History of BAETS

Endocrine Surgical Associations – history

By the 1950s several surgeons were beginning to see and practise surgery of the endocrine system. Among the first was Oliver Cope in Boston.

In 1971 (25 – 29 January) an international course in endocrine surgery was organised at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School at Hammersmith by Richard Welbourn, Selwyn Taylor and their colleagues. The speakers included Ivan Johnston (Newcastle) and Orlo Clark (San Francisco), who was then working at Hammersmith.

IAES

In 1979 Peter Heimann, a Swedish surgeon who was Professor of Surgery at the University of Bergen, wrote to colleagues and proposed the formation of an

‘International Association of Endocrine Surgeons’ (IAES). Peter Heimann died from Gastric cancer in March 1979, but the IAES was formed in September of that year during the meeting of the International Society of Surgery in San Francisco. Selwyn Taylor was elected President and Orlo Clark secretary.

BAES

During this meeting Richard Welbourn and Ivan Johnston conceived the idea of forming a British Society of Endocrine Surgeons. On 25^th March 1980 they arranged an informal one-day meeting on endocrine surgery at Hammersmith hospital. Richard Welbourn was elected Chairman, Ivan Johnston Secretary. The British committee met and proposed the formation of an ‘Endocrine Surgical Group’.

AAES

Also in 1980 an American Association of Endocrine Surgeons was formed with Norman Thompson (Ann Arbor) as President.

1980  – Present

In 1981 at a meeting in Birmingham the Endocrine Surgical Group was formed. The meeting lasted a day and the highlight was a guest lecture by Per-Ola Granberg of the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, on ‘reoperations for primary hyperparathyroidism’. He and two distinguished senior British surgeons – Sewlyn Taylor and Hilary Wade – were elected to Honorary Membership.

Professor Welbourn proposed a Crest for the Group, depicting an endocrine gland or tumour, containing a steroid nucleus, a peptide chain and thyroid hormone molecules, with a scalpel superimposed. The Group, however, did not accept it and the Committee was asked to reconsider the matter. Mr Chris Pegg from Nottingham created the definitive design of the logo, which is also the template for the Presidential medal. This oval crest incorporates the pituitary, parathyroids, thyroid, pancreas, adrenals and testes.

In 1982 the Group met at St Bartholomew’s Hospital Medical School and changed its name to ‘British Endocrine Surgical Group’. In 1984 at a meeting at St Thomas’ Hospital Medical School, the name was once more changed to ‘British Association of

Endocrine Surgeons’, which reflected the prestige that the Society had achieved. In 1986 the Association was recognised by the Department of Health as the representative organisation of Endocrine Surgery. In 1994, the British Journal of Surgery prize for the best paper at the Scientific meeting was inaugurated. The award of £500 was shared by Mr GP Sadler and Mr G Asimakopoulos. In 2007 the members voted to change the name to ‘British Association of Endocrine and Thyroid Surgeons’ to emphasise that the Group is the professional body for thyroid surgeons, and thyroid surgery constitutes two-thirds of all endocrine surgery. The current membership is 266.

Venue of Annual Scientific meeting:

• Birmingham
• St Bartholomew’s Hospital, London
• John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford
• St Thomas’ Hospital, London
• The Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle-upon-Tyne
• The Royal College of Surgeons of England, London
• The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh,
• University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff
• Cite Hospitaliere, Lille
• The Royal London Hospital, London
• Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge
• The Kent and Canterbury Hospital, Canterbury
• The Bristol Royal Infirmary, Bristol
• The Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast
• Queens Medical Centre, Nottingham
• The Royal Liverpool Hospital, Liverpool
• Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, Aberdeen
• Northern General Hospital, Sheffield
• Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh,
• Millennium Meeting: London with AAES and Swedish AES (St Thomas’) and CHRU, Lille
• Derriford Hospital, Plymouth
• Palazzo dei Congressi, Pisa
• University of Leeds, Leeds
• Grand Hotel, Lund
• International Centre for Life, Newcastle upon Tyne
• St Anne’s College, Oxford
• Royal Marsden Hospital, London
• Hemicycle de la Communaute Urbaine, Marseille
• St Thomas’ Hospital, London
• Birmingham (joint meeting with BAHNO)
• Le Chateau du Clos de la Ribaudiere, Poitiers
• Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff
• Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome
• Liverpool Town Hall, Liverpool
• Phyllis Court Club, Henley-upon-Thames
• Hilton Hotel, Berlin
• The Assembly Rooms, Belfast
• TIC, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow
• Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Campus de la Ciutadella, Barcelona
• Leeds 2021
• Bournemouth International Centre, Bournemouth: 2022
• Eugenides Foundation, Athens, Greece: 2023
• Royal Geographic Society, London 2024

Officers of the Association

Presidents

Honorary secretary/treasurer

Secretary