Season's Greetings from the IHPBA President

By every measure, 2023 has been an incredible year for IHPBA and we are thankful to each and every member for your contribution to our Association.

Each of our three regions held congresses this year with AHPBA’s annual meeting in Miami, USA, E-AHPBA’s meeting in Lyon, France; and A-PHPBA’s meeting in Bangalore, India. Each congress showcased the latest in HPB surgical practices, techniques and technology and provided many opportunities to connect with each other.

We are now only 5 months away from the 2024 IHPBA World Congress which will take place 15th to 18^th May, 2024 in Cape Town, South Africa. The 2024 Congress offers a robust programme, rich in scientific content, opportunities for professional development and engaging with your HPB community.

Beyond the meeting itself, this year’s Congress aims to create a lasting legacy with our 2024 Legacy Project, which will focus on identifying and improving care pathways and access in Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) for patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC). The congress legacy project will establish clinical guidelines for the treatment of HCC in Sub Saharan Africa, will set forth the clinical capabilities necessary to deliver the treatment set out in the guidelines; will elucidate the medical technologies required to deliver appropriate, necessary care and will help to establish the national and regional policy and regulatory frameworks needed to support the required clinical and technical capabilities.

IHPBA members are offered a discount of up to $250.00 on the congress registration fee and the early registration period ends 31^st January, so be sure to register soon.  If you are unable to join us in Cape Town, we are also offering a virtual registration.

Outreach activities have continued this year with trips taking place in Cambodia, Nepal, Nigeria and Ethiopia. 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 $55,000 in 2023 thanks to the very generous grant from the E. Alexander Stent Fund (CGF), Bank of America, N.A., Trustee.  Congratulations to Dr Lu Chen from Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute & Hospital, China and Dr Markus Ammann from the State Hospital Wiener Neustadt, Austria. We have also recently received the fantastic news that another significant grant has been awarded for the 2024/2025 Kenneth Warren Fellows. Look out for the call for applications which will be circulated later in January. 

Our global HPB community continues to grow. In 2023, we welcomed the formation of the Cambodia Chapter bringing the total number of IHPBA Chapters to 59. 

Thanks to the hard work of Professor Steve Wigmore and his editorial team, 175 articles, correspondences and guidelines were published in the HPB Journal.

We were deeply saddened by the passing of Claudio Bassi, a legend in our field. He will be sorely missed and our thoughts are with his family and the many beloved colleagues.

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 optimize the outcomes of patients with HPB disorders throughout the world.

We are particularly excited about HPBridge, a joint-initiative between our Education & Training and Outreach Committees. HPBridge will provide a platform for bi-directional engagement of HPB Centres globally, offering centres across resource spectrums opportunities to connect through MDTs, videos and simulation-based learning environments.

Our Early Career Group has made tremendous strides in developing a portfolio of initiatives curated for, but not limited to, early career surgeons in HPB. Whether or not you are an early career surgeon (≤ 45 years of age), we hope you will participate in one or more of the regional ECG Roadshow webinars and we hope you will join the many ECG activities at the 2024 World Congress including an ECG Lounge, an ECG Symposia and the inaugural ECG Research Retreat. (Proposals for submissions to the Research Project Workshop sessions are open until 9 January. Click here for more information and to apply).

My thanks also to the IHPBA management and congress team – Alison Shamwana, IHPBA Foundation Executive Director, Michelle Peters, IHPBA Executive Director, Lisa Yarrow, Michelle Burns, Anne Walker and Linda McIntyre. 

Finally, I would like to thank all our members. The Association has grown from strength to strength, and we welcomed over 700 new members in 2023.  If you have not already done so, we encourage you to complete our 2023 Member Survey and renew your membership for 2024 to 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 2024 and supporting our member’s needs.

Wishing you all a very happy and peaceful year ahead.

Dr William Jarnagin
IHPBA President

Published on Friday 15th December 2023