Dear members, dear friends,
Liver diseases are a continuing major health burden worldwide. Although treatment options for many liver diseases have significantly improved over the last decades, still millions of people die each year from end-stage decompensated cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma or acute liver failure. The mission of the European Association for Study of the Liver (EASL) is to save the lives of patients by supporting research in the field of liver disease and by providing state-of-the art education and scientific exchange for hepatologists.
EASL hosts the International Liver Congress™ which attracts around 7000 attendees each year. The International Liver Congress™ has become one of the world’s leading conferences on the liver and is certainly a major forum for discussing the newest developments of treatment options for hepatic diseases. Besides the International Liver Congress™, EASL organizes very successful Monothematic Conferences, Special Conferences and Schools of Hepatology. We are also very happy that a very successful webcasting tool was developed in recent years covering all major EASL events including a special educational e-series program with talks on all major liver diseases given by distinguished experts.
EASL is an association of individuals; we are proud of having almost 2000 members from all six continents. I invite all hepatologists and scientists working on the liver worldwide to attend our meetings, to take part in EASL supported research activities and to become a member of our association. I particularly want invite young fellows and students to join EASL. EASL provides many membership benefits which are attractive throughout every stage of our careers and each year we support hundreds of young investigators to attend our meetings. EASL is also supporting young scientist through the Sheila Sherlock Fellowship program granting different levels of fellowships to support scientific exchange in Europe.
Hepatology has considerably changed in recent decades. Novel diagnostic tools have enabled us to define causes and to understand the pathophysiology of many liver diseases. Moreover, specific therapies preventing progression to cirrhosis have been developed including successful treatments for viral hepatitis. Despite all this success, we still need to continue to follow our mission for the sake of our patients. Treatment can only be applied if patients at risk have been identified. Therefore another important mission for EASL is to promote screening programs, to develop reliable standards of diagnostics and to support state-of-the art education for physicians in Hepatology!
Become an EASL member!
Best regards,
Heiner Wedemeyer
