UEGW Paris promises to be the most exciting gastrointestinal meeting of 2007.
It is the major educational event in gastroenterology for Europe but its popularity extends throughout the world. We look forward to welcoming our friends and colleagues from Africa, the Middle East, America and the Asian Pacific Region; we have so much to contribute together through the International fellowship of Medicine. Our aims are to advance the understanding of digestive disorders, to improve our own clinical management of them, to encourage research and development, to foster international collaboration and friendship
but above all to work together in order to bring hope and comfort to the many people throughout the world whose lives are blighted by disease of the digestive tract.

Paris is an outstanding venue for our meeting. The Palais des Congrès is situated near the city centre. All registrants will have free public travel within Paris and the social, cultural, recreational and gastronomic attractions of Paris are well known.

For the first time we will be presenting an integrated postgraduate course during the weekend preceding the core meeting. It will cover general Gastroenterology, live endoscopy and hepatology with plenary and breakout sessions to allow participants the opportunity to chose their own area of interest whilst maintaining a cohesive programme that we hope will appeal to everyone.

Fifty percent of the core programme beginning on Monday will be devoted to free paper sessions for the presentation of original research and we will continue the poster rounds that were a particular success in Berlin last year.

For those who are attending in order to keep up with the rapid advances that are taking place in clinical Gastroenterology the other half of the core programme is devoted to symposia and clinical updates covering a wide range of gastroenterology and gastrointestinal surgery, these will include new developments in transluminal endoscopic surgery, Barretts oesophagus, rectal surgery, metals in the liver and NASH and the metabolic syndrome. A special attraction are the “Clinics in Gastroenterology” a series of interactive sessions that focus on the management of difficult clinical problems.

The newest pharmaceutical, diagnostic, endoscopic and surgical products will be on display in what will be the largest and most comprehensive gastrointestinal trade exhibition in Europe.

So that you will be able to participate more easily and in order to encourage informal meetings with participants, all registrants will be provided with free lunches served in the exhibition and poster area.

A sponsored "Fun Run" (about 5km) has been organised on Sunday morning near the conference center. Its aim is to promote healthy life styles and it is open to all conference delegates and accompanying people, those intending to participate should register in advance of the conference. The sponsorship profits will be donated to a charitable organisation in the field of gastroenterology selected by UEGF. There will be prizes!

I look forward to seeing you in Paris in October and on behalf of the UEGF extend a warm welcome to you all.

Yours sincerely,

Professor Anthony Axon
President UEGF

In October 2007, the UEGF will be holding the 15th annual United European Gastroenterology Week (UEGW) in Paris.

It is with great pleasure that I would like to invite you to attend this meeting, the most important educational event for digestive disease researchers, university based persons, practicing physicians, physicians in training and nurses taking place in Europe.

The meeting will provide a unique opportunity to gain access to the latest and best scientific information and education in gastroenterology, hepatology, endoscopy and gastrointestinal surgery.

UEGW has excelled in the past to provide a vast variety of educational and research sessions that address the various aspects of digestive diseases. This process will continue in Paris to provide you a forum for a complete educational experience.

I sincerely hope to see you at the UEGW 2007 and wish you much success and enjoyment in Paris.

Professor Christoph Beglinger
UEGF Secretary General

On behalf of the United European Gastroenterology Foundation Scientific Committee, I would like to take this opportunity to invite you to participate in the 15th United European Gastroenterology Week Paris 2007. Preparations are well underway for what I know will be yet another highly successful UEGW. The Palais des Congrès in Paris is an excellent venue and will be able to provide an extensive range of high quality facilities that will make UEGW 2007 a success. In addition, there are a large number of excellent hotels with easy reach of the conference centre.

We have begun to develop the core programme which will have a similar format to preceding years although we will ensure that at least 50% of the programme is original research communications. The programme will include the usual broad range of topics with a particular emphasis on interdisciplinary symposia which will explore the interface between different therapeutic modalities. There will be a session for example on the management of hilar biliary structures which will include radiological, surgical and endoscopic dimensions. There will be updates on H.pylori, a new classification of GERD, Barrett’s oesophagus, rectal cancer, metals in the liver and NASH and the metabolic syndrome. There will be a symposium which will explore the recent developments in transluminal endoscopic surgery. In addition we will have a daily session for case-based discussion, so-called ‘Clinics in Gastroenterology and Hepatology’. Anticipating that poster rounds will be a success in Berlin, we plan to continue these in Paris.

We are planning to have wi-fi internet access made available to all participants in the conference centre.

The early indicators are that the Paris UEGW 2007 will be a resounding success and will maintain the tradition of a balanced programme which will include a range of symposia on clinical updates, the best of European gastrointestinal and liver science and some excellent training opportunities for trainees and established gastroenterologists.

To fully benefit from your participation in this congress, and to encourage informal meetings with the participants, all registrants will be provided with free lunches, served in the exhibition area and poster area.

I look forward to seeing you in Paris!

Professor Michael Farthing
Chairman, UEGF Scientific Committee