49th ERA-EDTA Congress, Paris 2012
It is our great pleasure to invite you to Paris in May 2012 to take part in the 49th congress of ERA-EDTA. The Society is willing to produce a meeting of outstanding scientific quality in the very cultural and beautiful city of Paris.
The venue of the meeting, the Palais des Congrès at Porte Maillot close to the Arc de Triomphe, is located in the heart of the city at a walking distance of most hotels in close vicinity (less than 20 minutes) to all points of interest by public transportation.
The Scientific Committee chaired by Jürgen Floege is already working in order to ensure a wide choice of lectures and symposia covering the various aspects of basic and clinical Nephrology as well as the most recent researches in the field. CNE sessions will be offered. Low-price hotels and travel grants will be available.
The water lilies, one of the best known paintings of Claude Monet, were chosen as the symbol of the ERA-EDTA Congress in Paris for several reasons that we hope you will discover during your stay in our wonderful city, the city of light, la ville lumière.
Water, life stemming from the water, are symbols that can easily be related to a discipline that was born from the effort of mastering the salt and water balance and that sought, through dialysis, to correct the water unbalance of the diseased kidneys. But similitude with the research that led Monet to the making of over 250 oil paintings on the nympheas, in a constant search for perfection, is much deeper. As physicians, we may find our roots in the painter’s constant need to observe and describe the world.
As researchers, we may identify ourselves in the search for the perfect light, through the repetition of studies of the same images, until they are seen from all the possible points of view. There is even a simple and deeper reason that guided our choice: the nympheas are just beautiful, and we all need beauty in our life devoted to medicine and research. The water liles will be a recurrent theme of the Social programme that we are actively started to compose for you. There are so many things to see and to feel in Paris that we will attempt to make available to you!
We are looking forward to seeing in Paris in May 2012.
| Gérard M. London | Pierre Ronco | Dominique Chauveau |
| ERA-EDTA President | Congress President | Congress Secretary |