Dear Friends and Colleagues,
I look forward to welcoming you in Vienna, one of the world's most beautiful cities: a city with a magnificent past and a dynamic, fascinating present.
No one should miss the chance to stroll through the wonderful city centre, with its enchanting mixture of grand palaces, romantic narrow winding alleyways, classic cafes and smart shopping.
A visit to Empress Sisi's palace, seeing the house where Mozart wrote his music or getting a spectacular view of the city from the Prater wheel are only a few highlights.
But Vienna cannot be regarded as a museum living in the past. Consultancy Mercer, in its 2015 report to help multinational companies assess pay for employees living abroad, said Vienna has the highest quality of living in the world and should be a leading choice as a business location.
Vienna is a vibrant economic centre and one of Europe's most prosperous cities. It is a gateway to east Europe and around 300 international companies have their eastern European headquarters in the city.
The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is one of a series of major organisations with their headquarters in the city, underlining Vienna's global importance. Information technology is a major sector and a huge employer. Manufacturing, banking, tourism and congresses round off a thriving economy.
EuSEM's hosts in Vienna are the emergency medicine societies of three nations: Germany, Austria and Switzerland. These three nations share a single goal of introducing the emergency medicine specialty in their countries. I expect our congress will provide specialty knowledge and training which will generate a step forward in this goal.
EuSEM's scientific congress committee and congress organisers have created an impressive programme covering a range of key medical, organisational and management themes in emergency medicine. I am convinced that this congress offers the opportunity to gain knowledge not available elsewhere: take this chance and join us in Vienna.
Warm regards
Barbara Hogan
President,
European Society for Emergency Medicine (EuSEM)
Program