ISTH 2025
Congress Chronicle
See previous editions of the Congress Chronicle:
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ISTH Congress Chronicle: Planning for Washington, D.C.
October 2024
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By: Guy Young, M.D.
ISTH 2025 Congress Chair
Welcome to the third edition of the Congress Chronicle, our bi-monthly newsletter leading up to the ISTH 2025 Congress in Washington, D.C.
In this edition, I’ll share an update on our recent planning meeting in Washington, D.C. Plus, hear from three additional members of the Annual Congress Planning Committee (ACPC)—read more about the ACPC in our June edition—as they share their experiences and memories from attending their first ISTH Congress.
Behind the scenes at our recent ACPC planning meeting
The ACPC and Theme Leaders met in Washington, D.C. from September 4-6, 2024 to plan for the ISTH 2025 Congress. We met across the street (literally) from the convention center. See below for a photo of our fantastic team!
We had two goals for this in-person meeting. First, the ACPC itself met for a full day to discuss what we call Governance Issues for the ACPC and the Congress. This included a number of items, such as an ISTH speaker policy and policies governing the way the ACPC functions. There are about a half dozen of these policies that we have compiled together. This is only the second year of the ACPC, so much of this work will dictate how the group functions in the future.
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The ACPC and Theme Leaders at our planning meeting in September 2024.
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The other two days included the Theme Leaders, and together we focused on planning the Plenary and State-of-the-Art sessions—an enjoyable but complicated process. We have now settled on all of the sessions and speaker invitations, which will be going out later this month. I am excited to share the sessions we chose later this year. We are also planning several Special Sessions for the first time.
ACPC leaders look back on their first ISTH Congress memories
Now, as promised, here are thoughts from three ACPC members sharing their experiences at their first ISTH Congress:
Walter Ageno, M.D., (ACPC Vice Chair)
I attended my first ISTH Congress in Florence, Italy, in 1997. For those who know me, this may sound quite obvious. I am Italian and I did my training in Pavia and in Varese, just about 300-350 kilometers (approximately 200 miles) north of Florence. Many Italians participated in this very successful Congress, chaired by Prof. Pier Mannuccio Mannucci.
However, at that time, I was completing my training in thrombosis and hemostasis at McMaster University in Canada. I was a research fellow and had no money to travel to Florence. In my mind, there was no chance I could go. Everyone else in Hamilton was planning to attend—all very excited to travel to beautiful Tuscany, and all eager to ask my suggestions for their stay in Italy.
As I have learned over more than 25 years afterward, this is one of the (many) unique aspects of our Society. Every single Congress is not only memorable for its scientific contents, but also for the opportunity to visit new countries and cultures, making each event unforgettable.
As for me going, it turns out I was wrong. I actually had one chance to go because my abstract was accepted for poster presentation and, most of all, I had a fantastic mentor— a great scientist and a great traveler, Prof. Graham Turpie. He helped me to find a flight to Europe (I first ended up in Switzerland to give a talk at a local meeting on his behalf, and then I reached Florence), a hotel room and supported my registration.
There I was, in Florence, in a congress center built in 1534 (Fortezza da Basso) by the Medici family, as a Canadian delegate, presenting at the ISTH Congress my very first poster on a computer-based dosing program to monitor anticoagulant therapy, while meeting young colleagues from all over the world during the session. Two years later, I gave my first oral presentation in Washington, D.C… but this is another story.
Aaron Iding, M.D., (ACPC Early Career Committee Member)
My first ISTH Congress was in London in 2021. It was also the first international meeting that I attended and being able to travel there by train only added to my excitement. I remember being awed by seeing all the faces behind the science I’d read over the years.
Navigating the large venue with so many parallel sessions was daunting at first, and I was happy to find some rest in the Early Career Lounge, where I met many people with similar experiences. Soon I started to become more confident about which talks I wanted to attend and felt inspired by various studies in related fields.
Being allowed to speak in a session dedicated to my own research topic, and getting questions from leaders in the field, was a definite motivational boost. Talking to some of them afterward made me feel accepted as part of their scientific community. As soon as I returned home, I got back to work to ensure I had something to present at the next year’s Congress!
Guy Young, M.D., (ACPC Chair)
My first ISTH meeting was in Birmingham, United Kingdom, in 2003. The first thing that comes to mind was the heat! Those who were there will likely remember that it was more or less the hottest week in the U.K. in decades. The lack of air conditioning in my hotel room on New Street didn’t help.
Nevertheless, it was a truly awe-inspiring experience to see luminaries, whose papers I had read (as Aaron Iding said above) live and in person talking about their research. It truly felt almost like seeing my musical heroes whose music I had listened to repeatedly (Peter Gabriel, U2, Eric Clapton, among others) live in concert for the first time. Almost!
I also went to the Scientific and Standardization Committee (SSC) sessions and other small group meetings, which led me to want to get more involved in ISTH, and well…I certainly have fulfilled that ambition, especially with being ACPC Chair for 2025.
This role is an incredible honor for me, and I would argue the most humbling moment of my career. So, my message to the junior people reading this: Get involved in the ISTH—there are many, many ways to do this. The future ISTH 2040 ACPC Chair is one of you!
ISTH pop quiz:
1. Walter Ageno mentioned in his ISTH experience that he is Italian and his first ISTH Congress actually began with a talk in Switzerland. In addition, he now works in Switzerland, which got me thinking about Switzerland and languages. How many official languages does Switzerland have?
a) 2
b) 3
c) 4
d) 5
2. I mentioned some of my favorite musicians, Eric Clapton being one of them. Which of the following bands did NOT include Eric Clapton?
a) Cream
b) Blind Faith
c) Traffic
d) Derek and the Dominos
3. We are nearing Election Day in the U.S. What makes the District of Columbia unique with respect to Federal Elections?
a) Residents of the District of Columbia cannot vote for President.
b) Residents of the District of Columbia only vote for their local district government.
c) Residents of the District of Columbia choose to vote in either Maryland or Virginia since the District is not a state.
d) Residents of the District of Columbia vote for President but do not vote for the House of Representatives or the Senate.
Answer key:
1. C: Switzerland has 4 official languages: German, French, Italian and Romansh.
2. C: Traffic. Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood were in Blind Faith, but only Steve Winwood was in Traffic.
3. D. Residents of the District of Columbia vote for President but do not vote for the House of Representatives or the Senate. When you come to Washington, D.C., if you look at the license plates of the cars, below the plate number is the phrase “Taxation without Representation.” This was one of the founding principles of the U.S. Revolution and yet today the residents of the District are not represented in Congress, though they do pay federal income tax.
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