History Office visits Athens, cements ties with new Hellenic counterpart
The EAU History Office was in Athens on 15-17 October for its annual ‘Fall Meeting’. Every year at this meeting, on-going projects are discussed, as are the activities at the upcoming Annual Congress in Amsterdam, and the meeting is typically paired with a symposium in the host country.
This year was also a special occasion, as its hosts were the newly-formed Hellenic Urological Association (HUA) Historical Committee. The HUA will formally launch its new Committee at its 27th Panhellenic Urology Congress on 22-25 October.
The committee will at first consist of long-time EAU History Office member and expert Prof. Christos Alamanis (Athens, GR), as well as young urologist Dr. Ioannis Glykas (Athens, GR) and Associate Professor of History of Medicine at National and Kapodistrian University of Athens Dr. Effie Poulakou-Rebelakou. Its immediate priorities are creating the archives and library of the HUA. One of its first notable possessions are the hand-written minutes from the first edition of the Pan-Hellenic Congress held in 1967. The committee will publish articles on historical topics in Hellenic Urology and provide speakers for the HUA’s annual congresses.
In Athens, the two groups met at the Hellenic Urological Association’s offices for a series of lectures, an exchange of gifts and a tour of the HUA’s embryonic historical collection.
The EAU has donated a complete collection of its De Historia Urologiae Europaeae book series (1-32) to this new endeavor, and will set apart any duplicate instruments or rare books it might have in its own collections.
Preparing for EAU27
The EAU’s History Office had a very productive board meeting of its own, evaluating its activities at EAU26 in London and preparing for EAU27 in Amsterdam. The History Office will provide speakers as part of Plenary and Thematic sessions, hold its own “History of Urology” abstract session and organise its annual Historical Exhibition as part of the EAU Square. The Exhibition features unique historical objects like urological instruments, often tied to the host country or other themes.
The board meeting in Athens also featured an editorial meeting for its upcoming publication The History of Prostate Cancer, to be presented at EAU27 in Amsterdam.
