President's Welcome
Ari Leppäniemi, Finland
Dear Colleagues,
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It is my great honor and pleasure to take over the presidency of ISS-SIC for the next two years. I am humbled by the confidence bestowed on me by the membership and it is with great humility that I resume the responsibilities of your president.
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I want to thank the previous president, now immediate past president Cheng-Har Yip for not just showing exceptional leadership qualities during her term, but also in organizing one of the most successful congresses of this organization in Kuala Lumpur past August. John Hunter as president before Dr. Yip paved the way for this organization to open up to other medical professionals and we will continue his work in that area. Ken Boffard as Secretary General has guided the society with great skill maintaining the integrity and mission in clear view without sacrificing the economic realities, with great help from our treasurer Jerry Doherty, facing us in the current global economic situation.
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The ISS-SIC office lead by Mike Iliopoulos has kept the society going and I am also very grateful for the warm welcome received by the office staff when taking over my responsibilities as the new president. I want to express my special good wishes to Chris Storz, who is leaving the office after so many years to a well-deserved retirement. Chris and I go back many years and I remember his incredible routine and diplomatic skills when preparing the scientific content of the International Surgical Week in Helsinki in 2013. And even before that when I was the president of IATSIC, Chris and the that time administrator Viktor Bertschi were always available when things got difficult. Moreover, when the administration of the Definitive Surgery for Trauma Course (DSTC) of IATSIC expanded, Chris took over the administration of the courses and was instrumental to get us to a state of organization that was professional and reliable, whether the question was following the rules of animal ethics or other administrative matters. Thank you, Chris!
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ISS-SIC is facing many challenges in the coming years. The loss of two integrated societies, IAES and ASAP will inevitably affect our future profile. However, it is my sincere hope that we can continue to work with IAES in the future as a participating society bringing in a program highlighting endocrine surgical challenges of the global south to our next meeting. Similarly, I hope that the contribution of our anesthesiologist colleagues continues in the future, and especially in supporting our society in promoting the needs of the developing countries in providing surgical, anesthesiologic, obstetric and emergency care in resource challenged environments.
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I heartily welcome our newest integrated society, IASSS, the representative of medical students and other young professionals interested in surgery, to our society. I look very much forward to work with IASSS in making surgery as an attractive alternative of a career in medicine. I am especially proud to learn that so many IASSS members come from developing countries, and I hope to convey to all of them, that my door is always open for IASSS in promoting its goals.
I also want to congratulate Sherry Wren as the new Editor-in-Chief of our journal, the World Journal of Surgery. I am convinced that with her commitment, expertise, strong work ethic and good knowledge of the publishing world, she together with the associate editors, the editorial office, and our new published Wiley will lead WJS to new dimensions in becoming truly the journal for the surgeons of the world, wherever they work.
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A president cannot achieve much in two years if working alone. But with the help of the Executive Committee and the Council of the ISS-SIC, the ISS-SIC office, national delegates and chapters, integrated and participating societies and other affiliated societies and members, I am convinced that we can make a difference. In today’s world of unjust and cruel wars and armed conflicts, people jailed without proper trials for expressing their political views, the real threat posed by climate change and other environmental challenges already present and getting rapidly worse without decisive actions to limit the use of fossil fuels globally, the increasing economic inequality and burden of debt affecting most of the global south, ISS-SIC must work together with other global organizations such as the World Health Organization, G4 Alliance, the International Committee of the Red Cross, Greenpeace, Amnesty International, Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change and many other organizations sharing our values and commitments to make our planet a safer, more just and healthy place to live and raise future generations. As surgeons, we have the authority and goodwill among large sections of populations worldwide, and we should use that. A dream is the first step to develop a plan, and no dream is too big when facing existential challenges. Please join me in making this world a little better.
Ari K. Leppäniemi
President ISS/SIC
President International Surgical Week ISW 2026
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Profile Ari Leppäniemi
Dr Ari Leppäniemi, MD, PhD, FACS (Hon.), FISS, DMCC, Professor h.c., retired Chief of Emergency Surgery and Surgical Critical Care at the Helsinki University Hospital Meilahti in Helsinki, Finland
President, International Society of Surgery
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Ari Leppäniemi (MD, PhD, FACS (Hon.), FISS, DMCC, Professor h.c.) is the retired Chief of Emergency Surgery and Surgical Critical Care at the Helsinki University Hospital Meilahti in Helsinki, Finland where he served with some breaks due to part of his residency training and humanitarian missions from 1981 onwards. He is also the Adjunct Professor of Surgery at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, USA.
His background training includes General and Gastroenterological Surgery with subsequent training and diplomas in Prehospital Medicine, Emergency Medicine, Disaster Medicine and International Health Care. He has worked as a Field Surgeon for the International Red Cross for the civil wars of Cambodia, Sudan and Afghanistan, and as a Volunteer Surgeon for the United Nations Development Programme in Tuvalu and as Senior House Officer for the Department of Community Medicine in Zaria, Nigeria. He led the Finnish Medical Evacuation Teams for the Asian tsunami disaster, for the Malaga bus disaster and Cairo Arab Spring unrest.
Ari Leppäniemi is the Past-President of the Finnish Society of Surgery, Past-President of the International Association for Trauma Surgery and Intensive Care (IATSIC), Past Head of the DSTC Subcommittee of IATSIC, Vice-President of the World Society of Emergency Surgery (WSES), Past Vice-President of the Panamerican Trauma Society (SPT), Past-President of the European Society for Trauma and Emergency Surgery (ESTES), Past-President of the European Association for Trauma and Emergency Surgery (EATES), Past-Chair of the Emergency Surgery Section of the European Society for Trauma and Emergency Surgery (ESTES), Past-President of the Ambroise Pare International Military Surgery Forum (APIMSF), Past-Head of the Trauma Section of the Scandinavian Surgical Society, Past-Head of the Scandinavian Networking Group of Trauma and Emergency Management (Scantem), Past-President of the Finnish Association of General Surgery, and President of the International Society of Surgery (ISS/SIC).
He is an Honorary Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, American Surgical Association, European Society for Trauma and Emergency, Finnish Surgical Society, Finnish Trauma Association, Finnish Society for Digestive Surgery, El Colegio de Especialistas en Cirugia de Jalisco, Mexico, and Paraguayan Trauma Society, a corresponding member of the Austrian Trauma Society, German Trauma Society and Argentinian Academy of Surgery, and a Fellow of the International Society of Surgery. He has given more than 20 honorary and keynote lectures including the Master Surgeon lecture of the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma in 2017, the Faltin lecture of the Finnish Surgical Society in 2017, and the Sten Lennquist lecture of the European Society of Trauma and Emergency Surgery in 2019.
He has won several medals and awards including the Finnish Lion Knight Medal 1st Class, Finnish Red Cross Award, Ben Eiseman Professorship in Surgery Award, Commendable Service Medal from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, USA, NASA Johnson Space Center Group Achievement Award, 24th Michael E. DeBakey International Military Surgeons Award, Finnish Civil Protection Medal I Class, Orazio Campione Prize of the World Society of Emergency Surgery, The Finnish Police Cross for Distinguished Service, Finnish Military Achievement Medal, and the Martti I. Turunen Memorial Medal. In 2014 he was appointed as Surgeon of the Year by the Finnish Surgical Society.
He has served as the Editor-in-Chief of the Scandinavian Journal of Surgery, Editor of the European Journal of Trauma and Emergency Surgery, and Associate Editor of the World Journal of Surgery, World Journal of Emergency Surgery, and the Scandinavian Journal of Trauma, Resuscitation & Emergency Medicine, and he is a member of the Editorial Board of 15 other journals. He has published more than 300 original articles, more than 350 review articles, book chapters and dissertations, and more than 100 editorials, letters, commentaries and other articles He has given about 850 presentations and abstracts in 60 countries worldwide. He has supervised six doctoral theses and has served as an opponent for 15, including theses in Sweden, Norway, Estonia, Belgium and Spain. He has performed 21 academic evaluations for academic positions, and worked as an advisor for Health authorities in Sweden, Norway and Hong Kong, and for the Nonlethal weapons program of the Finnish Police Technical Center, and NASA Medical Operations and Manned Space Flight Support program
His research interests include abdominal trauma, peritonitis, pancreatitis, abdominal compartment syndrome, open abdomen, and complex reoperative and abdominal wall surgery.
His hobbies include fishing, badminton, political and historical literature, movies and jazz.