World Endometriosis Society (WES) General Assembly 2008

The WES General Assembly takes place in connection with the World Congresses on Endometriosis (WCE), and the assembly, which is therefore not annual, provides an opportunity for WES members and the WES board to meet to set priorities for the next three years.

Robert Shaw, as Immediate Past President, took the place of WES president Rodolphe Maheux, who died untimely in May 2007, in presenting the president’s report, and commenced the assembly by reminding the members of WES’s mission to:

Robert Shaw paid tribute to Rodolphe Maheux, who was a founding member of WES and a driving force of moving the Society’s mission and priorities forward. He explained how he, Hans Evers and Lone Hummelshoj had had to step in too early to fill the void left by Rodolphe in carrying forward the mission of WES. Robert Shaw was therefore proud to be able to highlight the following achievements since the last WCE in September 2005:

A new secretariat was appointed January 2006, where Lone Hummelshoj took over as secretary general.
Since then the WES has increased its membership by 40%, and now has 180 members. This is still too low for a society in this field and every member was encouraged to promote the mission of WES to increase membership and involve colleagues in contributing to this important field.
WES has produced seven WES e-Journals since WCE2005; the highest number of e-Journals produced between any WCEs.
WES has revamped its website to include more information and news, see www.endometriosis.ca
WES was represented at 21 international meetings on five continents during the past 2½ years!
WES co-founded the World Endometriosis Research Foundation (WERF) with the ASRM and ESHRE, which was Rodolphe Maheux’s presidential initiative. WERF has raised almost half a million dollars so far and has commenced two prospective epidemiological studies to (a) establish the impact of endometriosis and (b) the predictability of endometriosis (ie. a screening tool). Prospective studies of this scale have never been undertaken before, and 20 centres in 14 countries are involved. Members were directed to the website www.endometriosisfoundation.org for additional information.

Robert Shaw, having ascertained that a quorum of members were present, asked WES members to approve the WES board initiative of presenting a “Rodolphe Maheux Award” at each WCE for the best clinical presentation by a clinician under the age of 40, in honour of Professor Maheux. The intention of the award would be to encourage the ‘younger generation’ to continue to advance the field of endometriosis and would carry a cash prize of €1,000.00 towards the winner’s next scientific meeting. WES member Ali Akoum proposed the approval of the award, which was seconded by WES member Neil Johnson. The motion was unanimously carried.