Press ESC FactsheetThe European Stroke Conference was founded in 1990 by M.G. Hennerici (Germany) and J. Bogousslavsky (Switzerland). The first meeting was held in Düsseldorf and was attended by about 500 people – and proved to be a great success. At that time only the North American conference existed for clinical researchers and basic scientists to present data from stroke research. The prospect to establish another European stroke meeting was highly challenging. After biannual meetings, 1992 in Lausanne and 1994 in Stockholm and increasing attendance, however, the ESC became an annual, international, well-received and continuously growing stroke conference. This successful meeting took place in the following European cities from 1990 - 2010:
I. Düsseldorf, Germany 1990 II.
Lausanne, Switzerland 1992 III.
Stockholm, Sweden 1994 IV.
Bordeaux, France 1995 V. Munich,
Germany 1996 VI.
Amsterdam, The Netherlands 1997 VII.
Edinburgh, United Kingdom 1998 VIII.
Venice, Italy 1999 IX.
Vienna, Austria 2000 X. Lisbon,
Portugal 2001 XI.
Geneva, Switzerland 2002
XII. Valencia, Spain, 21-24 May 2003XIII.
Mannheim-Heidelberg, Germany, 12-15 May 2004XIV.
Bologna, Italy, 25-28 May 2005XV.Brussels,
Belguim 16-19 May 2006XVI.
Glasgow, United Kingdom 29 May – 1 June 2007XVII.
Nice, France 13-16 May 2008XVIII.
Stockholm, Sweden 26-29 May 2009
XIX.
Barcelona, Spain 25 - 28 May 2010
XX.
Hamburg, Germany 24-27 May 2011
The last ESC held in Nice, in 2008, was attended by more than 3700 people from 82 countries, with more than 1000 abstracts submitted and a full four-day programme. Since 2007 the European Stroke Conference announces a stroke meeting for nurses – physiotherapists – speech and occupational therapists - study/monitoring assistants! Since 2005 the "Johann Jacob Wepfer Award" of the European Stroke Conference honors scientists for their outstanding scientific work in the field of cerebrovascular diseases and significant contributions to our knowledge about treatment of acute stroke. This award was dedicated to:
■Prof. J.-C. Baron, United Kingdom in 2005
■Prof. M. Kaste, Finland in 2006
■Prof. C. Warlow, United Kingdom in 2007
■Prof. M.G. Bousser, France in 2008
■Prof. JP Mohr, USA in 2009
Johann Jacob Wepfer (December 23, 1620 - January 26,1695) was a Swiss pathologist and pharmacologist who was a native of Schaffhausen. He studied medicine in Strasbourg, Basel and Padua, and in 1647 returned to Schaffhausen to practice medicine.Wepfer is remembered for his work concerning vascular anatomy of the brain, and the study of cerebrovascular disease. He was the first physician to hypothesize that the effects of a stroke were caused by bleeding in the brain. He also mentioned that these symptoms could be caused by a blockage of one of the main arteries that supply blood to the brain. From his postmortem studies, he provided information concerning the carotid and vertebral arteries that supply the brain with blood. in 1658 he published a classic treatise regarding strokes, titled Historiae apoplecticum.Six years before Willis he made a perfect description of the polygon of arteries at the bottom of the brain.
Wepfer also made important contributions in the fields of experimental pharmacology and toxicology. He performed pioneer research concerning the effects of toxic substances on the heart and blood's circulatory system. He performed important experiments concerning the toxicity of water hemlock, arsenic, monkshood, et al.
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Marion R. Hennerici