ROBERT H. HAWES, MD
Professor of Medicine
Peter Cotton Endowed Chair
for Endoscopic Innovation

JACQUES VAN DAM, MD, PhD

It is with great pleasure that we invite you, on behalf of our organizing committee and outstanding national and international faculty, to attend EUS2008 to be held in the beautiful city of San Francisco on September 12- 13, 2008. This meeting has a rich tradition dating back to the first meeting held in Stockholm, Sweden in 1982. The meeting has evolved as technology has changed and improved along with the exponential growth of endosonographers around the world. Each meeting has taken on its own identity, but each has provided a valuable educational experience and advanced the practice of endosonography. For EUS2008, we have chosen to focus on curvilinear endosonography. We felt this would be a timely subject as there are many skilled endosonographers who are performing comprehensive radial EUS examinations but have not reached a level of proficiency in curvilinear endosonography. Similarly there are endosonographers performing curvilinear endoscopy that may wish to enhance their techniques of intervention such as EUS-guided FNA. Having a firm foundation in imaging and FNA with the curvilinear echoendoscope will be a prerequisite to tapping into the enormous potential for interventional EUS. The future environment, within gastrointestinal endoscopy, dictates that we be efficient in our practice. As a result of competition in the field of imaging and to meet anticipated efficiencies required in the practice of gastrointestinal endoscopy, curvilinear endosonography will likely become the dominant technology within the field of EUS. This is why we intend to focus this meeting on curvilinear endosonography. To meet our goals of a comprehensive review of curvilinear EUS, we have assembled the best faculty from around the world who will enthusiastically share their knowledge, wisdom and experience. We believe that by attending this symposium, you will gain invaluable information from this course that will have an immediate and significant impact on your endosonography practice. We sincerely hope that you will join us in September in San Francisco for EUS2008.