Extract
First Symposium of ESC Working Group on e-Cardiology
An ESC WG symposium to promote and support the use of information technology in cardiology has recently taken place in Croatia
ESC booth, left to right: Enno van der Velde, chairman ESC WG e-Cardiology; Mrs Céline Serio, ESC Heart House staff, who supports the WG from within the ESC; and Goran Krstacic, WG current secretary, chairman-elect and local organizer of this first e-Cardiology symposium.
On 15–17 March 2012, the ESC Working Group (WG) on e-Cardiology held their first independent symposium in Osijek, Croatia. The symposium was co-organized with the Croatian Cardiac Society. During the past few years, the ESC WG on e-Cardiology has intensified their work and their collaboration with other communities within the ESC.
Besides the usual participation and organization of symposia at the annual ESC Congress, the WG has organized joint symposia at other congresses, e.g. during ‘EuroEcho & other imaging modalities’ congress with the EAE, during the EuroPCR with the EAPCI and during EuroPace with the EHRA. Because those joint symposia were very successful, the WG felt that it was time to organize an independent symposium. Prof. Goran Krstacic, recently elected vice-chairman of the WG and president of the WG on e-Cardiology of the Croatian Cardiac Society, and Dr Enno van der Velde, President of the ESC WG on e-Cardiology, undertook the challenging task of organizing ‘the First Symposium on e-Cardiology’ in Osijek, Croatia. After more than a year of hard work, this symposium with 144 registered participants and representation from industry was a great success for one of the smaller WGs within the ESC (∼200 members). The meeting was covered by both national Croatian television and radio, which reflected a large regional interest thanks to the efforts and promotion by the symposium organizing committee. It shows that locations outside Western Europe can be a very good choice and provides the opportunity to organize and participate in such an event for those who might not have the possibility to travel to locations further away.
