REPORT of the 2005 meeting of the National Associations.
The annual meeting of the National Associations of EASL was held during the EASL meeting in Paris on 17 th April 2005 .
It was chaired by Massimo Levrero and Jean-Michel Pawlotsky, as administrative and scientific secretaries.
They insisted that the EASL is an association of persons and not a federation of (national) societies.
Nevertheless EASL should be informed of the initiatives of the national associations, especially if they plan a course or else intended for an international audience, possibly with the support of EASL.
EASL can indeed help a lot the national associations, e.g. by backing monothematic conferences and courses organized locally but with an international target audience, by offering bursaries, fellowship schemes, training exchange programs, lab courses, the EASL school of hepatology and so on for young investigators and hepatologists. It was reminded that all these possibilities and the conditions are detailed on the EASL website…
The EASL website can also advertise courses or meetings organized by National Associations.
From the members present (representing i.a. UK , France , Italy , Spain , Germany , Switzerland , Austria , Israël) the Georgians and Ukrainians were the most grateful for the help provided by EASL.
The recognition of Hepatology as a subspeciality is still far from achieved in most countries, and at the UEMS level, mainly due to the reluctance of internists and/or gastroenterologists.
So for the moment it seems more important or urgent to obtain the recognition of a specific training in Hepatology.
Dr. Chantal de Galocsy
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