Taiwan Hosts its First Inter-Continental Pathology Congress and Shows the “Green Meeting” Spirit

15/09/2011

Meet Taiwan

By virtue of the International Academy of Pathology (IAP) Taiwan Division’s academic contributions and increasing international visibility over the years, Taiwan successfully won the bid to host the 7th Asia Pacific IAP Congress (APIAP 2011). The congress was held at the Taipei International Convention Center from May 20th to May 24th, 2011. More than 190 foreign scholars and experts from all over the world joined approximately 50 Taiwanese IAP professionals to take part in the event.

The theme of this congress was: Pathogens, Genomics, and Challenges of Pathology in the 21^st Century. Besides speakers who are professors and doctors in pathology-related fields in the US and Asia-Pacific region, there were many speakers who are involved in the WHO. During the congress, they spoke in turn according to their fields of specialization and academic experience, inspiring passionate discussions on site. The President of the IAP’s Taiwan Division, Dr. Shih-Ming Jung, pointed out that many of the IAP division presidents had written him letters expressing their gratitude. Besides praising the overall planning and service details of the congress, they recognized that Taiwan possessed the capacity to host large international medical conferences.

The main purpose of the International Academy of Pathology (IAP) is to promote academic exchanges on pathology among various member nations throughout the Asia-Pacific region in order to encourage development in all areas of expertise within pathology, provide continuing education on the subject of pathology, and bridge the network between doctors of pathology in the Asia-Pacific region and elsewhere throughout the world. The Taiwan Division of the IAP became a member in 2005 and played an active role in the council during the 4^th, 5^th, and 6^th annual Asia Pacific IAP Congresses. In the 2007 congress, Taiwan expressed its determination to obtain the 2011 Asia Pacific IAP Congress bid. Although Mainland Chinese representatives questioned and boycotted Taiwan in the bidding process, the other congress representatives recognized Taiwan’s active participation and determination in recent years and spoke up to support the Taiwan Division of IAP, successfully winning Taiwan the 2011 congress bid.

Twenty-three themed units were organized for this year’s conference, and the congress was able to invite the chief editor of the new edition of WHO classification, Prof. Sunil Lakhani, S.R., various oncology editors, and the authors of various chapters as speakers in the congress. This included the Taiwanese scholar Dr. Wun-ju Shieh, who works with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Prof. Ih-jen Su, who was a consultant during both the SARS and H1N1 crises, the Australian expert on breast cancer research Prof. Sunil Lakhani, the Spanish hemo-oncology expert Dr. Elias Campo, and other heavyweight figures. In addition, experts and scholars in the fields of molecular pathology, endocrine pathology, pediatric pathology, and other specializations gathered together to conduct in-depth academic exchanges. This was the first internationally recognized inter-continental pathology congress hosted by Taiwan. In addition to a successful display of Taiwan’s outstanding accomplishments in pathology research, this also proved Taiwan’s value and status in the international pathology community.

The congress chose the Taipei International Convention Center as its main meeting location, and the banquet was held at Le Meridien Taipei. All the participants gave very positive feedback about the quality of reception and catering service. Ms. Kitty Wong, the president of the company responsible for hosting this congress, K&A International Co., Ltd., stated that what they fear most when they hold conferences is ordering too little or too much food. This is why K&A confirmed the number of participants multiple times beforehand and also sought the assistance of the Salvation Army Taiwan Region to distribute the extra meals ordered to the homeless as a way to encourage cooperation between conference events and public welfare. Ms. Wong said that she hoped to extend this concept to other conference events in the future in order to continue implementing the spirit of Green Meetings.

Taiwan – the Place to Meet

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