WELCOME
The European Association for Gastroenterology, Endoscopy and Nutrition.
The EAGEN, formerly named EAGE, is one of the founding organizations of the contemporary UEGF. The EAGEN has expanded its specialty to further include nutritional aspects in digestive diseases. It is the aim of the EAGEN to present interactive and highly professional teaching events on diseases of the digestive system and to provide educational exchange platforms to further expand and update the knowledge in Gastroenterology. Diseases of the digestive system are complex and often require a multidisciplinary approach. Our goal is to structure our education in connection with specialists of pathology, radiology, immunology, surgery, oncology, nutrition, genetics etc. The EAGEN will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2020.
On the EAGEN website you can register for postgraduate courses, EAGEN symposia and endoscopy courses. Members benefit from a 20% discount on event prices and can access restricted downloads such as lectures, videos and presentations from top lecturers from all over Europe..
HISTORY OF THE SOCIETY
The European Association for Gastroenterology, Endoscopy and Nutrition (EAGEN) was founded in 1970 by Professor Hiroshi Oshima, a surgeon from the Nippon-Ika-University in Tokyo, Japan. He introduced the gastrocamera technique, which was successfully used in Japan on a large number of patients and allowed early recognition of carcinoma of the stomach. This technique was the focus of interest in the early 1970s. The original name of the Society was ´European Society for Gastrocamera Diagnosis´ and yearly meetings followed with abstracts published in ´Aktuelle Gastroenterologie´.
In 1972, Professor G. Nava of Rome became the new President and he was followed by Professor H. Reissigl of Innsbruck. In addition to the annual meeting, postgraduate courses were held in several countries. The Society published a number of monographs, particularly on stomach cancer. In 1979, the Society changed its name to `European Society for Gastrocamera Diagnosis and Endoscopy´. In 1980, Professor Y. van Maercke of Antwerp became President and was followed by Professor K. E. Hampel of Berlin. The 18th Congress in Berlin attracted more than 1000 participants. As the topics discussed at the yearly congresses and at postgraduate courses expanded from endoscopy to include the whole spectrum of gastroenterology, the Society was renamed the ´European Association for Gastroenterology and Endoscopy´ (EAGE). Professor G. Bianchi-Porro then organized Congresses in Milan and Sirmione. The membership of the Society grew to around 500 by 1990. Professor G. J. Krejs of Graz, Austria, organized two Congresses, one in Graz (1989) and the next in the Vienna Hofburg (1990), which bore the name ´European Digestive Disease Week´ (EDDW) and was the first European multi-society meeting in gastroenterology. It was meant to be the European counterpart to Digestive Disease Week organized yearly by the American Gastroenterological Association.
The second EDDW was organized by the next President, Professor G. N. J. Tytgat. The meeting in Amsterdam in 1991 attracted more than 2000 participants. These two conferences in 1990 and 1991 were the beginning of the United European Gastroenterology Week (UEGW), which received its new name in 1992. It was initially organized yearly by EAGE and six other European sister societies pertaining to gastroenterology, hepatology and endoscopy [Association des Sociétes Nationales Européenes et Méditérranéenes de Gastroénterologie, Collegium Internationale Chirurgiae Digestivae (European Chapter), European Association for the Study of Liver, European Pancreatic Club, European Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy and European Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition.] Since 1992, when EAGE gave up its own meeting to be part of UEGW, EAGE has played a leading role in organizing yearly postgraduate courses on behalf of UEGW. With this emphasis on postgraduate education, 5 to 10 postgraduate courses are now organized every year in different parts of Europe and the Middle East, and since 2005 have also extended to the Far East.
To recognize its activities in the area of nutrition, EAGE again changed its name in 2011 to EAGEN (European Association for Gastroenterology, Endoscopy and Nutrition).