Dear Friends

It is a great honor and privilege for me to be elected as the 2016-2017 President of the European Wrist Arthroscopy Society (EWAS) founded in 2005 by my friend Christophe Mathoulin.

Since the very beginning of my career in Lyon, France, I have been lucky enough to be faced with a huge recruitment in all types of wrist pathologies, both traumatic acute and chronic and non-traumatic, especially rheumatoid. Therefore, I felt that an academic personal international investment was necessary in order to provide the best care to patients. For this reason, I have been an active member of the International Wrist Investigators Workshop (IWIW) since 1986 and IWIW co-director along with David Slutsky since 2014. Also I have been an active member of the American Society for Hand Surgery (ASSH), the Arthroscopy Association of North America (AANA) and of course FEESH and IFSSH. And last but not least, I am also proud of being an international member of the brand new (2015) Asian Pacific Wrist Association (APWA) under the presidency of PC Ho.

During the nineties, when a worldwide interest in arthroscopy of the wrist arose, it became obvious to me that I had to learn this new technique and to add it to my surgical armamentarium. I performed my first wrist arthroscopy in 1989 after attending a hands-on course in Chicago few weeks before. Since then I performed in Lyon more than 1000 wrist arthroscopies and I am happy to now work every day in a university hospital with a team of young and dedicated fellows, Marion Burnier, Antoine Marc, Maximilien Arnal, Yadar Izem and others who love wrist arthroscopy and the challenge of ideas. I would like to acknowledge the huge impact Terry Whipple’s 1992 pioneer book had on my knowledge. I recommend to anyone interested in the arthroscopy of the wrist to re-read this book where most of the current established developments of wrist arthroscopy were anticipated in a visionary manner. Terry Whipple’s landmark 1992 book was followed up until now by a myriad of papers, books and presentations about the use of wrist arthroscopy for treatment of various wrist conditions.

In 2005, when Christophe Mathoulin founded the EWAS, I immediately applied to join this new society as an ordinary member. And 10 years later, after serving EWAS as Course Instructor, Meeting speaker, after organizing 14 international wrist courses in LYON, most of them under the patronage of EWAS with many distinguished EWAS Members, I am very proud and honored about my EWAS President position for 2016-2017, following my good friend PC Ho.

During the forthcoming year I will have the privilege to potentially contribute to all EWAS upcoming events along with Jan Haugstvedt, current General Secretary and all members of the Executive Board. There will be IRCAD/EWAS courses in France, Brazil and Taiwan. Also there will be an increasing number of other courses supported by EWAS throughout the world, including our Lyon Wrist 2016 course!

All those events and scientific EWAS materials including clinical cases forum are available on the beautiful and efficient EWAS website held by Jane Messina. EWAS will also be part of many national and international societies. In 2015, serving as the president of the French Hand Society Surgery (SFCM), I was happy enough to put together an EWAS session within the Orthopaedic National French Society and to provide a large representation of EWAS works during the SFCM meeting in Paris in December.

We just attended a large and great EWAS session in Santander during the 2016 FESSH Meeting under the presidency of Paco PINAL. The executive board of EWAS look forward to organizing a similar EWAS event during the next FESSH Meeting under the presidency of Zsolt Szabô.

At the present time, we look forward to attending a great EWAS session in Buenos Aires during the IFSSH triennial meeting. The program was put together by the 3 “H” guys, Ho, Haugstvedt, Herzberg, and we hope it will be one of the highlights of this huge meeting which will be chaired by Eduardo Zancolli.

During my 2016-2017 EWAS presidency, I will do my best to serve EWAS and also to serve as a link between EWAS, IWIW and APWA Societies, being lucky enough to be part of all three. Our patients deserve such a scientific worldwide investment.

And it is also our duty to hold wrist arthroscopy as much more than just a surgical tool, and never forget that a good clinical case discussion leading to wrist arthroscopy should not begin with an MRI or CTS picture but with simple – but sharply accurate! – clinical and standard radiological data.

Again thank you all and especially Christophe Mathoulin for giving me such an opportunity to serve the young EWAS.

Greetings and best wishes!

Guillaume Herzberg