I have a lot of exciting news to report since the last column a month ago. First, I am happy to report that we received 227 total abstract submissions this year, which is beyond record-breaking. The average over the past decade has been 120 submissions, with the prior record held in 2013 with only 153 submissions. Not only were there a lot of submissions, but having reviewed all of them, I would say the quality is substantially better than last year or any other year that I have served as a reviewer on the scientific committee, so be prepared for an excellent meeting! At the time of this newsletter’s publication, my team and I have already completed all of our reviews, and I am in the process of finalizing the scientific program as you read this message. Of course, it will take several weeks for fine-tuning and minor corrections so abstract submitters should still expect their notifications in late June or early July.
Another major announcement I am excited to make is that we will be one of the first hair-related congresses to employ Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based language translation for over 60 languages. I hope this means we will have your language! For non-native English speakers, one limitation for a meeting held exclusively in English is the potential language barrier. We have also been limited in the past to only being able to offer one language at a time (like Spanish, Chinese, etc.), leaving out the rest of the world.
Melanie has even tested this new technology out with her Lithuanian relatives with great success! So, if worry about your ability to understand English has prevented you from attending in the past, please plan to come to Berlin and embrace this new technology. Invite your colleagues and friends to join you!
I also have been actively working on sponsorships to fuel the entertainment side of the program, which I hinted at in my last column. Please reach out to me with the names of potential sponsors who you think would benefit from attending our meeting, especially considering the increased attendance we are expecting (if the abstract submissions are a small clue to the demand for this meeting).
I had originally planned for this column to be a detailed exposition of the Master Classes, a new format that I am inaugurating, and which Steve Gabel is heading, but I don’t have the space this month. I am really excited by the WhatsApp discussions I have seen so far about their development, and I can’t wait to share the details with you, hopefully next month!
In short, please come to the Berlin World Congress even if you have not attended one for a while! You will only regret not attending. My team and I have assembled a program dedicated to truly advanced, surgical and non-surgical education, that will cater to the seasoned surgeon but that will still be of significant value to those newer to the field. The meeting will take place at the Intercontinental Berlin from October 23-25, 2025, to be followed on October 26 with the Live Surgery Workshop in Potsdam. We also have some amazing pre-congress education on October 22 too!
All the best,
Sam Lam, MD, FISHRS, Program Chair