Thank you!

Dear members of the GTH and NVTH, dear colleagues, physicians, investigators and students in the field of haemostaseology,

With great pleasure we, on behalf of the organising committee and our societies, invite you to attend the 54th Congress of the „Gesellschaft für Thrombose- und Hämostaseforschung“  (GTH) which is also a meeting of “Nederlandse Vereniging voor Trombose en Hemostase” (NVTH). For the first time the "GTH 2010" is the joint meeting of these two sister societies.  Our joint meeting scheduled for February 24 -27, 2010, will take place in the Franconian capital of Nürnberg which is near to the university town of Würzburg. Nearly 160 years ago, in 1849/1850, five highly talented professors of Würzburg University founded the “Societas Physico-Medica” which initiated an enduring spirit of interdisciplinary collaboration between basic and clinical scientists. One member of this academic society, Röntgen, later discovered the X-rays. Another founding member (see below), Rudolf Virchow, not only established the concept of molecular and cellular pathology but was one of the founding fathers of the field thrombosis and hemostasis.  Other members of this academic society in Würzburg included a biochemist, a pharmacologist, a clinical chemist and a clinician (see below). Such interdisciplinary collaboration is also the true hallmark of the field of thrombosis and hemostasis which nowadays covers many fields of basic and clinical sciences. In the tradition of this interdisciplinary collaboration,  and in the tradition of former GTH and NVTH meetings, we now plan the first joint meeting of the GTH and NVTH for 2010. We truly hope that our meeting and its program with plenary lectures, educational sessions, scientific symposia, free communications and posters will attract many of our GTH / NVTH members but also scientists, clinicians and students from other neighbouring European countries. Although facilities in Würzburg are unfortunately too small to accommodate such a prominent meeting, we are very pleased to organize this congress in Nürnberg which offers a wide spectrum of historical, modern and cosmopolitan sights and opportunities. We are also optimistic that Virchow’s spirit of interdisciplinary interaction can be transfered from the lower Franconian town Würzburg to the Franconian-Bavarian metropolis Nürnberg. With our congress motto “Basic and clinical research for our patients of all ages and in all situations” and our envisioned program,  we hope to stimulate both academic and social interactions.          

We hope to welcome you, your colleagues and accompanying persons, to Nürnberg in February 2010.