Bruges – Congress centre

Friday 19. September 2008

Presents:  S. Antuna, J. Armengol, A. Atalar, AC Belling Sorensen, Y. Bellumore, B. Berghs,P. Boileau, L. Broestroem, J. Bruguera, U. Brunner, T. Bunker, E. Calvo, F. Campi, A. Carr, A. Castagna, H. Charles, C. Chillemi, N. Cicak, M. Ciccarelli, S. Copeland, R. De Casas, L. De Wilde, M. Demirhan, R. Diercks, F. Duparc, D. Eygendaal, G. Fama, L. Favard, L. Frich, O. Gagey, H. Georgousis, C. Gerber, JM Glasson, F. Gohlke, O. Gosselin, S. Gumina, P. Habermeyer, F. Handelberg, P. Hardy, R. Hertel, PJ Hughes, H. Huylebroek, HV Johanssen, B. Jost, D. Katz,  F. Kelberine, JF Kempf, M. Kettler, J. Kiss, H Klobucar, F. Kralinger, L. Lafosse, JC Le Huec, C. Levigne, O. Levy,  S. Lichtenberg, D. Liem, R. Lille, JP Liotard, P. Magosh, P. Mansat, M. Mariongiu, B. Marquardt, J. Melo Monteiro,  D. Molé, F. Molteni, C. Nerot, R. Niskanen, R. Norlin, L. Nové Josserand, J. Nowak, S Olsen, P. Paladini, L. Peidro, M. Pfahler, W. Poetzl, G. Porcellini, N. Pouliart, H. Rahme, M. Randelli, B. Reeves, H. Resch, M. Rickert, C. Rovesta, R. Russo, N. Sampaio Gomez, P. Sauzières, M. Scarlat, M. Scheibel, A. Schneeberger, C. Schulz, HG Schwyzer,  V. Senekovic, B. Simmen, F. Sirveaux, J. Steinbeck, RL Te Slaa, J. Teissier, C. Torrens, P. Valenti, M. Vastamaki,  O. Verborgt, A. Wallace, WA Wallace, G. Walch, M. Wambacher, E. Wiedemann, J. Willems, M. Zumstein, K. Zyto

1) Welcome address from the President, P. Habermeyer:

P. Habermeyer thanked G. Declercq for the great job it did during the past year. This meeting was very successful and well attended. He underlined the work of the newly created Program committee who was responsible for the paper selection and the high scientific level of the papers and posters. He also reminded our members that our new website was now running and encouraged them to visit it. The 2008 SECEC/ESSSE DVD will be ready within few weeks and it will be sent to you together with the Presidential letter.

2) The JSES:

R Emery presented the last figures regarding the Journal. The impact factor increased to 1.348. The number of pages has been increased and thus the number of publications has allowed reducing the backlog. In 2007 we received 460 papers submissions and the acceptance rate was 34 %. Until September 2008 we already had 500 submissions. R. Emery wished to thank R. Neviaser for his support. The new European Editor in Chief is F. Gohlke.

R. Neviaser was leaving the Chairmanship of the JSES after 12 years as Editor in Chief. He underlined the great job accomplished by the 3 European Editors, the high quality of the papers and the growing reputation of the Journal. J. Willems thanked W.A. Wallace who worked as European representative on the Board of Trustees of the JSES. He proposed S. Copeland, who was unanimously elected by the General Assembly.

3) The Bruges meeting:

G. Declercq announced that he has got 970 registrations, which is the highest number of participants to our congresses. The exhibitors were quite happy with the organisation of the scientific exhibition. P. Habermeyer thanked Geert for his work during the past year.

4) The 2009 SECEC/ESSSE Madrid congress:

E. Calvo presented the organisation of the next congress. He proposed the topics of the ICs which must be approved by the Education Committee,which will appoint the chairmen. The two symposia will be devoted to:

• “Elbow” chaired by P. Mansat
• “Biologic in rotator cuff healing” chaired by F. Gohlke

The Presidential Guest Speaker will be Evan Flatow, President of the ASES. The inspection of the congress venue will be made in April.

5) EFORT:

J. Willems announced that the payment regarding the 2008 specialty day was in process. It will amount € 16.500. The difficulty is the negociation with EFORT regarding the Vienna congress since they do not want to accept the same financial conditions as for the Nice congress. If they do not give us the same financial conditions we will not participate in the Vienna meeting. Our society has been asked to review and score the abstract dealing with shoulder.

6) The 2010 Closed meeting:

J. Willems proposed to hold the business meetings on the day before the congress: On September 3rd, 2010 Executive Committee meeting, on September 4th in the morning Committee meetings, in the afternoon again the Executive Committee and the Board meeting. In the evening SECEC will organise a social event gathering all our members. J. Willems will take contact with A. Wallace.

7) The 2011 SECEC meeting:

Gilles Walch presented the candidature of Lyon (France) and the facilities this city offers. After a vote the General Assembly elected Lyon as the 2011 SECEC congress venue.

8) Renewal of the Committee members:

The Executive Committee and the Board of Directors proposed the following appointments:

• R & D Committee: F. Kralinger will replace G. Sperner 
• Education Committee: L. Lafosse will replace E. Wiedemann 

The General Assembly elected these members.

9) Report from the Education Committee:

The travelling fellowships: the Japanese fellows will attend the SECEC meeting and will then visit 8 centres. The last minute cancellation of one of the fellows has generated an extra cost of more than € 1200. We won't ask for the money but will take the opportunity to explain that we are looking for a combined fellowship with Korea.

The SECEC DVD is not ready yet; he will be distributed with the next Presidential letter. The videos will be published on our website but it seems important that we clarify the situation regarding copyrights.

10) Report from the Membership Committee:

J. Bruguera explained the difficulties we had this year with the different kinds of applications: online application forms, unclear hand-written applications,… He will propose a new application form which will be available on our website. He proposed to publish the list of candidatures on the website before the congress.

Legend:

11) Report from the Website Committee:

R. Norlin presented the new website. Now the first goal is the online applications and the second is “sececpedia” which will offer information to the patients. He wished to publish the abstracts on the website and insisted on the fact that we must have copyrights and legal authorizations.

12) Report from the R & D Committee:

The R & D committee had a meeting in Zurich and they have now established checklists on different topics. The committee is working on the guidelines for scientific papers; they will be put on the internet within few weeks. Research Grants: we got this year 16 applications. The 2008 grant will be awarded to Matthias Zumstein (CH), fellow in Nice, for his project about “rotator cuff tendon repair technique with growth factors”. Final reports will be asked to the 2006 and 2007 research grants winners. The Paper Prize will be announced at the award session.

13) Program Committee:

The newly created Program Committee was responsible for the abstract selection of the Bruges congress. A meeting in Bruges gathering all the members of the committee was held early May for the final discussion of the abstracts.

14) Eastern Countries Support Committee:

J. Kiss presented the numerous courses sponsored by the society in Eastern countries. The meeting organised by N. Cicak in Dubrovnik this year was a great success. He announced that our society will also sponsor the FESSH congress in Poznan June 3.-6.2009.

15) Report from the Treasurer:

F. Gohlke presented the figures of the last year and pointed out a deficit of € 120 497. For the 6 first months of 2008 the balance showed us an increase of travel expenses, website charges, research grants. It has been decided to increase the annual fees: Junior member : 125 € Associate member : 175 € Ordinary member : 200 € Affiliate member : 125 € Corresponding member : 150 €.

16) Miscellaneous:

The following National Delegates were ending their term this year: E. Wiedemann was replaced by M. Loew. M. De Waal Malefijt was replaced by D. Eygendaal. M. Wambacher replaces G. Sperner. H. Rahme replaces U. Lillkrona. M. Demirhan informed the Board that there was a problem in Turkey with Elsevier since it seems that the Turkish members did not receive the Journal despite the several reminders they sent to the SECEC office and to Elsevier. The role of the National Delegate was debated. It seems that the National Delegate is a key position in the Society and the Executive Committee is willing to stimulate the National Delegates to participate in the society's activities, to recruit new members, and to organise or stimulate shoulder and elbow education in their country…. The Executive Committee admitted that it is a long lasting problem and it will have to change the bylaws. The question is: do we need the National Delegates? The Executive Committee thought that the National Delegate is very important since he has to stimulate candidatures to fellowships, grants, membership,… It was proposed that the National Delegate must participate in the Board of directors meetings; if not a new Delegate will be appointed. The role of the National Delegate is extremely important in the smaller countries. The Executive Committee will come back with concrete proposals to improve the role of the National Delegates.