The “Argentine Society for the Surgery of Obesity” Sociedad Argentina de Cirugía de la Obesidad (SACO), on behalf of the International Federation for the Surgery of Obesity (IFSO) is in charge of the organization of the XIII World Congress of the IFSO.
It is a great pleasure and honor to welcome you to Buenos Aires for IFSO 2008, a major event in an atmosphere of friendship and hospitality.
During the Congress, we will offer you basic and advanced courses, solid presentations of leading experts, lectures, posters and video sessions, consensus meetings and a highly professional exhibition of important companies involved in bariatric surgery.
Apart from sharing information and experience in the decade in which surgical treatment of morbid obesity was accepted all over the world, you will find at the southern end of the American continent an extensive nation that offers visitors natural and cultural wonders: traditions, cuisine, and a way of life that can be as wonderful as the places to be visited.
Take your time to visit Buenos Aires, you can wander through the landmarks of the city’s past of hard-working immigrants, enjoy the grace of tango, experience the passion of football and let yourself become absorbed into the writings and the history of great Argentine and Latin American authors. We have art galleries offering international shows, great museums and entire city districts that revive the past. You will be drawn by the rich experience of a wide cultural blend of peoples of many nations. Don’t forget to relax in the setting of a city café. Enjoy Buenos Aires and from here the rest of Argentina, with mountains, deserts, seas, large cities, large extensions of steppes and the Pampas grasslands, climb the Andes mountains, ski, ride horses or turbulent rivers, admire the whales coming to breed in the Península de Valdés-Puerto Madryn, the rainbows at Iguazú Falls, and 60 meters high ice towers detaching from the Perito Moreno glacier and plunging into the water as small icebergs.
A well known expression assures that “all the world can be found in Argentina”.
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Prof. Carlos A. Casalnuovo MD, FACS
President XIII World Congress IFSO
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Dear Colleagues:
Once again, surgeons from all over the world will travel next fall to the American Continent to enjoy the XIII World Congress of the International Federation for the Surgery of Obesity and Metabolic Disorders, IFSO.
Going to Argentina will be a wonderful experience, not only for the many cultural and tourist attractions in and around the lovely city of Buenos Aires, but also for the long standing medical history, which goes from professor Luis Güemes (1856-1927) legendary physician who set the basis of Medicine in Argentina, and Cecilia Grierson (1859-1934) the first argentine and latin-american woman physician, following by many others: Abel Ayerza, Luis Agote, Mariano Castex, Pedro Escudero, and surgeons as José Arce, Federico Christmann, Pablo Mirizzi, Mario Brea, Andrés Santas, up to the world renowned physicians: thoracic surgeons Enrique and Ricardo Finochietto, cardiac surgeon René Favaloro, three Nobel Prize winners Bernardo Houssay, Luis Federico Leloir, and Cesar Milstein, and the young surgeon Aldo Kleiman, world pioneer of laparoscopic surgery, who in 1985 presented his thesis named “Laparoscopic Cholecistectomy in Sheep”.
The President of this World Congress, Professor Carlos Casalnuovo, has prepared with his Organizing Committee a magnificent setting at the Hilton Hotel at Puerto Madero, and an excellent Scientific Program, which will be of interest to all.
Today, IFSO is proud to have among its members not only talented surgeons, but experts from many other disciplines: internal medicine, cardiology, psychology, nutrition, physiology, infirmary, biochemistry, physical therapy, epidemiology, genetics, etc., who work together to reach two main goals: to fully understand Obesity, the second most important preventable cause of death, and to help obese individuals to reach a adequate weight, get rid of comorbidities and improve their quality of life.
All these colleagues, as well as many young physicians and surgeons will concur to Buenos Aires to share their experiences, to learn from each other and to enjoy life; rigorous scientific work and ethics along the daily practice are perfectly compatible with joy, smiles, music, dance, etc.
We all understand the importance of our task, we realize that Obesity is responsible of the illness and death of millions over the world, and if it goes on without control will collapse health financial budgets in many countries, So once again IFSO sees this meeting as an opportunity to address all topics related to obesity and to offer to our colleagues the last advances and the new findings in obesity and obesity treatment.
I cordially invite you, IFSO colleagues, and all who are interested in Obesity, to attend the XIII IFSO Congress in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Best regards
Prof. Rafael Álvarez-Cordero
IFSO President
As Chief of Government of Buenos Aires, it is my pleasure to warmly welcome you to this city for the XIII World Congress of the International Federation for the Surgery of Obesity and metabolic disorders (IFSO), which for the first time will take place in our beloved city, from September 24-27, 2008.
Education and Research are two of the main objectives of our government policies and, therefore, we are proud for being chosen as venue for such an important meeting where new challenges are posed and the latest advances in the specialty presented.
We wish you a pleasant stay in Buenos Aires and a successful meeting.
Sincerely,
Mauricio Macri
Chief of Government of Buenos Aires
