President's Message

Vancouver 2014! We are less than one year away from the 14th meeting of the ISDE and well on our way in its planning and execution. John Pandolfino and Simon Law serving as our first program committee co-chairs have assembled a spectacular program which includes over 60 invited speakers from around the world. Dedicated sessions sponsored by partner societies including the Japanese and European Societies for Diseases of the Esophagus have been included. Abstract submissions are now open and we look forward to your new ideas and discoveries for presentation in Vancouver. No doubt the 2014 gathering will continue the success of our recent meetings in Venice, Kagoshima and Budapest. We have a proud history dating to our original 1980 meeting in Tokyo.

The evolution of our Society continues in earnest. We have assembled a robust program committee chaired by Drs Pandolfino & Law who are in the process of setting up area specific subcommittees to review and score the many hundreds of abstracts submitted in the weeks to come. Membership and Finance committees are beginning to form and take up their tasks. A committee dedicated to engaging the Worldwide Esophageal Cancer consortium (WECC) initiated by Dr. Tom Rice met during the 2013 DDW in Orlando to begin discussions for our Society to assume responsibility for this effort following publication of the 8thedition of the AJCC staging. Tom will review the data collected for the 8thedition at our Vancouver meeting. This very important effort takes the ISDE into new and exciting territory positioning it well for the future. Similarly, a BOBCAT committee met to further the efforts led by Janus Jankowski to provide robust consensus on the management of non-dysplastic Barrett’s esophagus. This follows on the highly successful efforts and publication of a similar work on dysplastic Barrett’s.

Our Journal, Diseases of the Esophagus, continues to grow and expand under the superb editorship of Drs. Duranceau and Pandolfino. Over 7000 institutions have access to the Journal which now has over 60,000 full text downloads annually. The number of submissions and its impact continue to grow significantly.

In the near future we plan new initiatives to revise and update our Society website creating committee positions to oversee its look and feel and its content. We will continue our ISDE Webinar series with new programs on anti-reflux surgery and the management of esophageal cancer. Our membership of course remains our lifeblood. I encourage all to help expand the society to include all those interested in diseases of the esophagus worldwide.

My primary aim over the next 2 years is to grow our membership. I would like to ask each current ISDE member to nominate one new candidate for membership this year. The Society needs new members and you can help. As you know, the future of any organization is dependent upon the addition of new members and the infusion of new ideas. My goal is for us to double the size of our society over the next few years.

The application process has been streamlined and is very easy. Individuals may complete their application online at http://www.isde.net.

Please consider your colleagues in Gastroenterology, Surgery, Medical Oncology, Radiation Oncology, Pathology and Radiology, especially the newer members of your group, and ask them if they would like to apply. The ISDE has many membership benefits, not the least of which is our outstanding journal Diseases of the Esophagus.

It is my honor and pleasure to serve as your Society President for the next two years. Thank you for your ongoing participation and your enthusiasm in growing and improving our Society. With your help, I am looking forward to a very successful and well attended meeting in Vancouver in September 2014.

Sincerely,

Jeffrey H. Peters, MD
ISDE President 2012-14