Bye Hamburg, hello Lisboa!

It’s almost sad, but the ESC 2011 in Hamburg has just ended. Although people gather in the hall and in front of the CCH building in the sunshine the conference has officially been closed – but not without a great thank you to local host Christian Gerloff AND not without an invitation from host-to-be José Ferro from Portugal! He presented the nect ESC-city Lisboa with a beautiful shortfilm and invited you warmly to this beautiful city in the south of Europe.
So thank you all for participating eagerly and making this conference as great as it was! Those three thank you, say goodbye and hope to see you 2012 in Portugal: ESC-”father” Michael Hennerici, this years host Chistian Gerloff and future host José Ferro.

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Genetics meets neurology and a lady gets a boat

Elisabeth Tournier-Lasserve travelled all the way from Paris to give an exciting ESC lecture on genetics in neurology and pointed to the future role of genetics in neurological diagnostics. She was warmly greeted by programme committee member Martin Brown and local ESC-host Christian Gerloff – and the latter had a very special present for her: a bottle-boat! Of course with the flags of Europe, Hamburg and France on it, so it was absolutely clear that the boat had to be present during the ESC-lecture – right in front of Elisabeth Tournier-Lasserve (Christian Gerloff even made space for it on the podium by getting ever present water bottles out of the way).

Congrats to the young investigator award winners!

The Winners have been announced! S. Hoffmann (Germany), R.L. Fulton (United Kingdom), D. Rodriguez-Luna (Spain), M.J.A. Luitse (The Netherlands), M.H.M. Vlak (The Netherlands) and M. Duering (Germany).
Congratulations to you all! Here a short glance at some of the winners with the promise of more to come!

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Time to relax – and a beautiful place, too!

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After watching the posters it’s time to relax, have lunch and sit – in the sun, as it happens in Hamburg! Question is only: where exactly? Since most of you surely discovered the nice places in “Planten un Blomen”-Park, here is another nice one: the terrace on the second floor is marvellous right now!

Staring at “walls”

The second poster session (blue poster session) has started and hundreds of people are easily floating through the isles, meeting and discussing. The atmosphere is great and relaxed, although the IS serious talk in front of many posters and of course there are always more questions to be asked – and answered by the poster-creator. So please do go up to the second floor and join in! Here are some impressions on what awaits you:

Of early birds and microphones

The ESC mornings are always busy, whether with chats among colleagues in the hall or up in the oral sessions and symposia – the “early birds” catch the microphone (to ask some questions) – or the colleague they have wanted to talk to for hours. What’s save to say is: it’s lively and the atmosphere is great! Here are some impressions from this morning! (Besides: Starring S.T. Engelter and B. Anders, amongst others)

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Yesterday around this time…

…the 20th ESC was officially opened and on stage appeared some very special guests to, well, amaze us with their talents in dancing and acting. With their choreography along to old American folk songs they gave the evening not only a taste of culture, but a special kind of magic.

Enjoy your ESC!

Whether in the closeby park “Planten un Blomen” or in one of the lounges of the industrial center – chatting with friends and colleagues is more than just something to pass time with during lectures, presentations and sessions! It’s those nice experiences – a chat, a laugh – beside the official programmes that give the ESC life. So by all means: relax, talk and have fun! Oh, we see you already are and have…

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And the winner is…

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…Wolf-Dieter Heiss! The Austrian-born scientist with so many talents was honored with the Wepfer Award of the ESC 2011 for outstanding achievements in stroke research and his lifework in the field of neurology. After a very personal laudation for Heiss, given by his former student Dr. Sobesky, the Program Committee Chairs José Ferro and Michael Hennerici bowed their heads (metaphorically as well as physically) before the celebrated scientist.

A warm & sunny welcome to the 20th ESC in Hamburg!

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The 20th European Stroke Conference in Hamburg, Germany has been officially opened! Yesterday local chair Prof. Christian Gerloff (University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf) welcomed over 2800 people in the Congress Center Hamburg (CCH) and introduced not only the conference, but also “his” beautiful city – which by the way has presented itself in the nicest of springweather (highly enjoyed by the participants of this esc as you see…).