The Four Presidents responsible for the XXV Congress: Shinichiro Ushigome, IAP President; Bob Eckstein, Scienbtific Program President; Warick Delprado, Australian Division President; Robin Cooke, Congress President

The recent hosting by the Australasian Division of the IAP was a great event. It took place in a Brisbane that had decided to turn on its best face. The weather was perfect. There were no clouds all week, until the last day when everyone was packing up to go home, when it seemed appropriate that things should finally turn grey and sad. Southbank was a splash of colour as spring presented itself ready for the meeting. There were concerts in the park, markets everywhere, and pathologists on every street carrying their identifying satchels.

The Brisbane Convention Centre was chosen to host the event for a number of reasons, one of which was the layout of the spaces between the lecture theatres. There was plenty of open space, with places to sit, to talk, and to meet with colleagues, previous, current and new. The whole venue functioned beautifully. The audio -visuals were recognised by everyone as the best and smoothest service at any meeting. The catering services worked well; food for lunches was actually quite good.

But the most spectacular thing about the whole meeting was the effort put in by all the members of the Australasian Division, and the rewards that flowed from all that effort. The number of people involved in the scientific programme was huge – from the convenors of the topics who had worked so hard for months, actually for years, to all the presenters who prepared things on time, who showed up on time, and who presented so well. The academic programme of the meeting was at such a level as to set new standards for an International Congress.

Attendance at the meeting was extraordinary. A high proportion (over 90%) of the Australian and New Zealand pathologists attended at least part of the meeting. There were still lots of people attending the sessions at the end of the week. One very famous overseas speaker commented that it was unlike any International Congress he had previously spoken at; usually by the fourth and fifth days at previous meetings, speakers were talking to empty rooms. At the Brisbane meeting, the auditoriums were still full on the last day.

So, congratulations to all who made it happen, thank you to all who attended, and I hope everyone had as good a time as all the people I spoke to were having. The knowledge gleaned from the meeting will help in our practices for many years.

Warick Delprado
President of the Australasian Division of the IAP.

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The XXV International Congress of the IAP was a great success. Scientific sessions, often organized with new ideas, were exciting. Computerized projection was used in 100% of the presentations and this went surprisingly smoothly. Abstracts of the Congress and Lectures in CD-Rom were distributed. New designs for organization were felt here and there. I am sure every participant enjoyed the Congress.

As President of the IAP, I wish to thank Dr. Robin Cooke, President of the Congress, and his colleagues of the Australasian Division who made an excellent job of the Congress. I was particularly pleased to have been intimately associated with the Congress presided over by Robin, my dear old friend.

How wonderful it is to be able to share knowledge of diseases of people from all over the world, and to be able to share friendship among participants from many different countries.

At this time, I would like to express my deep personal thanks to all officers of the IAP for their warm support and help during my Presidency. I love the IAP, and I like the people of the IAP.

Now my thoughts are turning forward to the XXVI International Congress in Montreal in 2006.

Shinichiro Ushigome, Immediate Past President of the IAP.

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The other two Presidential reports above, dealt with the Scientific aspects of the Congress. I would like to mention some of the Social aspects that were planned with as much care and attention to detail as the Scientific sessions.

The Bar B Que on the walkway beside the artificial beach at Southbank was a happy and relaxed occasion. There were fire twirlers on the sand and dancers on stilts supported by a percussion band. There was plenty of food, and space to mingle and talk. The weather was balmy and pleasant for this outdoor function.
The “Happy Hour” after the conclusion of the sessions on Wednesday evening provided an opportunity for mid week socialising.

A Beach Bar B Que, A Didgeridoo and some fine dining:
The southbank beach was the venue for an informal Bar B Que and the formal dinner featured Didgeridoo music, Australian native flowers and projected images.

The dining hall with Diorama in background.

Coastal tours and Barossa Valley wine tastings:
Delegates enjoyed wine tastings of fine Australian and New Zealand wines and trips to the beaches north and south of Brisbane.
Above: Barrossa Wines and Hawkes Bay NZ wine tastings.

There were tours to the North and South Coast beaches, with Australia Zoo and vistas of the hinterland that was shaped by the volcanic activity of millions of years ago. The wildlife tour was popular, and whales appeared on cue every day just off the coast to the delight of delegates and accompanying persons who went whale watching.

Above: The view from Oscar’s Restaurant on to Burleigh Heads beach - a one hour drive south of Brisbane.

The North Coast at Point Cartwright

The wine tasting featured wines from the best wine growing areas of Australia and New Zealand. A beautiful relaxed Australian ambience was created for the formal dinner by the aboriginal didgeridoo player; the table settings with floral arrangements of Australian native flowers; and the picture diorama of scenes from the Australian outback.

The AFIP Medal Presentation to Robin Cooke by Florabel Mullick, Principal Deputy Director of the AFIP and Secretary of the IAP, accompanied by Jacob Morewaya, Paua New Guinea, and Shinichiro Ushigome.

Below: Trade displays.

The Trade Display area was fully booked. Lunches, morning and afternoon teas were served in between the displays. This meant that the booths were very busy every day of the week.

Large numbers of posters were displayed every day.

On the Sunday of Registration, about 100 Pathology trainees from every State in Australia and from New Zealand attended a free full day of lectures by a galaxy of International experts. They were stimulated and inspired by the occasion.

The Australian Society of Gastroenterology overlapped the beginning of the week, and the Australian Society of Cytology and the Histotechnology Society overlapped the end of the week, so that they were able to utilise some of the International speakers from the Congress for their meetings.

Brisbane Research and other Institutions took advantage of the large number of International experts to discuss mutual interests, and some new relationships were forged. Delegates travelled to other States and to New Zealand and they, too, benefited from having the Congress in Australia.

The numerous organisers of the Congress thank the approximately 2000 people who came and participated, and the sponsors who supported us so strongly. We in the Australasian Division were delighted and exhilarated to be part of such a successful and happy occasion. We wish Rick Fraser and his team every success in the preparation of Congress 2006 to be held in Montreal, Canada.

Robin Cooke,
President of the XXV International Congress of the IAP.

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Francis is Professor and Head of the Pathology Department at the Hopital Necker, Paris, one of the largest Paediatric referral hospitals in the world. He is a former President of the French Division, and President of the International Congress held in Nice in 1998.

In the past 10 years or so, he has been actively promoting the welfare and development of the Division of French speaking pathologists in Africa. He has been many times as a guest lecturer to countries of the former Soviet Union. Recently he was the invited lecturer at the annual meeting of the Indian Division of the IAP, and the Indian Association of Pathology. He attended the most recent meeting of the Arab Division in Libya. He has had many Fellows from the former Soviet Union countries and various third world countries for periods of training in his Department.

While President, he hopes to continue the tradition of former Presidents of visiting as many Divisions as possible, with a view to continuing the on- going process of forming collaborative links between the members of this world wide organization, the IAP.

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