SARS ANNUAL MEETING 14 - 16 JANUARY 2004, WATERFRONT HALL, BELFAST

Afterword by Declan Carey, Local Organiser, Belfast 2004

'Belfast has now come and gone and has continued the trend set by Imperial College and The Royal Armouries. Numbers were yet again up and the experimental SARS proved successful. The format of lunchtime Wednesday to lunchtime Friday with a packed academic programme was well received by those in attendance. The joint symposium with Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland opened with the Surgical Section registrar's prize, to be followed on subsequent days by the President's sepsis symposium. This was a great success and in no small part due to Ed Deitch's summation contribution. The symposium culmination was a discussion on PMETB on Friday morning featuring Sir Clive Morton and Sir Peter Morris. The five lecture programme was very popular with all in attendance and discussions are well advanced at Council to repeat this in Newcastle .

We are particularly pleased in the home camp with the social programme that featured a welcome event at the Ulster Museum where the latest exhibition entitled "The Irish at War", surprised no-one. Wandering through the exhibitions led us eventually to the Lavery gallery where both liquid and solid refreshments were served. All enjoyed themselves. The SARS gala dinner was honoured with the presence of Mrs Chris Farndon and such local notables as Professor George Parkes and Mr Colin Russell. The dinner itself proved a great event with food and wine fittingly served in the wood panelled dining room of Belfast City Hall . Thanks go to the Lord Mayor who generously sponsored the champagne reception.

My thanks to all those in attendance who offered their personal congratulations and thanks and to the many members who could not attend but took the trouble to send myself and SARS their well wishes and greetings. While I managed to keep the banner headline: "Former Queens Professor brings SARS to Belfast", out of the local press many of the non-medical people associated with the conference still believe that we may have infected the local population. Finally can I exhort you to make every effort to attend in Newcastle and help restore SARS to the glory days of SRS. We are well on the way.'

Have a look at the Yearbook 2004 here!

Professor John Primrose, Chair of the Programme Committee writes:

'The Belfast SARS meeting was, by common consent, outstanding. In terms of quality the scientific content of the meeting was internationally competitive and in all probability higher than any previous meeting of SARS or its predecessor the SRS. It was an excellent advertisement for the quality of surgical research, which has not prospered as it might in recent years.

The Programme Committee has attempted to develop a varied and interesting format in addition to the traditional free papers. The "Sepsis" theme of the President's Symposium was complemented by the contribution of the BJS lecturer, Dr Edwin Deitch from New Jersey . The Education Symposium was a high profile event with Professor Clive Morton, the Chair of the recently established PMETB, debating the future of postgraduate training with Professor Sir Peter Morris. The lecture programme was of high quality and varied including the contribution from the BJS lecturer, local presentations from Professors Campbell and Johnson and Mr Tom Walsh. Professor Irving Taylor delivered the John Farndon Lecture on the subject of Surgical Oncology.

The Programme Committee are now planning future meetings, particularly the 2005 Newcastle meeting. The Committee's aim is to promote quality above all. The overall structure of the meeting is likely to resemble the successful Belfast SARS with a combination of symposia, guest lectures, free papers and a poster presentation session. The Newcastle meeting is, in effect, the 50th Anniversary of SARS/SRS and to commemorate this we plan anniversary symposia to highlight two of the major advances in surgical science that are also approximately 50 years old; Transplantation and Molecular Biology. There will also be a full lecture programme including national and international contributors and a breakfast session intended for trainee members on the implications of "Modernising Medical Careers" to surgical training. It is hoped that this will be led by the new Chair of the SAC in Surgery.'