Honorary membership of European Association for Endoscopic Surgery (EAES) for Edmund Neugebauer
Frankfurt am Main, 17 June 2017
Prof. Dr. Edmund A. Neugebauer, dean of the Brandenburg Medical School and senior professor of health services research at Witten/Herdecke University, was appointed an honorary member by the European Association for Endoscopic Surgery (EAES) at their 25th international congress in Frankfurt a. M. (14 – 17 June 2017).
Prof. Neugebauer looks back on many years of successful activities at the EAES. In 1993 he was in charge of organizing its first congress in Cologne; he remembers he had to form a limited liability company together with a clinical colleague to minimize the risk. More than 900 participants made the congress a big success. He was a long-term member of the EAES Scientific Committee, taught courses on clinical studies and clinical research and was a major proponent of evidence based surgery. In 1997 he started to host annual international consensus conferences on all procedures of endoscopic surgery. Many European clinicians, so Neugebauer, were schooled in systematic reviews and meta analyses at his institute over the years. He perceives the award as appreciation of himself as well as his efforts to make the principles of evidence based medicine an integral part of surgery and in particular of endoscopic surgery.
Honorary membership is awarded rarely by the EAES. The association’s executive committee had voted unanimously, and the ceremony took place at a plenary meeting of about 500 members and congress participants. Prof. Eduardo Taragona, EAES president, gave the laudation. At the same event he also honoured Prof. Alberto Montori (University La Sapienza, Rome) for his life’s work.
Prof. Neugebauer feels that 25 years of intensive campaigning for evidence based surgery have actually made a difference: “Due to the high level of technology involved, endoscopic surgery is particularly prone to accepting presumed innovations without scientific examination or review by studies.”
Founded in 1990, the European Association for Endoscopic Surgery (EAES) became a growing and dynamic organization which today plays a leading role in endoscopic surgery and interventional techniques. It organizes high-ranking conferences in a number of European countries on a regular basis as well as advanced training formats in the fields of education, research and development. The ultimate aim is to ensure high-quality, safe and cost-effective minimally invasive treatment for patients in Europe and worldwide.