Welcome Ray Garry!
I was asked by the board of the ISGE to take over the editorship of the newsletter and I
was of course delighted to accept their offer. I should like to begin by paying a warm
tribute to my predecessor Professor Togas Tulandi whose contributions to so many areas
of our field of interest has been immense. Togas brought his vast experience of
gynaecology to the ISGE in general and to the newsletter in particular. I should like to
congratulate him on his success and thank him for his efforts on our behalf.
Some may be surprised by the board’s invitation because I have virtually disappeared
from the international gynaecological endoscopy meeting scene over the last few years.
My absence was related to my taking the chair in gynaecological surgery in the
University of Western Australia. Perth is a wonderful city which I strongly recommend
but a combination of my new duties, the fascinating research I became involved in and
the physical remoteness of the place combined to curtail my travels. I have now
completed my stay in Perth and hope that I will now again see many of you at meetings
around the world.
During the very busy professional lives we all lead, we tend to rush from task to task,
place to place, meeting to meeting without assessing the value or even the reasons for
much of our activity. One of the advantages of some ‘time out’ is that it provides an
opportunity to re-assess from a distance what areas of our life are most important and try
to gain some perspective on what we are doing. I have had such an opportunity and in
this my first editorial for our society’s newsletter I should like to share some of my
thoughts with you particularly about the reasons and needs for the International Society
of Gynaecological Endoscopy.
The opportunity to share knowledge with doctors interested in developing the best
possible surgical techniques for their patients is I believe at the core of why the ISGE
exists. In the modern world there are of course many different ways in which information
can be disseminated. Many of these do not involve the costs, inconvenience and
discomforts of long distance travel. Why then support an organization that advocates the
use of the most technological advanced s surgical technologies while clinging to the most
ancient form of communication namely face to face meetings of colleagues from every
corner of the globe?
One of the greatest privileges of my professional career has been to live through and
indeed be actively involved with the introduction of operative laparoscopic and
hysteroscopic to routine gynaecological practice. The introduction of less painful, more
anatomical surgery that results in less morbidity and quicker return to normal life after a
whole variety of gynaecological procedures is an important landmark in the development
of gynaecological surgery. I am proud to have played a very small role in this process. I
readily acknowledge that my practice and experience of minimal access surgery
developed directly as a result of meeting, listening and talking too many of the pioneers
of our discipline. Without the work of the teams of Semm and Bruhat, and the individual
contributions of Linderman, Hammou, Goldrath, Donnez, Reich, Mettler, Sutton and
countless others, these techniques would not have developed and gained acceptance.
Without the written work of these early endoscopic surgeons most of us would have had
neither the vision nor the courage to undertake this challenging type of surgery. Without
the opportunity to personally meet these great doctors face to face and draw from their
wisdom and enthusiasm I would not have had the drive and fortitude to introduce these
procedures into my own work.
In every land, in every political and climatic situation and in every health care system
most of the problems involved in introducing and developing endoscopic surgical
procedures remain constant. Sharing of techniques, political and financial as well as
surgical can help and often inspire those involved. People who share common
experiences and overcome common difficulties often become not just associates but
friends. To attend a meeting can stimulate and excite. To share a coffee and a chat can
change attitudes. To share a beer or a meal can change the lives of participants and
subsequently patients.
The ISGE is a unique organization that holds meetings in every inhabited continent in the
world. We are separated by language, geography, politics, income and climate and yet
united by the far stronger bond of being a group of doctors trying to improve the lot of
women requiring gynaecological surgery. The fundamental aim is to give gynaecologists
from every corner of the world the opportunity to come together and develop new
professional friendships in every type of environment and system. This is why I believe
the ISGE will be extremely important in the further development of our specialty.
Through its auspices I have recently been privileged to make new friends in Brazil
Argentina, South Africa, Thailand and China. All members of the ISGE have similar
experiences. That is why I believe the ISGE will be the pre-eminent organization to take
the benefits of minimal access surgery to every corner of the world. That is why I believe
the society deserves your continued and increasing support.
It is well known that the society has had some difficulties,
chiefly administrative, but these have been addressed. It is no easy
matter to economically organize a world wide
society with many currencies and languages. Bruno van Herendael took on the task of
restoring administrative order to the society. This was, and is an extremely demanding
and in many instances a thankless task. Bruno despite many difficulties has done a
wonderful job and the society owes him a great debt. Rob O’Shea is soon to take over as
secretary and we wish him well in this task.
We hope that the news letter that I am now to edit will become an even more important
vehicle for communication within and about the society. However to be an editor requires
that I have some material to edit. The officers of the society will provide much of this but
we will of course need and much value contributions from you all. This will not be a rival
to the established journals in the field and your best clinical and scientific data should be
reserved for these. We would however value input about problems and solutions to any
medico-political, economic as well as technical aspects of our discipline that you
encounter. We hope to provide an international forum for you to vent your best ideas, air
your concerns or just publicly let off steam. Please contact me with any such material on
my current email which id rgarry@meddent.uwa.edu.au. This address will be changing in
the near future and I will update you of its successor in due course.
The society’ president Harry Reich is widely recognized as one of the truly inspired
pioneers of laparoscopic surgery. He has honored the society by leading it through
important meetings in virtually every corner of the globe. Harry’s contribution to
gynaecological endoscopy has been immense. There will be other times to pay proper
recognition for what he has done but I should like to use the newsletter to thank him for
his unstinting effort and work on behalf of the ISGE. His successor is to be Peter Maher
from Melbourne who is one of the best known of all endoscopic surgeons particularly on
the left hand side of the map of the world. With this team I believe and trust that this
society will prove its value to all those who choose to join and remain members. With the
aims of excellence in both the art and science of gynaecological surgery and the goals of
respect and friendship to those trying to improve woman’s health care throughout the
world it deserves and needs to succeed. Lets all work together to ensure that it does.
The next opportunity to meet together will be in Japan in March. Please register and
attend this most important Annual General meeting of the society to be held in the
beautiful city of Osaka. Details of the congress will be found on the society’s website
(www.ISGE.org). I look forward to seeing old and making many new friends at this
meeting
Ray Garry
