11th International Congress of Endocrinology

The Olympics of endocrinology, the 11th International Congress of Endocrinolgy was held rather appropriately in Sydney, four weeks after the summer games of the XXWIIth Modern Olympiad. Both occasions were a great success and whilst it may be tempting to extend the analogy to the pool or the track or heaven forbid, digress into 'drugs in sport', this review will focus on endocrinology. There were over 3000 participants with ten plenary lectures, 20 meet-the-expert sessions, 41 symposia, 128 oral free communications and 1500 posters. Sydney post-Olympics provided a vibrant, exciting and picturesque setting with outstanding convention facilities. The Congress Party was held at Campbells Cove in the lee of the Harbour Bridge looking toward the Opera House which provided an opportunity for delegates to view the two architectural icons that had become so familiar in the preceding months. Credit must be given both to the Local Organising Committee of Sydney endocrinologists who made it all happen and to the International Program Organising Committee who crafted a pageant of first rate endocrinology. It is self-evident that this report can only hope to give the reader a flavour of a Congress such as this with the choice of topics being largely idiosyncratic. With five concurrent symposia and two concurrent orals each morning and afternoon of the four days, any omissions reflect not on the topic or its importance but on this reviewer's inability to be in more than one place at once!