Dear members and friends of the European Hip Society,
Dear colleagues and guests,
It was an honour and a great pleasure to welcome each of you a few weeks ago in this beautiful city of Lille, to share together this 14th congress of our European Hip Society .
Despite all the pitfalls that arose on the road, between health problems, travel restrictions, and some unforeseen local uncertainties, we were able to meet for this 14th congress which almost never saw the light of day! … Without a doubt, this Lille Congress will pave the way for other EHS congresses in the future, keeping this hybrid model which has the double advantage of this conviviality necessary for the life of our community, with a large audience, wider in Europe and beyond… We are proud to be able to say that despite all these waves of Covid, the EHS boat is indeed afloat!
There were 581 delegates, 65% of whom met “face-to-face” at Lille Grand Palais during the two days of the event. The participants connected to the digital platform were also able to appreciate the 14 symposia, and some 400 oral communications, as well as the 200 e-posters. The various scientific sessions were presented by more than 260 speakers, including 135 “remotely”. Nearly 130 pre-registrations were organized ahead of the event and made available on the platform. The partnership with Industry also brought together 28 exhibitors and the setting up of 6 complementary conferences. One of the major advantages of this hybrid format is to be able to access the entire scientific program in “replay” during the two months post-congress, with 489 connections recorded after the first 3 weeks.
The complete statistics of the satisfaction rates will be published soon in full via the EHS site, but according to the first returns on October 1, of the first 82 responses, the satisfaction index concerning the scientific content was very favourable at 91% of which 54 were graded as “excellent” and 37% “proficient” … We are happy on that matter to thanks Hip Toulouse, whose scientific activities are unanimously recognized, as well as Canada as our guest nation … These partnerships perfectly illustrate this word “together”, linking our European Society to other brilliant Orthopaedic Societies, whose activities are invaluable, and perfectly complementary to us.
Our gala dinner, at the fabulous Hermitage Gantois, was a precious moment of conviviality and exchanges of professional and personal friendship, not forgetting to mention the exceptional performance of our lyrical singer, soprano Heather Newhouse.
This EHS congress is the 14th and throughout these years of existence, for almost 30 years, we have been able to exchange our knowledge, share our ideas and our clinical experiences on the basic, the current, and the future of our surgical specialty… Our European Society has become an indisputable reference in Europe and beyond, in the field of hip surgery, within all other Orthopaedic Societies. It has been a pride for us to get this opportunity to carry again as high as possible this proud motto which is that of our European Hip Society: “bringing orthopaedic hip surgeons together”.
See you in 2023 at the next 15th Congress in Bern, and in the meantime, we wish you the best in your personal and professional activities!
Jean-Alain Epinette MD
EHS Lille 2021 President
