Dear ISBI Members and Friends,
It has been a tumultuous year for many in our international burn community as we confront a rapidly changing and often violent world. I hope that we can take comfort in our roles as healers and know that we are daily striving to make our corner of the world better for our burn survivors, their families and their communities. Thank you for your continued hope and optimism.
The ISBI continues to grow and live our mission “To reduce the global burden of burns and improve burn care,” We had a very successful Congress in Birmingham with 1,107 attendees which makes it the 3rd largest ISBI meeting of all time. During this Congress we introduced polling in all the symposia to improve audience participation which found a very receptive audience. We will continue to find ways to make the Congresses more interactive and educational.
We hope many of you can join us for our planned Regional ISBI meeting in Thessaloniki, Greece on December 3-4, 2025. Our regional hosts, Dr Sophia Papadopoulou & Athena Lavrentieva, are putting together an exciting program around the theme of “Improving the Quality of Burn Care from Admission to Discharge and Beyond.” Please look for information on the meeting on the ISBI website coming in March and plan to attend.
The planned Congress in Chile in October 2026 is a must event. The ISBI team and the local hosts – Ricardo Roa, Carlos Segovia Donoso and Mari Dora Espinosa have been hard at work on making this another great ISBI Congress. We will again be offering financial assistance for our members to attend the meeting but you will need to be a member for 2 years to qualify so keep up your membership. If you are not yet a member apply for membership NOW in 2025 so that we can help you attend 2026 Congress in Chile!
The ISBI Burn Center Assessment Program has been launched. We have 4 very active workgroups: Recommendations, PRQ, Logistics, and Selection. We received 8 applications from 3 continents for this first year of the program when we will be sending one team on an 8-10 day Burn Center Assessment Trip. We will be announcing the burn centers we will be visiting very soon. We will not be able to visit every center that applies but for the 2026 cycle we will have 2 teams travelling and visiting centers. The next application cycle for this program opens 1 August 2025 with a deadline of 1 November 2025.
Finally, I would like to call your attention to the ISBI travel scholarships that are open to all members of the burn team that have been active members of the ISBI for 2 years. These 2 annual scholarships are meant to improve international understanding of burn injury and to build international relationships in our burn community. These scholarships have been under utilized. Let’s break that trend! I would like to challenge the ISBI membership to apply for this scholarship – I want to see more than 10 applications submitted this year. The deadline is 31 March 2025. This is your society and your money at work – take advantage of it.
I want to wish you all a Happy New Year!
Sincerely,
David Harrington, MD
ISBI President