Farewell Message from Christophe Mathoulin

My dear friends,

It is with some sadness, but also great pride, that I write to you today. Fifteen years ago with a group of friends, we founded a scientific society in France—the EWAS (European Wrist Arthroscopy Society)—which quickly became a kind of wrist start-up and, not long after, went international.

What we have achieved together, as follows, is remarkable:

• We created a group of wrist pathology enthusiasts.

• We organized or helped to organize nearly 30 courses a year throughout the world, all successful.

• We created a global forum that allows us to discuss difficult cases every day, especially in the past 15 years.

• We have revolutionized our understanding and treatment of wrist pathologies.

• We affiliated the Journal of Wrist Surgery as our official journal.

Logically, the EWAS became the IWAS (International Wrist Arthroscopy Society). I had the pleasure of running it as the Secretary General for 8 years, then Jan-Ragnar Haugstvedt successfully replaced me, and the new Secretary General Max Haerle takes it over. Max will be helped by an international dream team that all other scientific societies would envy!

I was the chairman of the teaching committee for 6 years. We developed strong partnerships with our main industrial partner—Storz—but also Newclip and Arthrex. Without them, we would not have made such rapid progress, and I want to take this opportunity to thank them.

Now, for me, it's time to stop. I am not worried about the future of the IWAS. We have strong personalities and talented young people all over the world.

Of course, I will continue to support it with all my passion. I will now take care of my grandchildren, most of the time in Corsica. I'm sure you understand that…

My final parting advice is to stay united and keep the friendships and parties that have made the EWAS successful. And in the next 3 years, with the help of APWA (Asia Pacific Wrist Association), IWIW (International Wrist Investigators Workshop), and IWC (International Wrist Center), but also IFSSH (International Federation of Societies for Surgery of the Hand), FESSH (Federation of European Societies for Surgery of the Hand), and APFSSH (Asia Pacific Federation of Societies for Surgery of the Hand), my dream for the IWAS is to remove the letter “S,” to create a great International Wrist Association!

Long life to “wrist lovers!”

Fig. 1 IWAS (International Wrist Arthroscopy Society) General Assembly in Berlin, IFSSH (International Federation of Societies for Surgery of the Hand) meeting.From left to right: Henk Coert (Co-Chairman of teaching committee), Eva Baur (President of IWAS), Terry Whipple (Honorary President of IWAS), Wendong Xu (Vice-President of IWAS), Christophe Mathoulin (Founder and Honorary President of IWAS), Jan-Ragnar Haugstvedt (Co-Chairman of teaching committee), Nicole Schmelzer-Schmied (Treasurer of IWAS), Tyson Cobb (Past-President of IWAS), and Max Haerle (General Secretary of IWAS).