President's Message
Dear Colleagues,
It is my honor and pleasure to be elected and to serve as the
18th President of The ASIAN PACIFIC ASSOCIATION FOR THE STUDY
OF THE LIVER (APASL). This will be second time since 1982 to
have Hong Kong hosting the annual meeting for APASL.
With the success of the recent APASL annual meetings, organized
by our Japanese and Korean colleagues, under the leadership
of Professor Masao Omata and Dong Jin Suh, respectively, we
believe that the upsurge momentum for the development of Clinical
Hepatology in Asia-Pacific region, has been established. Hence,
to organize the coming APASL annual meeting in 2009, will certainly
represent a challenge as we hope that the development of research
and service in clinical Hepatology could be further facilitated
to a next height.
On behalf of the APASL, I would like to invite all of you to
attend our 19th annual conference, which will be conducted in
Hong Kong SAR from 13th to 16th February, 2009. The
theme of the conference will be "Multi-disciplinary Approach
to Clinical Hepatology" and in keeping with this, we will
organize a postgraduate course focusing on "Interventional Hepatology".
Various medical and paramedical disciplines with interest in
the clinical management of liver diseases will be attracted
to our conference. In addition, we will also work closely with
other sister associations such as the American Association for
the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD), European Association for
the Study of the Liver (EASL), Latin American Association of
Hepatology (ALEH) and the International Association for the
study of the Liver (IASL).
We, the APASL, envisage, in the next ten years, the availability
of new innovative approach, in therapeutic and diagnostics areas,
to be introduced to the clinical practice of hepatology. The
driving dynamo behind these developments will rely heavily on
the effective and candid collaboration and communication between
various medical disciplines and the industry. It is only through
this type of constructive interaction that we will be able to
further advance our practice of Clinical Hepatology in Asia
- Pacific region. To this end, by organizing our current conference,
we will provide a platform for all of you to exchange your learned
experience and understanding in Clinical Hepatology with your
colleagues.
Please mark your calendar for the 19th conference of APASL as your support and participation will be pivotal to our success.
Yours sincerely
Professor George K.K. Lau
The University of Hong Kong
President, APASL