Welcome Address

On behalf of the European Stroke Conference (ESC) we are very pleased to invite you to our
next annual meeting that will take place in Hamburg from 24 – 27 May 2011 – back to
Germany, where the conference started in 1990 in Düsseldorf.
With its 1.7 million inhabitants, Hamburg is the second largest city in the country and the
economic and cultural centre of northern Germany. The long tradition and prestigious role
in the international economic alliance of more than 200 trading cities of the Hanseatic
League during the Late Middle Ages and early modern period (13th–17th centuries) from The
Netherlands and the North Sea to Poland and the Baltic Sea made Hamburg a cosmopolitan
city that is called “Germany's gate to the world” – an excellent choice for the ESC!
Hamburg has always been a maritime city. 2302 bridges illustrate the great history of water,
harbour and boats. Huge ships like the Queen Mary 2 with its 345 m length overall are regular
guests in the harbour which will be 822 years old in 2011. In the centre of Hamburg, the river
Alster forms two lakes, the Inner Alster and the Outer Alster, spacious areas for sailing and
other water sports and surrounded by a beautiful park which is one of the favourite spots for
running and walking, right in the neighbourhood of the conference centre hosting the ESC.
There are extensive zoological and botanical gardens. Noteworthy buildings include the
baroque St. Michael’s Church (1750–62), rebuilt (1907–12) after a fire, the Church of St. Jacobi
(14th century) and the Renaissance-style city hall (1886–97). Currently, the new spectacular
concert hall, the Elbphilharmonie, is being built downtown in the growing district of Hafencity
at the riverside. Besides these cultural highlights, Hamburg offers a large amount of restaurants,
bars, theatres, art galleries and other places for entertainment including the district of
St. Pauli with its famous street, the Reeperbahn.
Hamburg has a particular connection with neurology, as the first university department of
neurology in Germany was established in Hamburg by Max Nonne (1861–1959) in 1919.
Several museums, technical and science institutes add to the intellectually stimulating
environment.
Following the successful history of the ESC from 1990 to its 20th anniversary conference, the
Scientific and Programme Committees will prepare a truly international conference that will
collect excellent work of basic science and clinical research related to stroke and cerebrovascular
diseases as submitted from continuously increasing numbers of researchers from all
over the world. Along these lines we will increase the number of joint symposia with other
European and World wide operating societies active in the fight against the burden of stroke
as we did in recent years. In continuity with the tradition, controversies in diagnosis and
management, scientific mini-symposia addressing particularly interesting aspects of
treatment and prevention and more generally oriented educational symposia covering the
full scope of stroke related interests will be organised. As in previous years the progress of
this programme can be monitored on our website www.eurostroke.eu. We cordially invite
you to contribute to the full success of ESC 2011 communicating your own ideas as well as
submitting abstracts reporting your finest scientific work.
See you soon in Hamburg in May 2011, one of the friendliest months of the year!

Christian Gerloff  and Michael G. Hennerici