HONORARY CHAIRS

Honorary Chairs, Makote Hashizume, MD, PhD, and Errico Zupi, MD, will make their presentations on Wednesday, September 17, 2008 during the Opening Ceremony, which begins at 5:00pm.

Makote Hashizume, MD, PhD, presents Image-Guided Minimally Invasive Robot-Assisted Surgery

Dr Makoto Hashizume graduated after Kyushu University School of Medicine in 1979. He finished residency at General Surgery II, Kyushu University Hospital. He obtained his PhD in 1984 from the Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, in the area of pathology for portal hypertension. He worked in Laser Vascular Endoscopy as a Research Assistant Professor at Hahnemann University, Philadelphia from 1985 to 1986. He has been working in the field of minimally invasive surgery including endoscopic surgery, robotic surgery and portal hypertension. He is currently the director of Emergency & Critical Care Centre, the director of Training Centre for Endoscopic Surgery, Professor of Department of Advanced Medicine and Innovative Technology, Kyushu University Hospital, and Professor and Chairman of Department of Advanced Medical Initiatives, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University.

Errico Zupi, MD, presents Actuality and Future Perspectives of N.O.T.E.S. (Natural Orifice Transluminal Endoscopic Surgery)

Dr Zupi currently practices gynecologic endoscopy at the Fatebenefratelli Hospital and is Associate Professor of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of “Tor Vergata” in Rome.

Dr Zupi has published over 100 papers and chapters in endoscopic books and has won a number of awards including: Winner of the Award for the Best Paper on Hysteroscopy at the AAGL 23rd International Congress of Gynecologic Endoscopy, 1994, New York; Winner of the Award for the Best Paper on Hysteroscopy at the AAGL 25th International Congress of Gynecologic Endoscopy, 1996, Chicago; Winner of the Award for the Best Paper on Minilaparoscopy at the 26th International Congress of Gynecologic Endoscopy, 1997, Seattle; and Winner of the Award for the Best Paper on Mini-laparoscopy at thse 27th International Congress of Gynecologic Endoscopy, 1998, Atlanta.

Dr Zupi believes his strength lies in his vast experience of mentoring younger physicians and teaching them to learn endoscopic surgery, publish their findings, and then to teach the next generation of their peers.