M.I.R.A.

Dear Colleague,

It gives me great pleasure to invite you to the 4th Annual Minimally Invasive Robotic Association (MIRA) Meeting to be held at Le Chateau Frontenac, Quebec City, Canada, on January 28th - February 1st, 2009.

MIRA represents a growing worldwide fraternity of minimally invasive surgeons using the surgical robot in their respective fields. Membership of the Association has steadily grown over the last four years and we have seen an increased number of attendances at our International congresses over the last three years. We hope Quebec City will be the largest MIRA congress to date and we have prepared an exciting and full program to satisfy all surgeons involved in robotic surgery.

We have created a state of the art program which will include a two-hour plenary session each day as well as a number of breakout research and video sessions within various fields of general surgery, gynecology, urology, and ENT surgery. Presenters from around the globe will discuss techniques, ideas and results with the use of robotic surgery in their fields. The purpose of the meeting is to cover clinically important indications of robotic surgery for clinicians, residents and fellows.

An entire plenary session has also been dedicated to emerging technologies and research in robotic surgery, in particular, in the field of NOTES surgery as well as surgeon-robot interface.

Quebec City is an enchanting city with both European and North American flavours and the MIRA meeting will be held during the Quebec City Winter Carnival. There is a great deal of things to see and to do at that time of year and we hope that you and your family can come and enjoy a real Canadian winter. Please be sure to book your hotel early, as it is the most popular time of year for tourists and Le Chateau Frontenac is the most popular and grand hotel in Quebec City. I look forward to seeing you all in Quebec City.

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Dear Colleague;

MIRA, the international Minimally Invasive Robotics Association, strives to facilitate the exchange of information between clinicians and scientists interested in surgical telerobotics and robotics. Our membership includes Urologists, Cardiac surgeons, Thoracic surgeons, Gynecologists, General Surgeons, Colon & Rectal Surgeons, Otolaryngologists, and Computer Scientists. In the past, MIRA has sponsored multi-disciplinary sessions in conjunction with annual meetings sponsored by the American College of Surgeons, SAGES (Society of American Gastrointestinal Endoscopic Surgeons), EAES (European Association of Endoscopic Surgeons), SMIT (Society for Medical Innovation & Technology) and the SLS (Society of Laparoendoscopic Surgeons).

MIRA's 1st International Congress assembled in Innsbruck, Austria in December, 2005. The multi-specialty program attracted nearly 300 registrants and can be downloaded at www.MIRA2005.at. The abstracts were recently published in Surgical Laparoscopy, Endoscopy & Percutaneous Techniques (www.surgical-laparoscopy.com). Applications for membership in MIRA can be downloaded at www.teleroboticsurgeons.com.

MIRA's 2nd International Congress will convene in New York, New York between January 18th and 20th, 2007. The program will devote two days to open paper presentations to maximize the exchange of new information. Live demonstrations of Urologic, Cardiac, Thoracic, Gynecologic and Gastrointestinal telerobotic procedures will be telecast to the Congress. Saturday morning will offer specialty break out sessions. Experts will debate the utility of telerobotic techniques versus traditional laparoscopy. Abstracts are due October 31st, 2006 and can be submitted electronically at www.MIRA2007.com. The Preliminary Program, Registration and hotel information are also available at www.MIRA2007.com. The Union League Club (www.UnionLeagueClub.org) will serve as the venue and offers a convenient mid-town location at Park Avenue & East 37th Street in Manhattan.

Come join us in New York in January, 2007!

Garth H. Ballantyne, M.D., President, MIRA
Arnold Byer, M.D., Executive Director, MIRA