Prof Carsten Perka has been Medical Director of the Center for Musculoskeletal Surgery at the Charité in Berlin since 2015. His clinical focus has been on hip and knee arthroplasty for almost two decades. He has been associated with the German Association for Endoprosthetics (AE) for many years as a board member, secretary general and president. In addition to his intensive clinical work, Prof. Carsten Perka is also very active in the field of science. He is Scientific Director of the EPRD (German Arthroplasty Registry) and spokesman of the EPRD Executive Committee. He plays an active role in the Collaborative Research Center 1444, is treasurer of the internationally renowned International Hip Society and chaired the steering committee of AO RECON since 3 years. As a board member of the Bone Joint Journal, he is actively involved in the development and content of one of the most internationally relevant journals in the field of orthopaedics. He is the author of more than 550 Medline-listed publications.

Dear EHS Members,

New treatment approaches and new recommendations for the optimal therapy of diseases are emerging daily, often involving considerable costs, and require a reliable scientific basis for evaluation. We can only overcome this challenge by working together. Therapy recommendations that were correct 10 years ago need to be completely rethought today. For example, with the ever-increasing durability of endoprostheses, the importance of joint-preserving surgery on the hip joint has changed, but it is undoubtedly still extremely important.

We have also learned that treatment methods cannot simply be transferred between countries; different approaches have led to different decisions about what is the optimal treatment for patients.

So my goals as president of the EHS are threefold:

First, I want to support bundling European scientific knowledge to further strengthen our society’s self-confidence on the international stage. Second, we have to develop more intensive International cooperation with North America as well as Asia. Rapidly developing countries like Thailand, Indonesia, and South Korea need more attention.

Third, we need to develop new young hip surgeons. This should be achieved through fellowships at renowned European hip centres and structured educational courses for systematic improvement of knowledge across EHS member countries.

I want to work together with you to make the EHS more and more attractive and visible, especially for these younger colleagues. To achieve this, I want to work closely with the current President Fares Haddad, the Executive Committee, and with National Reps and all Members of the Society.

Prof Carsten Perka