History

Past Executive Boards

2010 - 2011
President: Azad Najmaldin
Secretary: Ciro Esposito
Treasurer: Amulya Saxena
Webmaster: Juan C. de Agustin
EB members: Naved Alizai, Piotr Czauderna, Fabio Chiarenza

2012 - 2013
President: Azad Najmaldin
Secretary: Ciro Esposito
Treasurer: Amulya Saxena
Webmaster: Juan C. de Agustin
EB members: Naved Alizai, Piotr Czauderna, Fabio Chiarenza

2014
President: Azad Najmaldin
Secretary: Ciro Esposito
Treasurer: Amulya Saxena
Webmaster: Juan C. de Agustin
EB members: Ashish Desai, Vizenzo Di Benedetto, Isabela M Draghici

2015
President: Philippe Montupet
Secretary: Mario Mendoza
Treasurer: Amulya Saxena
Webmaster: Juan C. de Agustin
EB members: Ashish Desai, Vizenzo Di Benedetto, Isabela M Draghici

2016
President: Philippe Montupet
Secretary: Mario Mendoza
Treasurer: Paul Philippe
Webmaster: Jozef Babala
EB members: Raimundo Beltrá, Piergiorgio Gamba, Juan C de Agustin (Congress Chairman)

The Foundation of ESPES

ESPES foundation took place during the conclusion of the 5th Congress of the British Association of Paediatric Endoscopic Surgeons (BAPES) in September 2004, organized in Paris together with other European Partnerships as GECI (France) - which hosted the Congress-, GPES (Germany), and SiVi (Italy).

We met in good spirit and ready to consider the interesting British proposal that aimed to unify the different European efforts to create a strong European society. The purpose was to conceive a society that could deal with both the more immediate and medium-long term difficulties related to the scientific development, institutional and commercial relationships and training of new specialists. However, the idea required more collective thinking. The meeting served to plant seed which has taken a lot of time and efforts to germinate, thanks to the input from several Societies: mainly the French, Italian, Swiss, Spanish, Turkish and with the incorporation of other European Societies of Pediatric Endosurgery year after year. In the following BAPES Meeting held outside Great Britain -which takes place every three years- in Istanbul (2007) and Bern (2010), we continued the work on the British proposal, giving birth to the European Society of Paediatric Endoscopic Surgeons (ESPES). The Society was led to its creation by the enthusiastic Dr. Azad Najmaldin from Leeds, a leading member, co-founder and former President of the BAPES, and with the participation, as founding members of outstanding Endoscopic Paediatric Surgeons from Britain, Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Slovakia, Turkey, Romania, Poland, Austria, Norway and Switzerland. It debuted in November in London, with the celebration of its first Congress (2nd to 5th November 2011) .

Renowned Pediatric Surgeons from 10 European countries actively participated in the committees . During the Constitutional Assembly of the Society. Bylaws were written and the first Board of Directors was set up: headed by Azad Najmaldin -main driver and leader, true alma mater of the idea.

During the Congress, three lectures were given, 2 specialized round tables were held and 48 oral communications and 15 posters were presented. All this was a great kick-off for this newborn ESPES, which began its journey with strength and sincere wishes for a unified European Pediatric Endosurgery.

Raimundo Beltrà
GEEP and SECLA member
ESPES foundational member
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
Spain