Greeting Messages
Ulla Schmidt
Federal Minister of Health
Member of the German National Parliament
I wish to extend to you a warm welcome to this International Shock Congress which is taking place for the first time in Germany, here in Cologne!
In recent years, progress in medical science has paved the way for outstanding achievements in emergency medicine, anaesthetics and intensive care. As a result, the chances of survival for seriously ill patients - for example those suffering from polytrauma or a complicated case of myocardial infarction - are tangibly better than they were just a few years ago.
These successes notwithstanding, shock - with its numerous, diverse causes - remains a challenge for all physicians. Most frequently, cases involve life-threatening situations in which correct and timely diagnosis and the swift administration of the appropriate treatment determine whether or not the patient will survive. This is why I welcome your commitment to securing better care for shock patients worldwide. In the 'Cologne Declaration on Shock' you declared your aim to be the reduction of shock-related mortality by 25 percent within five years. Germany intends to contribute as much as it possibly can to the achievement of this ambitious goal.
I wish you all a successful conference and insightful, exciting discussions in the coming days.
Fritz Schramma
Mayor of the City of Cologne
Dear Participants of the International Shock Congress,
As Mayor of the City of Cologne, it is a great pleasure to express a cordial and warm welcome to all of you in our cathedral city. I am very happy that this interesting event will take place in the metropolis on the Rhine and am convinced that you will find optimal framework conditions, which will ensure a successful outcome of this pre-eminent conference. After all, Cologne has an excellent reputation as trade show and conference city in Germany and abroad.
The International Shock Congress will bring together worldwide leading researchers and clinical experts from the United States, China, Japan, Indonesia, Brazil and the European nations to share and exchange their expertise. As Mayor of Cologne I am proud that you decided on Cologne as a venue. We are in the best company of metropolises like Montreal, Philadelphia, Hamamatsu or Vienna, where earlier conferences were held. Let me assure you that your decision to choose Cologne as a venue was a good one.
Cologne can look back on a long and successful tradition in the field of medical research. A medical faculty was already created when the University of Cologne was first established in 1388. Since then, numerous impulses, which in part still play a role today, have originated in Cologne. More than one century ago, the renowned surgeon Prof. Bernhard Bardenheuer pushed through the sterilisation of bandaging materials in his clinic. Moreover, he introduced Lister's antiseptic technique. It stands to reason that his clinic's financial controllers were not at all amused, as this process is expensive. On the other hand, it enabled him to considerably reduce complications and mortality rates. Bardenheuer also established new surgical procedures. As the first physician of his time, he introduced the cystectomy and the Bardenheuer technique, an orthopaedic fracture extension treatment that is still being used today.
In the recent history, famous physicians, some of which made groundbreaking discoveries in medical research, have worked in Cologne. To name but a few, allow me to mention the neuroscientist Prof. Dr Klaus-Joachim Zülch, whose research results became the basis for the World Health Organisation's classification of brain tumours. The internist professor Werner Kaufmann specialised in cardiovascular endocrinology and as such was a pioneer in this specific field. Professor Hans Troidl was one of those who blazed the trail for minimally invasive endoscopic surgery. He was among the first specialists to remove gall bladder stones with the help of the keyhole operation method. Against considerable criticism and resistance, he further developed the procedure. Professor Troidl was also the one who intensified the co-operation between experimental-theoretic and clinical-practical surgery and who, in 1989, had Professor Edmund Neugebauer appointed as head of the former "Biochemical and Experimental Department at the 2nd Chair of Surgery at the University of Cologne".
This department was later to become the Institute for Research in Operative Medicine of the University of Witten-Herdecke with headquarters in Cologne. We have a particular situation here in our city. On the one hand, the University of Cologne is one of Germany's most tradition-steeped academic institutions. The internationally renowned university boasts excellent research facilities also in the field of medicine. On the other hand, a second campus with institutes and clinics belonging to the private University of Witten-Herdecke has established itself with the objective of investigating new modes of teaching and learning as well as developing new curricula and approaches in research, in this way pursuing new paths in the organisation of a scientific institution. Additionally, further distinguished scientific and research institutions, for instance the German Sports University, the German Aerospace Centre, the Max Planck Institute for Neurological Research or the Institute for Quality Assurance and Cost Efficiency in the Health Services all are based in Cologne.
These institutions focus above all on research activities that are oriented towards enhancing the well-being of people, but they also dare to think outside the box and are not discouraged by resistance from others.
These criteria are indispensible for a successful outcome of the International Shock Congress too. Only through a close interdisciplinary and interprofessional co-operation will it be possible to reduce the mortality rate of people suffering from shock. Your translational research constitutes an optimal approach to achieve this goal. I am sure that your conference will produce essential impulses and hope that all participants of the congress will enjoy their sojourn in Cologne.
Be sure to take the opportunity to leave your everyday routine behind you for a short while and gather new impressions. You will not only be able to return to your high-profile tasks making use of the gained expertise, but also with fresh vigour. Allow me to combine these hopes with the wish that you will enjoy a pleasurable stay in Cologne and have some time left to experience our city's broad range of historic and modern facets together with the typical Cologne hospitality.
I would like to wish the Institute for Research in Operative Medicine of the University of Witten-Herdecke a successful event and express my gratitude for the committed preparation.
Prof. Dr. Birger P. Priddat
President of the University Witten/Herdecke
Dear conference participants
It is a great pleasure and honor to welcome you all to the International Shock Congress in Cologne as the president of the Private Witten/Herdecke University. Our university celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. This congress is by no doubt one of the highlights in this year of anniversary.
The university has three campi with Cologne-Merheim as the youngest one in our short history. Several clinical chairs and the Chair for Surgical Research with Professor Neugebauer are located in Cologne. The topic of your congress fits perfectly into one of the main research areas of the medical faculty, which is Trauma and Sepsis research. The Cologne group has to be congratulated being the host of your congress.
Our university - I would like to say - Little Harvard! The same strength but less money! - but there is a significant difference: another philosophy of education. Witten/Herdecke University stands in the very tradition of the Humboldtian University: high-level correspondence of science and education. We added practical experiences. All students of all faculties and departments are necessarily involved in the masterprogramme humanity, fine arts and cultural reflections. The university owns four faculties: medicine, dental medicine, economics and management, studium fundamentale (humanities and fine arts). We are a small university, but, in some parts, avangardistic.
Shock is a syndrome with different focus and a variety of aspects, which need to be studied more intensively. It is the translational concept, which is needed to bring results of basic research to the patient.
Good research needs good researchers, able to communicate to each other. I am sure that this congress will contribute to better communication and interdisciplinary exchange. I would be very happy when you go back into your home countries remembering our university and the congress as one, which helped to make a big step of progress.
Good luck!