The International Association of Endocrine Surgeons (IAES) owes its origins
more to Peter Heimann, Professor of Surgery, Bergen, Norway, than to
any other person. He was a general surgeon with a particular interest
in the thyroid gland, and it was his ambition to polarize the activities
of those general surgeons interested in the endocrine system into a
special group within the Société Internationale de Chirurgie
(SIC).
In 1978, Peter Heimann wrote to some of his friends that he was dying of
gastric carcinoma stating his fervent wish that an group of endocrine
surgeons should be formed. Scientific papers were invited and a single
day program set up during the next meeting of the SIC together with
the provision for all those interested to meet and discuss plans for
the future.
At 9:00 a.m., Thursday, September 4, 1979, a group met in a room of the SIC
congress in San Francisco and elected a president, Selwyn Taylor; a
president-elect, Richard Egdahl; a secretary-treasurer, Orlo Clark;
and a small international committee: N. Thompson, Ann Arbor, Michigan,
U.S.A. (coordinator); H.A. Bruining, Rotterdam, The Netherlands; Y.
Fujimoto, Tokyo, Japan; P.-O. Granberg, Stockholm, Sweden; T.S. Reeve,
Sydney, Australia; H.D. Röher, Heidelberg, Federal Republic of
Germany; W. Rudowski, Warsaw, Poland; and S.A. Wells, Jr., Durham, North
Carolina, U.S.A.
All those who had indicated that they would be present became the founding
members and, since then, the membership has been strictly monitored
by surgeons from the applicant’s own country, as well as by the committee.
The IAES currently counts more than 400 members from around the globe.
The meeting’s first scientific session opened at 11.00 a.m. and so keen were
other members of the congress to attend, that a larger hall had to be
found to house the afternoon session. The standard of presentation and
the subsequent discussion was of the highest order and so it has remained
ever since. At the conclusion of the next meeting, which was held in
Montreux, Switzerland, in 1981, the founding president handed over to
his successor a badge of office, placing it round his neck, and this
little ceremony has been carried on since at each meeting. Biennial
meetings followed in Hamburg in 1983, Paris in 1985, Sydney in 1987,
Toronto in 1989, Stockholm in 1991, Hong Kong in 1993, Lisbon in 1995,
Acapulco in 1997, Vienna in 1999, Brussels in 2001, Uppsala Sweden in
2004, and Durban South Africa in 2005. It is heartening that the members’
enthusiasm is maintained and even increased. The IAES owes much of the
success of its early days to the beneficent sponsorship of the parent
organization, the SIC.
The original aims of the IAES were to provide “A forum for the exchange of
views of those who are involved in expanding the frontiers of endocrine
surgery whether by clinical experience, laboratory investigation or
in any other way: Not for the general surgeon who occasionally operates
on a thyroid or adrenal gland.”
The IAES, indeed, fulfils these aims, and is proud of its place in the Société
Internationale de Chirurgie. Finally, the World Journal of Surgery regularly
devotes a complete issue to the contributions of the IAES.
The IAES always presents a plenary session at the SIC congress and a Peter
Heimann lecture as a prestigious occasion, which constitutes a tribute
and reminder of our founder.