Message from the Congress President

Dear Colleagues and Friends,
On behalf of the Organising Committee, it is my great privilege and immense pleasure to invite you to the city of the United Nations, the Red Cross, and the World Health Organization for a week of basic and clinical science.
Following Sydney and preceding Boston, our historic Geneva, Switzerland will welcome you as host for the most important highlight of our Society – the XXIst Congress of the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis and the 53rd Annual Meeting of its Scientific and Standardization Committee.
We are truly delighted Geneva was chosen for this honour. The XXIst Congress is the second time that our Society’s biennial gathering takes place in Switzerland. Indeed, the last time we gathered in Switzerland was in 1970 for the first ISTH Congress.
The venue was in Montreux, about eighty kilometres from Geneva and, like Geneva, along the banks of Lake Léman. Fritz Koller was President. Comparing then and now, we can witness almost 40 years of incredible development in our Society. The founding Congress was attended by a few hundred delegates; we will
welcome thousands in 2007.
So join us in Geneva! In a convivial atmosphere, come to maintain or restore old friendships and establish new ones. Walk alongside the Lake of Geneva and admire the world’s biggest fountain and, behind it, the spectacular view of the Mont-Blanc.
But most of all, don’t miss a unique opportunity for learning, teaching, and sharing the science that is the driving force of our Society and our profession!

HENRI BOUNAMEAUX
President of the XXIst ISTH Congress