The German Society of Endocrinology and Endocrinology in the Middle East

Science should be above political, ethnic and religious considerations. In these difficult times we scientists have a special duty to maintain a reasoned dialogue to further international contacts and cooperation. From October 10 - 12, 2004 the 7th International Congress of Endocrinology was held in Tehran, Iran, organized by the Iranian Endocrine Society with its president, Fereidoun Azizi, MD, Professor of Internal Medicine and Endocrinology, Tehran. The German Society of Endocrinology participated with an official delegation consisting of Professor Hendrik Lehnert as president of the German Society and one of the undersigned editors (H. S.). Delegations from Endocrine Societies of many other Western and Far Eastern countries were also present.

During the opening ceremony, H. S. delivered the greeting address of the German Endocrine Society (see Fig. [1]) as did many other delegates for their countries, including Professor Aldo Pinchera for Italy (see Fig. [2]). During the congress the invited guests - from the USA to Europe and to the Far East - gave lectures. The discussions after their contributions showed that the attending endocrinologists, mostly Iranian, young, and many of them female, had a good knowledge of modern developments in endocrinology and also of the recent literature. The presentations by Iranian endocrinologists dealt with both experimental and clinical topics and covered the whole field of endocrinology and diabetology. It was interesting to see the quite often similar, but sometimes also different findings and views, especially in clinical endocrinology. Professor Heinrich Resch from Vienna who attended an international meeting on osteoporosis in Tehran a few weeks earlier had made similar observations.

Fig. 1 Helmut Schatz delivering the greeting address of the German Endocrine Society in Tehran on October 9, 2004.

Fig. 2 Opening ceremony of the 7th International Congress of Endocrinology in Tehran on October 9, 2004. First row from right: 1. F. Azizi, 2. H. Schatz, 5. A. Pinchera (Figs. [1] and [2] from the Official Congress Report in Tehran).

Finally, a new endocrine journal was founded recently, the “International Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism”, with Fereidoun Azizi and Saleh Zahedi-Asl as Editors-in Chief, and an Editorial Board with renowned endocrinologists from all over the world. During the congress H. S. was invited to join the Editorial Board. In the first issues of this new journal the majority of the authors were from Iran and other Middle Eastern countries, but there were also contributions from Europe and the USA. There was a discussion about the title of the journal during the meeting of the Editorial Board. Some European board members proposed to focus on the Middle Eastern region, but the majority of the board decided to retain the name until the acceptance of the journal by the international endocrine community could be assessed. The 13th Asia-Oceania Congress of Endocrinology will be held in Tehran from May 16 - 19, 2006. By that date the Editors-in-Chief and the Editorial Board should be in a position to reach a final decision.

Experimental and Clinical Endocrinology & Diabetes and their Editors-in-Chief wish the journal all success!

Helmut Schatz, Bochum
Editor-in-Chief

Thomas Gudermann, Marburg
Editor-in-Chief