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Dear Colleagues and Friends,

It is with great pleasure and excitement that I invite you to the 11th Meeting of the International Society for Hydrocephalus and Cerebrospinal Fluid Disorders in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada from September 13 to 16, 2019.  This annual meeting brings together individuals with a wide variety of backgrounds, including clinicians and basic scientists, varying from professors to trainees, as well as nurses, nurse-practitioners, therapists, patient advocates and volunteers. They all share common interests and goals: 1) To better understand the normal physiology of cerebrospinal fluid and intracranial pressure; 2) To improve the diagnosis and treatment of hydrocephalus and other CSF disorders, in both children and adults and; 3) To ultimately lead to an improvement in the quality of life of our patients, their families and caregivers.

Vancouver and the Pacific Northwest were first settled by the Coast Salish people around 15,000 BC. They thrived here due to the beaches teaming with seafood, the abundance of wildlife in the forests and the Fraser river that provided fresh water and salmon. Although Vancouver derives its name from Captain George Vancouver, an English navigator who explored and surveyed the West coast in 1792, it was the Spanish who had much earlier settled the West Coast in the late 1500s.  This would explain why a beach named “Spanish Banks” is situated adjacent to “English Bay”.

There is so much to explore in and around Vancouver.  There is the 1,000-acre Stanley Park, a 15 min walk from downtown, where you can visit the Vancouver Aquarium and walk, run or cycle the 10 km trail around the sea wall, with beautiful views of the Vancouver Harbour and the North Shore.  Nearby is the Granville Island Public Market filled with fresh foods, including the wide variety of sea food caught that day. At the western edge of English Bay is the Museum of Anthropology, located on the campus of the University of British Columbia.  A 20 min ferry ride across the Burrard Inlet will bring you to the North Shore Mountains (Cypress, Grouse and Seymour), where you can test your physical fitness by climbing the Grouse Grind, nature’s “Stair-Master”, a 3 km trail that climbs 1000 m to the top or ride the Gondola for a more relaxing ascent.  A 90 min drive up the scenic Sea to Sky highway will bring you to the town of Whistler, a year-round vacation resort, known for its summer cycling, hiking and golf, and winter skiing.  Vancouver and Whistler co-hosted the 2010 Winter Olympics. Although the Pacific Northwest is a rain-forest region, Vancouver is mainly sunny in September, with an average daytime high of 20C.

I look forward to seeing you in Vancouver this September.  Come to discuss and further the science of hydrocephalus but I also encourage all participants and their families to make time to explore the natural beauty of the Pacific Northwest.  Come to exercise both your mind and your body and leave Vancouver refreshed and inspired.

Thomas Zwimpfer MD, PhD

Hydrocephalus 2019 President