Dear Friends,

it is a great pleasure for me to extend you a cordial welcome to attend the 15th official scientific meeting of the European Society of Hypertension (ESH) which is held in Milan, June 17-21, 2005.

The scientific programme continues the tradition of the many ESH meetings which have been held in the past. That is, a large portion of the programme is devoted to oral and poster presentations which are selected from the abstracts submitted by the participants, based on the assessment of four expert reviewers per abstract.

The programme also includes: 1) state-of-the-art lectures, debates and round tables to complement presentations of original research with views of topics of basic and clinical interest from worldwide authorities in hypertension, 2) Satellite Symposia organized by Drug Industry, which are held in the days before, after and during (evening) the Main Meeting to allow more specific information on new treatments of hypertension and related cardiovascular diseases to be presented and discussed, 3) breakfast meetings and scientific sessions organized by the Working Groups of ESH and presentations, in separate sessions, of the research activities of young European investigators and 4) teaching sessions focused on aspects of more practical interest and on clinical cases aimed more specifically at physicians interested in becoming European Hypertension Specialists.

This provides, I believe, a full update on current range and level of European research on this vital area of medicine, also including, as always in the past, significant contributions from extra European countries. The programme is under the responsibility of the Scientific Council of ESH and the meeting has the patronage of the University of Milan - Bicocca, the Italian Society of Hypertension and the Ospedale S. Gerardo - Monza.
As in 2003 the meeting is held in the Congress Center of the Milan Fair.
Those of you who attended the 2003 meeting will remember that this was a pleasant experience because the Center has facilities that can optimally accommodate the large number of participants and the highly diversified scientific programme that characterize the European Hypertension Meetings, including a suitable exhibition space for Drug Industry. The Fair is also well connected with Milan downtown.

The European Society of Hypertension provides travel and accommodation grants to help participation of young investigators and researchers who may find difficult covering expenses for attending the meeting.

As for the 2003 meeting, the 2005 ESH meeting receives official credits from UEMS (European Union of Medical Specialists) to which ESH belongs, from CME - Continuous Medical Education and from ESH itself with regard to European Specialist qualification.

I am very grafeful to the Assessorato Grandi Eventi, Comune di Milano and to the Soprintendenza per i Beni Architettonici e il Paesaggio of Milan for kindly accepting to give the patronage to this important scientific event which makes for a few days Milan the capital of Hypertension in Europe.

Yours sincerely,

Giuseppe Mancia
Chairman of Scientific and Organizing Committee