Message from the UEGF President

Dear Friends
Dear Gastroenterologists

The role of UEGF is becoming much more complex than just organizing the UEGW, which was the initial mission. This new and continuously expanding role is still not familiar enough to European gastroenterologists. Even though we represent the majority of European professionals in gastroenterology and hepatology as an umbrella organization through our member societies and national societies the communication is sometimes not as direct and effective as we would like. I therefore saw the importance of organizing a UEGF Roadshow during my presidency and present UEGF in some detail to member societies and national societies. I will continue this promotional activity and visit as many associations as I can.

The UEGF further constantly tries to improve communication with its member societies. Therefore we organized a "UEGF meets its members" event which will be held on September 11, 2010 in Vienna. This initiative intends to ensure that UEGF remains as receptive as possible to the needs of its member societies. If UEGF should play the role as the Voice of European Gastroenterology we have to be able to listen to our members how this voice should be used. More information about this interesting event will follow in due course.

A great deal of communication and fruitful exchange about professional training in Gastroenterology was also happening during the recently held TIGER Meeting in Starnberg/Munich. Training Innovation in Gastroenterology and Educational Resources was the ambitious topic of the three-day event. A total number of 62 participants could experience fascinating talks and constructive workshops about the future of training in gastroenterology. A detailed report will be published including the outcome of the discussions in October this year. I would like to congratulate the organizing committee (Pascal Berberat, Joost PH Drenth, Niek de Wit, Maximilian Bockhorn, Lars Lundell and Verena from the UEGF Secretariat) for realizing this unique event!

Yours faithfully
Rolf Hultcrantz

The UEGF TIGER Organizing Committee


TIGER Participants engaging in vivid discussions

For more photos of the TIGER conference please click here!

Postgraduate Teaching Programme at UEGW – Register now!
The UEGW Postgraduate Teaching programme is the pre-eminent Continuing Medical Education opportunity in Europe for Medical and Surgical Gastroenterologists. It will interest both established practitioners and trainees. We offer a full two-day postgraduate programme incorporating gastroenterology, hepatology, endoscopy, surgery, imaging and other diagnostic modalities.
Full registration for the congress is not required.
Date: Saturday, October 23 - Sunday, October 24
Location: CCIB, Barcelona

Programme details now online – use the "personalized programme tool" to plan your congress
The Personalized Programme enables you to compile an individual program with events and contributions of your interest. This can be a very helpful tool to plan your actual congress visit at an early point of time. Please log on with your username and password to use the personalized programme tool! UEGW Website

15 % rise in abstract submission
The Scientific Committee is delighted to announce that a number of 3481 abstracts, clinical cases and videos have been received for UEGW in Barcelona. A panel of experts took much time and effort to review the abstracts and the Scientific Committee will formally evaluate the work for oral and/or poster presentation at UEGW 2010 and will prepare an outstanding original scientific programme. Thanks to all submitters within Europe and the many investigators from outside Europe who clearly contribute to make the meeting in Barcelona a great success.

Public Health Day at UEGW 2010
"Fighting Digestive Cancer" will be this year’s topic of the Public Health Day held at the occasion of UEGW, Barcelona 2010. Join the UEGF public health event and discuss current issues in the field of digestive cancer with local patient organisations and world renowned experts!

Date: Sunday, October 24
Time: 11:00 - 14:00
Location: CCIB, Barcelona
Participating Patient Organisation: Spanish Patients´ Forum - Foro Español de Pacientes
Costs: Free registration

For more information please visit our congress webpage!

UEGF Professional Trainee Course
“Colo-rectal cancer - from prevention to palliation”
Date: February 3-4, 2011
Location: NCT-DKFZ Heidelberg, Germany
Participants: maximum 150 trainees
Costs: € 100 registration fee

UEGF E-PORTAL – The future of GI education
The UEGF aims to gather all electronic GI education under one “umbrella”, the UEGF E-Portal. The educational committee has formed a task force dedicated with the launch of an e-learning tool, chaired by Niek De Wit. In the past six months a business plan was developed, a commercial partner for the IT side was identified, and Dr. Bjorn Rembacken and Dr. Gavin Johnson were assigned as webeditors. In the coming months all UEGF educational material will be uploaded on this UEGF electronic portal, which will be online in October.

Luxembourg - UEGF delegates met with DG SANCO representatives
On June 2, 2010 a delegation of five UEGF officers lead by Public Affairs Committee Chairman Reinhold Stockbrügger met several European Union decision makers from the European Commission department dealing with public health. The encounters were part of the strategic agenda of the UEGF, which aims at creating awareness and mobilizing support for the gastroenterology community in Europe. Among the discussed topics were Colorectal Cancer Screening and Primary Prevention, Organisation of digestive oncology in Europe, Cooperation of UEGF and the European Medicines Agency and professional GI Education, which was significantly shaped by the UEGF Education Committee in the last years. EU Representatives expressed their support to UEGF proposals to engage into an ongo ing dialogue on future policy making and agreed on follow-up initiatives.

UEGF Press Service: New hope for diabetes patients
Download the latest UEGF Press releases now also in Japanese, Italian, Korean, Russian and Chinese!
Read more and download other UEGF Press releases here! >>

FP7 calls for experts for evaluation, supervising and monitoring
UEGF encourages its members to sign up as experts in order to create visibility and increase the participation of the GI community in the EU. The EU Commission invites the scientific community to provide assistance for the FP7 programme. The selection, which is made by the Commission services, not only depends on the skills of an individual expert but also on the Commission’s requirement to match these skills to the proposals received or projects to review.
Apply now on behalf of your organisation and UEGF and find out more here!

UEGF Lifetime Achievement Award 2010
UEGF is very pleased to announce Juan-R. Malagelada as the Lifetime Achievement Award Holder 2010. His contribution in the field of gastroenterology as well as his dedication and commitment to the Federation make him an outstanding candidate and worthy winner. The award will be presented during the Plenary Session on Monday November 25, 2010 on occasion of UEGW 2010.
Congratulation Juan for this well-deserved award!

UEGF Elections 2010
The two positions of Education Committee Chair and Treasurer Elect are open for election at the UEGF General Assembly on Sunday, October 24, 2010, which will be held on the occasion of UEGW 2010 at the Centre Convencions International Barcelona. UEGF Council encourages suitable and qualified candidates to run for these positions and accepts nominations until September 6, 2010. More information as well as detailed job descriptions for each position is available at the UEGF Website.

Faces behind UEGF - Niek de Wit, Education Committee Member
We would like to introduce Prof Niek de Wit, a very committed member of the Education Committee and chair of the E-Portal taskforce.

What is your current affiliation?

I’m a general practitioner and professor at the Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care of the University Medical Center in Utrecht, the Netherlands. I coordinate the development of academic general practice in the Julius Health Centers, the primary care practice of the UMC Utrecht.

Which areas do you cover?

My focus in research is on gastrointestinal disease in primary care, with a special interest in the diagnostic process and management of functional disease. We have ongoing research projects on optimal diagnostic discrimination between functional and organic bowel disease in primary care, on the use of  hypnotherapy in IBS, and we recently reported an RCT on the effectiveness of fibre therapy in IBS.

What is your educational background?

I was one of the founding members of the European Society for Primary Care Gastroenterology in 1996, and acted as its first Secretary till 2004. At present I am the educational officer, and in that position serve as the ESPCG delegate in the UEGF Education Committee. My interest in teaching originates from working with students and GP trainees in the Utrecht Medical School, which I found very simulating and rewarding. In my view teaching is an integral part of academic practice, next to research and patient care.

Where does your interest in e-Learning come from?

The UEGF educational  committee has developed ambitious plans to fill the educational agenda in gastroenterology in the coming years. Basically we are convinced that more traditional educational events such as workshops and courses will disappear and much of the future education will be offered via the world wide web. This will facilitate high quality teaching in primary and secondary care, offered in various languages with optimal access for colleagues all over Europe.

What can we expect from the UEGF E-Portal?

I think that in a few years time a substantial part of the postgraduate learning in gastroenterology will be done through the UEGF E-Portal. My personal view is that electronic learning is key to improve the overall standard of GI care across Europe. Up-to-date, evidence based, high quality training will be affordable for colleagues in more remote areas. E-learning Programmes will further be offered in different languages which will make teaching accessible for gastroenterologists who do not master English fluently. And finally e-learning will facilitate the harmonisation of educational standards for CME in gastroenterology in Europe. Therefore from UEGF’s perspective, e-learning is the future!