It is a tradition for the current President of the Euro-pean Tissue Repair Society to contribute an editorial toWoundRepair andRegeneration . This should allowhimor her to draw attention to some majorissues that he orshe thinks should be addressed during the next year .There are certainly some goals which arecommon to thethinking ofall Presidents, like the wish for a flourishingSociety, for a successful yearly meeting, and for manyinteresting papers to be contributed to the Journal. Onthe other hand, each President will have individualwishes which might differ from onePresident to the next .Therefore, I am glad to have the opportunity to expresshere what I personally consider important.

The European Tissue Repair Society should encom-pass abroad range ofinterests and provide a roof for alltopics and medical disciplines related to tissue repairwhich should include nerve, skin, bone, etc.

One of the prerequisites for a successful Society isresearch and discussion at a high scientific level. Thiscan only be warranted by the continuous andclose inter-action between basic scientists andclinicians, such thatthe clinical aspect should benefit from the scientific de-velopments and vice versa. These two groups have for-tunately merged closer than at the time when I was astudent in medical school, but this merging process couldbe further intensified . Quite a few universities and theEuropean Community have launched programs with ex-actly this aim.

Particularly in the field oftissue repair, industry hasmade valuable scientific contributions, and I hope thatthis will progress and extend further. Decisions on ac-ceptance of manuscripts or on meeting programs based onscientific quality should remain aprivilege of the Society.It is time for our Society to better define credentials that

WOUND REPREG 1997,5:135 .Copyright@ 1997 by The Wound Healing Society.7067-1927/97 $5.00 + 36/8/82181

Editorial

are expressed in the meetings it sponsors and in the Jour-nal that represents its personality. We should aimat hav-ing few conferences of high standards rather than moremeetings of low quality. In an analogous way, it is myfeeling that a few high quality publications will serveourJournal much better than numerous papers oflowerquality. The Societywas founded to provide aforum forscientific work in tissue repair . Theneeded financial con-tributions of industry should only help reach this goal .

One of the prime goals of the European Tissue Re-pair Society should be the constant effort to stimulateyounginvestigators and raise their enthusiasm forjoin-ing the Society and become active in working in the fieldoftissue repair . Beside the need for improved public rela-tion campaigns, this should not be too difficult, as manyyoung scientists involved in repair programs have stronginterests in embryonic development or control of cellulargrowth . It is our responsibility to contact them and to per-suade them that identical mechanisms are involved inwound healing and tissue repair. The largest part of thefinancial andintellectual capacity of the Society should bedirected to support this approach to tissue repair .

It is my feeling that the Society has matured sinceits establishment, taking these points ofconcern into con-sideration . Our next annual meeting will hopefully re-flect that we are able to recruit such interested younginvestigators who should benefit from the Society andprovide high quality work. The duty of the future will beto keep and develop this ideal.

I am looking forward to the conference and to meet-ing you in Cologne.

Prof. Dr. med. Thomas KriegPresident, 1996-1997

The European Tissue Repair Society

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