Annual Report 2014

Dear Members and Friends of the Collegium,

With his striking sense of wording, the British historian Steven Runciman describes the Fall of Constantinople, in 1453, as a tragedy for the Greek people and, at the same time, a new start for the Ottoman Empire. By hosting the 61th CORLAS meeting at the edge of the Marmora Sea, close to the Bosphorus entrance, President Metin Önerci enabled some 225 members, guests and accompanying persons to realize the dual meaning of this middle-age crucial event. Behind the long murals that had contributed to its fame, the capital of the fifteenth-century Byzantine Empire was in a weaker position than it seemed at first sight. While economical power and political influence of Byzantium had inexorably been declining over the previous decades, the Turkish army had become the strongest armada of this part of the world, both in terms of infantry, cavalry, artillery and, above all, organization of its components. This remarkable military development was made possible by the talent of rulers such as Osman, Orhan, Murad (I and II) and Mehmet II. The Ottoman sultanate’s final victory was accelerated by divisions in Christendom. The reasons for disagreement were, first, religious as a result of the long-lasting theological conflict between Western (Rome) and Eastern (Constantinople) Church, the Vatican being even more reluctant to bring military support to a community that refused its leadership. There were also other sources of limited cooperation between Western forces, such as struggle for influence between occidental monarchs and trade rivalry between Genoese and Venetian states, among others.

The Corlas Board met on Saturday 23 August 2014 at Polat Renaissance hotel, the venue of the conference. The proposals made by the Board to the General Assembly will be described in the section devoted to Business meeting. For the time being, the composition of the Board throughout the whole conference is recalled: Metin Önerci (President), Orhan Ozturan (Vice-President), René Dauman (General Secretary), Reidar Grénman (Treasurer), Ashley Wackym (President-Elect and Second Secretary), Wolfgang Arnold (Counsellor), Yasuo Hisa (Counsellor), Hamlet Suarez (Counsellor), and Matti Anniko (Editor to the Acta, the reference review for the conference-related manuscripts). The Credentials committee consisting of Allen Ryan (USA, President), René Leemans (The Netherlands) and Patrice Tran Ba Huy (at the end of his last term, France) joined the Board in its second part.

+ Corlas Annual Report 2014

Meeting 2015 – San Francisco

Wackym_Ashley

Dear Friends and Colleagues:

It is with great excitement that I welcome you on behalf of the entire US Group to San Francisco. We are planning an extraordinary meeting and experience.

The Palace Hotel will be the meeting venue. It is a beautiful and classic European-style hotel. We were able to negotiate an extremely low rate of $229 per night and all meeting activities will be within the hotel. The website for the meeting is now open (www.collegium2015.com). The meeting room and the exhibit area are contiguous and spacious.

Details regarding the Family Tour and Postcongress Tour are still being finalized, but rest assured there will be ample opportunity for the quality interactions that make the Collegium such a special and unique society.

While the registration rate is higher than has been the case in recent years, the experiences will be phenomenal. The Opening Reception will be held in the Garden Court of the Palace Hotel. The Cultural Evening will be held at the Legion of Honor. The Members Dinner will be held in the African Hall within the California Academy of Sciences and the Accompanying Persons’ Dinner will be held in the Conservatory of Flowers. Finally, the Gala Dinner will be held in the iconic and spectacular San Francisco City Hall. Please follow the links below for more information.

The abstract submission will open on 5 January 2015 and we encourage a robust submission process so that an outstanding program will be created. We are planning some special guest speakers that will further strengthen the program and scientific exchange that make our meetings so special.

I would also like to thank and acknowledge the advice and help that René Dauman, other Board Members and Past-Presidents have provided to us in the planning stages. I am especially grateful to my wife Jeremy who has worked very hard in planning and identifying venues, as well as helping us assess the quality of the experiences that we will have. Finally, Herman Jenkins, Bert O’Malley, Jay Rubinstein, Judy Dubno, Cherie Ann Nathan, Rick Friedman, Brad Welling, Rick Pillsbury, Lloyd Minor and Anil Lalwani have been invaluable in the planning process and helping secure the corporate support that will help assure an amazing meeting at a low cost relative to the expenses associated with the meeting.

Thank you.

With warmest regards,

Ashley


P. Ashley Wackym, MD

President

 

Garden Court of the Palace Hotel.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:2008-0602-SF-PalaceHotel.jpg
http://www.sfpalace.com/gallery

Legion of Honor
http://www.ggcatering.com/venues/Legion_of_Honor

California Academy of Sciences / African Hall
http://www.ggcatering.com/venues/California_Academy_of_Sciences http://www.calacademy.org/academy/exhibits/aquarium/
https://www.calacademy.org/exhibits/academy_tour/naturalhistory/index.html

Conservatory of Flowers
http://www.ggcatering.com/venues/Conservatory_of_Flowers http://www.conservatoryofflowers.org/events/faq

San Francisco City Hall
http://sfgsa.org/index.aspx?page=1117
http://www.ggcatering.com/venues/sf_city_hall

Annual meeting 2014

Dear Distinguished Members of Collegium,
Metin Önerci
The Turkish members of the Collegium Oto-Rhino-Laryngologicum Amicitiae Sacrum are pleased to invite you to the annual meeting of 2014 which will be held in Istanbul, August 24-28, 2014.

The Conference Center is at the Polat Renaissance Hotel, situated in the exclusive area of Istanbul near the sea, which is close to the Istanbul Atatürk Airport. The hotel gives free shuttle service from the airport, however if you want to take a taxi, it does not cost much. It is a five star hotel and we have reserved rooms for CORLAS members. The purpose is to bring the members to the same hotel so they could spend more time together and learn to know each other and their families better. The cost for the room per night will be around 200 Euros.

However, we will organise another hotel (almost half price) for our members who would like to stay at a hotel with more reasonable prices. Although this hotel will be a comfortable one as well(4 star) with free shuttle service to the Congress Venue, the drive may last between 15-30 minutes, due to heavy traffic in Istanbul. For this reason we will arrange accomodation in these hotels on demand.

To avoid the heavy traffic of Istanbul our social program will use boat transports. The family tour on Sunday will be a boat tour to the Princess Island in daylight by watching the scenery of Istanbul and Bosphourus during boat cruise. After having lunch on this island we will have either a walking tour or a tour on horse carriages. Besides business dinner and Gala dinner we will make a Bosphorous cruise at night with dinner on board. This is a unique opportunity, to see both the Asian and European continents, historical buildings and bridges at night with fascinating illumination.

Several daily(or half day) tours have been organized for our members, guests and accompanying persons. You will find these tours on the website. The post-Congress tour will be made to Cappadocia in Central Anatolia, a unique area from the time of early christianity with a network of underground cities.

With the hope of being together in this meeting, I remain

On behalf of the Turkish Members of CORLAS

Metin ONERCI
PRESIDENT

Official Website