"The participation of the ESC in the Annual Scientific Congress of the Israel Heart Society (IHS) is already a tradition. This year, the ESC participated very successfully and had a strong presence at our 57th annual congress at the David Intercontinental Hotel in Tel Aviv, located on the wonderful Mediterranean beach", says IHS president Prof. Gad Keren, FESC.
He continues: "The meeting was lively and well attended by about 1400 participants. At the congress, 350 papers were presented in 30 parallel sessions, covering all aspects of clinical and basic cardiology. Oral presentations, brief communications, regular and e-posters were part of the program. Joint sessions were held with the ESC, the ACC, EHRA and AFICARDIO.
Prof. Steen Dalby Kristensen (Aarhus, DK), Vice President of the ESC for National Societies and Fellowship, greeted the meeting participants during the opening ceremony and stressed the importance that the ESC sees in developing strong ties with National Societies across "ESC Europe", of which the Israel Heart Society is an integral and important part."
Prof. Keren especially highlights the joint session with the ESC: "On the first day of the meeting, a joint ESC/IHS scientific session was held in the plenary room and was dedicated to pertinent issues in acute cardiac care. Prof. Kristensen addressed the complex subject of "perioperative risk assessment and management of the cardiac patient undergoing non cardiac surgery" and critically reviewed the ESC guidelines on the subject. Prof. Alec Vahanian (Paris, FR) provided a comprehensive discussion of a very “hot” and important subject in the ESC community and worldwide - "selection of patients for transcatheter aortic valve replacement". See and listen to the presentations on the IHS web site here (courtesy of IHS).
Prof. Robert Bonow (Chicago, USA) gave an exciting guest lecture on the dilemma of how to expand scientific research in cardiology and together with Prof. David Adams (New York, USA) gave a wonderful overview of valvular heart disease."
In his opening remarks, Prof. Gad Keren, provided an overview of the gradual development of the Society and said that Israeli cardiology could be proud of the major contribution it was making to ESC activities, with strong representation in ESC committees and working groups and at ESC congresses.
However, Israel is in a position to contribute significantly more. In addition, the Israel cardiology community is diligently working in a few major areas: Education of cardiologists, training of personnel and education of the community mainly regarding prevention of heart disease. The IHS dedicates substantial resources to support research and indeed important contributions in the field of stem cell research and myocardial regeneration, molecular biology and interventional devices are made in Israel and presented in the meeting. Israel is also participating with a large number of centers in ongoing international clinical research trials.
The ESC management was represented by Prof. Steen Kristensen, and Mrs. Isabelle Collin, Head of National Societies and Fellows Relations Department. A breakfast meeting was held between the IHS board and the ESC representatives where the possibilities for expanded future collaboration was discussed.
The ESC booth was a focal point in the congress exhibition area. A large number of congress participants visited the ESC booth, and received material, including pocket guidelines, and information on ESC fellowship, new web-based ESC projects, and ESC congresses and learnt how they can participate more actively in activities of the ESC, the associations and the working groups.
View and listen to the presentations of the joint session here
More information about the Israel Heart Society