004 $50,000 as startupfunds. Dr. Szabo, representing the Organizing Committee for the2004 Congress, has stated that by August 2003 there will be acall for abstracts, and they will be submitted over the Web withthe abstract submission deadline being January 14, 2004. Thepresentations will be PowerPoint presentations 97-2000. Theregistration fees and hotel accommodations will be kept as low aspossible to stimulate attendance from all countries.

The Executive Committee approved Dr. Al. V. Georgescu’sproposal 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 asreported by Roland Hicks, the Chairman of the OrganizingCommittee.

The presentations and proposals for the 11th Congress in 2010will 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 OrthopaedicEducation (ICOE) can bring you a world of opportunity. Find outhow you can expand your reach with just a few clicks by visitingthe ICOE 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 80countries, including more than 400 opportunities in hand surgery.Experiences can be short term (shorter than 3 months) or longterm (up to 2 years). The ICOE offers the following types ofopportunities:

● 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. Membership tothe library is free. As the official library of the IFSSH, we offereach hand society their own homepage at no charge. Forwardednews and events, meetings, officials and membership will beposted in the International Hand Library web site. InternationalHand Library, 100E Liberty St, Suite 100, Louisville, KY, USA40202. Telephone: (800) 361-9965, Fax: (502) 583-4636, Website: www.handlibrary.org, E-mail: info@handlibrary.org.

550 The Journal of Hand Surgery

The IX IFSSH Congress in Budapest, Hungary, June 13-17,2004

The Hungarian Society for Surgery of the Hand has alreadystarted 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 An-nouncement will be mailed in September 2002; Call for Ab-stracts and Registration Forms will be mailed in March 2003;Abstract submission deadline is October 31, 2003; Early regis-tration deadline is January 31, 2004.

The XVII Annual Congress of the HKSSH

The XVII Annual Congress of the HKSSH—Hand and WristFractures will be held June 7–8, 2003, New Medical CompressSassoon Road, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.The meeting is organized by the Hong Kong Society for Surgeryof the Hand and Dr. K.Y. Choi, Department of Orthopaedics &Traumatology, Tuen Mun Hospital, Tuen Mun, Hong Kong, China,Tel 852 2468 5383, Fax 852 2468 5549, e-mail: hkssh@hotmail.com, home page http://www.medicine.org.hk/hkssh is the Sec-retariat.

ITEMS: International Federation of Societies for Surgery of the Hand 551