Editorial: rubies for ESOT!

Forty years ago, on April 28th, 1982, ESOT was founded in Zürich, Switzerland by an assembly of 14 European transplant surgeons, to satisfy the “need for a society ... which would represent the aims and needs of transplantation surgery and surgeons in Europe” (1). The founders had the wisdom to suggest that all scholars actively involved in organ transplantation should be included in such an organization rather than transplant surgeons only. This idea prevailed thanks to the visionary Sir Roy Calne who would become ESOT’s first president (1). Thus, instead of a European Society of Transplant Surgeons (ESTS), as originally planned, the European Society for Organ Transplantation (ESOT) was born. While surgeons were driving (and dominating) the world of transplantation in the 1980’s, Sir Roy had understood the need to build a broader European transplant community inclusive of physicians and scientists, meeting in a common forum, rather than at parallel events. This vision has endured and ESOT progressively engaged other categories of transplant professionals: transplant coordinators, allied healthcare professionals, and - more recently - patients and (bio)technology scientists. This last advancement is the response to the broadening of our field towards organ reconditioning, regenerative medicine, artificial and bioartificial organs (2).