Dear Colleagues!

On 25^th-27^th September 2014 gastroenterologists will meet up in Wrocław and participate in the 16^th Congress of the Polish Society of Gastroenterology. It will certainly become another significant scientific event for our medical community. We have done our best to prepare the scientific program that addresses doctors of various specialties who perform basic tests, diagnose and treat digestive tract disorders on everyday basis. Lectures will be delivered by eminent scientists and practitioners both from Poland and from abroad. In order to improve cooperation with primary healthcare physicians we have prepared an all-day session dedicated precisely to family doctors. The most important lectures, in terms of interdisciplinarity and practice, will be published in the special issue of Terapia magazine. The program of satellite sessions organized by the pharmaceutical companies is also rich in interesting issues. The congress will be preceded with the all-day postgraduate course of the European Association for Gastroenterology, Endoscopy and Nutrition. We hope that it will be acclaimed by the delegates as in previous years. Anyone who is interested in the issues touched upon in the program of the congress shall feel invited to visitWrocław and take part in the meeting. We would especially like to invite young members of our medical community, for whom the Executive Board of the Polish Society of Gastroenterology secured prizes and honorable mentions for the best works presented during poster sessions.

Wrocław is not only a modern and guest-friendly city but it is also a distinct and important point on the map of Central Europe. Its history has been shaped for more than 1000 years by people of various nationalities. It is not that hard to stumble upon the evidence that proves the interesting history of the city and its residents. Ostrów Tumski (Cathedral Island), The Arsenal,  Racławice Panorama,  Royal Palace, Centennial Hall with the Szczytnicki Park, The National Ossoliński Institute, and the unforgettable Market Square constitute a list of places that are worth seeing - at least twice.

Wrocław has always been and still is an important academic center. As many as eight Nobel Prize winners has been somehow associated with the University of Wrocław or Lower Silesia. Those who were born inWrocławor decided to live here have also found their place in medical history. Alois Alzheimer, Rudolf Heidenhain, Oskar Minkowski, Albert Neisser, Richard Pfeiffer, Klemens Pirquet, Jan E. Purkynê , Jan Mikulicz-Radecki, Karl Wernicke, Tadeusz Baranowski, Wiktor Bross, Ludwik Hirszfeld, Edward Szczeklik - just to name some of the renowned doctors who worked in Wrocław.

In the organizational terms, this year’s congress will feature a number of new solutions and propositions, which - given they prove useful and receive your approval - will certainly become fixed elements of our future meetings.

Together with our reliable partner - Symposion - we would like this September visit to Wrocław to become imprinted on your memory as fruitful and pleasant time. 

Professor Leszek Paradowski

Chairman of the Scientific and Organizing Committee
of the 16^th Congress of the Polish Society of Gastroenterology

Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology
Medical University of Wrocław