ISG Winter Meeting deemed a great success

The 2019 Irish Society of Gastroenterology (ISG) Winter Meeting, which was held in Dublin from 21-22 November, was deemed a great success, and featured cutting-edge presentations from leading specialist speakers from Ireland, the US, the Netherlands and the UK.

The two-day meeting was attended by over 250 delegates and for the first time featured a special networking forum.

Speaking to the Medical Independent (MI) at the end of the conference, ISG President Dr Tony Tham, Consultant Gastroenterologist, Ulster Hospital, Belfast, described it as “very successful and the large attendance was reflective of the excellence of the speakers and the topics covered, so that has been a great highlight, along with the collegiality and networking”.

Dr Tham said the meeting also reflected the three ‘Es’ that he wanted to deliver during his two-year term as President.

“‘E’ for education, ‘E’ for engagement, and ‘E’ for Europe,” Dr Tham said.

“With regards to education, we hope that we will be able to build on the content of the meetings by inviting more world-renowned speakers and plan to post videos of their talks on our website for our members to view.

“As for engagement, we hosted our first ever Irish, both north and south, leaders in gastroenterology forum at the meeting focusing on service and training. The aims of the forum were to share ideas, to work together so people are going the same direction, not working in silos, and to build on relationships between north and south; form strategic networks to improve healthcare for patients with digestive and liver diseases in this island, because as the saying goes, ‘we are stronger together’.

“On that subject, we are going to have a joint meeting with the Irish Association of Coloproctology on 15 May 2020. We also hope to develop new ideas for trainee engagement, because trainees are the future of our specialty.

“As for Europe, we hope to build on our relationships with European societies. We are honoured that the European Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ESGE) has chosen to come to Dublin from 23-25 April 2020 for their ESGE Days conference. We will have a joint ISG/British Society of Gastroenterology symposium on 23 April at our Spring ISG conference. Our next BIG meeting (British, Irish, Ulster Societies of Gastroenterology) is also going to be in Belfast on the 15- 16 April 2021.”