Newsletter – August 2016

At the end of May, many of us spent four great days in Brussels, attending the annual EURAPS and EURAPS-Research Council meetings hosted by Prof. Hamdi and Dr. Hendrickx. As every year, it was a fantastic occasion to witness innovative presentations, catch up with friends, meet new colleagues, and draft novel collaborations.

Personally, I am excited – and look forward to put some of the new knowledge I’ve acquired to use back here in Denmark. Apart from the scientific part, we were presented such an elegant event (a special thanks to the organizers!) and we were welcomed by a very warm (quite literally) and surprising city (note: Belgian food, it’s so delicious!).

One of the highlights besides the great presentations, is the awarding of the “Young plastic surgeon” scholarships to foster and encourage training in Plastic Surgery across Europe. These Scholarships provide an experience and a chance to attend an European department of plastic surgery, or a centre run by a EURAPS active member. Truly something to strive for! This year’s winners are:

Guilherme Cardinali
Gabriel Djedovic
Domagoj Eljuga
Elisabeth Kappos
Evangelos Sarantopoulos
Nihil Durmus Kocaaslan
Osman Kelahmetoglu
Congratulations!

This year’s meeting has ended, but I am already looking forward to next year’s EURAPS in Pisa, Italy.
The EURAPS is also the time for the JWG to assemble and be active. We held a board meeting, where Stefan Hacker, Michail Sorotos, Giorgio Giatsidis (via skype), Samet Sendur, Barbara Craggs, and I reviewed the work done during the last year and discussed future directions. Unfortunately, Jo Mennies, Andres Maldonado, Marzia Moio and Federico Facchin were unable to attend. Our online forum is catching on, with currently almost 80 registered users. We are actively using social media, check us out on facebook and follow us on twitter (#EURAPSJWG)! The board meeting was also a chance to define an action plan for our Short Exchanges Program. Finally, one of our proposals (European Fellowship in PRS “Match”, you will hear more soon) was presented to the EURAPS Executive Committee.

We know the JWG is relevant, as EURAPS is not only attended by the most eminent plastic and reconstructive surgeons, but also by those aspiring residents and young plastic surgeons, seeking the opportunity to develop in all fields. This was reflected both by the many presentations from this group and the attendance when we hosted our “open session”, where we got to meet the young plastic surgeons and residents present in Brussels. We were very pleased to have attendees from Turkey, Spain, UK, Sweden, Italy, Austria, Poland, Germany and Belgium! We are looking forward to have them and you on board.

We will shortly provide you more updates as the projects we have been working on will be launched within the next months. Stay tuned, write us, and follow us on our channels (facebook, twitter) not to miss any opportunity!

All the best.
The JWG