Welcome
Our Congress Approaches
Much time has gone by since my first welcome letter to you. We are proud to announce that we have had over 230 submissions for oral and poster presentations in addition to those of the keynote speakers. All titles and presenters are soon to be listed on this web site.
We have many world experts happy to share their knowledge, ideas and directions about achieving better outcomes for our patients both in developing and developed countries. Some of these will speak at the patient evening on Wednesday.
In April we saw the very exciting First International Congress of Lymphology in the UK and by the time we meet in Sydney we will have experienced the 50 th Union Internationale de Phlebologie Congress in Monaco. These and other world wide meetings continue to show that to gain the best for our patients that we have to work together, to talk and debate about our current and future steps and of the direction(s) in which we must move. All of this can sometimes be a painful process since our norms and foundations are often questioned. We must undergo this to move on, no matter how much it hurts. There is no rest for lymphologists!
Our congress will present an opportunity to meet with members of the International Lymphoedema Framework, which we will consider accepting as a basis of improving lymphoedema care and treatment in Australia, and also there will be meetings of the various world lymphology groups including the Australian Lymphology Association.
The congress will allow delegates time to attend an exciting range of roundtables, debate forums and workshops, including strategies for early lymphoedema detection, Laser light treatments and demonstrations of a range of courses including that of the Dr Vodder and Leduc Schools.
I’m happy to see a very wide range of discipline areas involved in our lymphology congress, including many phlebology colleagues. I hope our congress will be unique for all of us in terms of our experiences of our colleagues, for what we learn, for how we change our ideas and practice in the face of new ideas and information and especially for how we can see that everyone has a valued role to play in lymphology and in gaining good patient outcomes.
I hope the new colleagues you meet will become your friends and that in doing so we will be more accommodating to others who have a common interest in helping patients rather than in how much one can earn and how quickly one can become rich. I hope we will take those less informed and help them improve their knowledge and work together in a complementary rather than adversarial role as sometimes happens not only here in Australia but throughout the world.
I’m confident that you will enjoy your time here in Australia, despite the increasing value of the Dollar, Australia is still excellent value for money. We are all friendly people, have a fantastic environment, unique animals and an insatiable enthusiasm to learn.
If you have not yet registered, do it rapidly since the Australian Dollar is predicted to again strengthen over the coming months. If you have the time and inclination consider coming to our pre and post Sydney meetings and see more of Australia!
I, and the congress secretariat are here to make your time a memorable one. If you have any questions or problems or issues let us know and we will do our best to help.
See you soon!
Best wishes from the 22 nd ISL Congress Team
