Welcome Message

Dear colleagues and friends

It gives me great pleasure to invite you to come to Barcelona to attend the 39th Meeting of the British Association of Endocrine and Thyroid Surgeons. I am particularly honoured to have been asked by our British colleagues to organize this meeting in my hometown in recognition of the continuing efforts of the Hospital del Mar team to be at the forefront of Endocrine Surgery in Spain.

BAETS is the oldest European association focused on Endocrine Surgery, and there is no doubt that its founding members were among the most prominent world pioneers of our surgical subspecialty. My early years in the field were deeply influenced by British surgeons like Ivan Johnston, John Farndon, Selwyn Taylor and Dick Welbourn, to mention only a few. Not only I did learn a lot from these individuals, but they also motivated me to pursue a lifelong interest in Endocrine Surgery.

Together with the Spanish Section of Endocrine Surgery my team is eager to welcome BAETS, Spanish and Portuguese associated members as well as European surgeons interested in Endocrine Surgery. We have devised a program that favours lively discussions and intense participation of delegates because we feel that if meetings are to survive they need to focus on the exchange of ideas and the initiation of networking projects.

We all should be aware that the carbon footprint of professional international congresses can be as high as 10 tons of CO2 per participant. Barcelona has made a definite bet in favour of sustainability and, accordingly, we have planned an all-by foot meeting where hotels, congress venue and gala dinner will all be held in places close together and in the vicinity of the Barcelona beach. Even if you wish to walk downtown, a pleasant 20-30 minutes walk waits for you along the Barcelona seaside or the beautiful narrow streets of our Gothic Quarter. In addition, if you prefer to book a more centrally located hotel, the congress venue at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra Auditorium can be easily reached by public transport.

We deeply thank in advance all the participants in this British/ Iberian meeting that besides its scientific interest will guarantee a true Mediterranean flavour.