During the Opening Ceremony on the eve of 15 November 2007, high ranking officers of the four international societies represented (i.e. ERA-EDTA, ISN, ISPD & ISGNU) also delivered their opening addresses. Amongst them was Professor Gérard London who spoke as President-elect of ERA-EDTA.
Apart from 42 oral & 199 poster presentations, 22 talks from 15 distinguished guest faculty members and 59 talks from 54 Turkish scientists were scheduled for this Congress. Three of the guest speakers were sponsored by ERA-EDTA and 2 by ISN-COMGAN.
The guest faculty included many distinguished scientists such as Prof. Gérard London, Prof. Adrian Covic, and Prof. Rosanna Coppo on behalf of ERA- EDTA; Prof. Eberhard Ritz and Prof. John Feehally on behalf of ISN-COMGAN; Prof. Dimitrios Oreopoulos, Prof. Olof Heimburger and Dr. Vanita Jassal on behalf of ISPD; and Prof. Eli Friedman, Prof. Francesco Locatelli and Prof. Amy Friedman on behalf of ISGNU.
On 15 November 2007, two important full-day Pre-Congress CME courses have been realized: The “TSN & NDTNA Joint Course on Earthquake Preparedness” for nurses & practitioners and the “TSN 1st Hemodialysis Course”. Both courses were important additions to the educational content of the Congress. Also, the six interactive “Meet the Expert Sessions” that took place on the first two Congress days covering different actuality topics contributed a lot to the Congress in terms of continuing nephrology education.
As part of the Congress, two CME courses: The “TSN & NDTNA Joint Course on Earthquake Preparedness” & the “TSN 1st Hemodialysis Course” and also, six interactive “Meet the Expert” Sessions took place and contributed a lot to the Congress in terms of continuing nephrology education.
The TSN tradition of integrating to its congresses scientific activities with various international societies has been carried on this year as well. Examples of such activities were the “ERA-EDTA Highlights” session on 16 November 2007; the “TSN & ISN Joint Panel on Glomerular Disease” and the “TSN & ISPD Joint Panel on Peritoneal Dialysis” on 17 November 2007.
For the first time this year, a World Society held its own International Meeting under the auspices of TSN and in parallel to the TSN 24th National Congress. This was the ISGNU 9th International Conference on Geriatric Nephrology and Urology held on 15-16 November 2007 with the participation of 11 international and 8 Turkish speakers. Geriatric Nephrology being a topic with ever increasing importance for Turkey, the 9th ISGNU Conference freely attended by the TSN 24th National Congress participants has certainly proved an utterly beneficial add-on to our Congress.
ERA-EDTA guest faculty participation was of a very high scientific level with wide ranging state of the art talks and much appreciated by the congress participants.
Prof. Dr. Cengiz Utaş
Head, the TSN Congress Organizing Committee