Touching upon key areas of cardiology
The Society is composed of nine working groups covering the areas of invasive 
cardiology, heart rhythm, non-invasive imaging, heart failure, cardiovascular prevention, acute cardiology, cardiovascular nursing, adult congenital heart disease and hypertension. An additional working group welcomes young cardiologists (up to the age of 40). These proactive groups each organise annual scientific meetings on popular topics, as well as educational courses.
Several working groups are responsible for establishing national quality registries, namely in the areas of interventional cardiology, acute cardiology and, more recently, for heart failure patients. Our primary aim is to ensure an optimal quality of treatment for cardiovascular diseases.
A strong supporter of research activities
Each year, a “Young Investigator Award” is organised at the BSC Annual Scientific Meeting held at the end of January/beginning of February. The award focuses in alternate years on basic or clinical research investigations.
The BSC has also established the Doctor Léon Dumont Prize, which is awarded every two years. The next prize of 40,000 EUR will be granted in 2010 to a European researcher who has both successfully conducted outstanding research activities in cardiovascular medicine and who will be submitting an original project on clinical or basic cardiovascular research. Other awards are organised in collaboration with the pharmaceutical industry
Cardiovascular prevention a main objective of the BSC
In collaboration with the Belgian Cardiology League, we actively supported the Belgian launch of the European Heart Health Charter in October 2007, an initiative of the ESC and European Heart Network. The ongoing implementation of the Charter takes shape thanks to a variety of activities, including the translation of the ESC guidelines, delivering messages to GPs, counselling on diet and physical exercise and, most recently, a press campaign to extend the current Belgian smoking ban in public areas and restaurants to bars and cafés.
Acta Cardiologica, BSC’s journal
The official journal of the BSC is Acta Cardiologica, an international, bi-monthly journal. It publishes abstracts from the BSC’s annual meetings and original, peer-reviewed articles on all aspects of cardiovascular disease including observational studies, clinical trials, tutorials and experimental investigations with clear clinical relevance. More details can be found on the journal's website
Now a thriving and active Society
The Belgian Society of Cardiology (BSC) was founded in 1936 and today is a thriving and active Society. BSC membership now numbers more than 430 and is continuously expanding.
The BSC was a founding member of the ESC and one of the first ESC presidents was the Belgian Professor Henri Denolin of the Free University of Brussels. Today we continue to encourage close links with the work of the ESC, with many of our members actively involved in ESC projects.
Where to find out more
On the BSC website - www.bscardio.be - you can find out more information about the Society and its activities and you can watch, online, streamed versions of past congresses and meetings of the BSC and its working groups.