Letter from the president

“A smooth sea never made a skillful sailor “

Dear Colleagues and Friends,

It is my great pleasure to wish all of you a Happy new Year 2022 for you and yours personally and professionally.

Let us hope that the upcoming year will progressively show a decrease in the severity of the COVID thanks to all efforts.

We left last year without regrets with this worldwide pandemia and my first thoughts are dedicated to those who suffered from this illness in person or for their families or relatives. May they accept the heartful support and condolences of our society.

Humanity has been hurt by this worldwide situation that required us to keep apart and no longer meet in person. This is the opposite of our daily mission and we all had to deal with it, whatever country we are living in.

It was difficult to predict that we would have to live with this virus all year long but, in spite of this situation, life is progressively becoming as normal as possible.

After having been postponed, the IFSO-EC Congress could finally take place in Prague and, even in an hybrid format, the number of attendees was remarkable thanks to the excellent program prepared by our Scientific Committee. It was the opportunity to remember the first IFSO World Congress in Prague in 1996 and celebrate the official foundation of IFSO-EC inaugurated in Prague also in 2004.

As meetings were forbidden we had to gather “ virtually” and this has been greatly managed by our Communication and Development committee  with two more, very well attended webinars .

Let us hope we will be able to meet again this year. The upcoming IFSO-EC Congress will take place soon in May in Maastricht.

After Göteborg it will again be a joint meeting with EASO and we are looking forward to attending such an event, with a promising preliminary program.

IFSO World Congress 2021 had to be postponed but will be held in Miami in August. This is actually the most important meeting where bariatric surgeons and Allied Health participants from every part of the world are eager to meet for now almost thirty years and it is mandatory that it could take place thanks to the obstination of the presidents.

All these future events show that our IFSO is developing.

In Europe you are now 2866 from 31 different countries and the number of countries will keep on increasing. One of the next priorities of our Executive Council will be to have a closer contact with you. The former approach has been engaged by our Multinational Advise Group, and we will complete the excellent work already done.

Finally let us hope that these projects could be rapidly achieved and our IFSO-EC keep on spreading.

You are welcome to visit the IFSO-EC website and we shall appreciate any input you might propose for further development.

Be sure that everyone in the IFSO-EC Executive Council is ready to be at your site, as closely as possible, in this exciting fight against obesity, especially at a time when obesity happens to be the most severe comorbidity in case of COVID infection.

Our practice is in the middle of the conjuncture and we must congratulate all of you for your determinant daily practice!

Hoping to be able to meet you in person and on behalf of the IFSO-EC Executive Council I wish you

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2022

Professor Jean-Marc Chevallier

IFSO-EC President