Dear Colleagues,

I am looking forward to welcoming everyone virtually to the ISDE’s 2021 World Congress. Whilst many of us were looking forward to meeting face to face in Toronto in August, the ongoing global pandemic means that we must now make the most of the unique opportunities that a virtual platform offers. The Congress organising committee have worked hard and has diversified the program, and significantly expanded the number and breadth of the Faculty who will now be contributing to the program.

Instead of the ISDE’s traditional 2 ½ day program, we will now be delivering 3 streams of concurrent content for 4 hours across each of 4 days. Our live stream will be scheduled to commence at different times across each of the 4 days. We are confident that all disciplines will find something of interest at a convenient time for at least some of the days.

In addition to essential updates addressing benign disease and cancer, additional sessions will address the impact of COVID-19 on esophageal disease management, and also cover issues pertinent to resource constrained environments in low and middle income countries. Free papers have not been forgotten, with the best abstracts addressing the latest research outcomes now selected for plenary free paper sessions, and other abstracts will be available to stream on demand.

I know that the world has many different time zones, and that for some of you sessions might be scheduled for an inconvenient time. I know this because I live on the other side of the world in Australia! However, this will not be a problem! Beyond the initial live stream, all sessions will available for streaming for 12 months to all registrants, so everyone can access all of the content at a time that suits them. For the first time, you won’t have to worry about which concurrent session to attend. You won’t miss anything – you can see it all!

On behalf of the ISDE I am looking forward to joining with you virtually in September!

Sincerely,



Professor David Watson
ISDE President