Dear Friends and Colleagues,
It is with a heavy heart that I am announcing the cancellation of the 19th International Symposium on Inner Ear Disorders March 21-27, 2020, due to the continuing outbreak and spread of COVID-19. We continue to have attendees and presenters cancel their plans to attend due to restrictions traveling from their institutions or concerns over being quarantined after attending the meeting. I know many of you are key providers at your respective institutions and that any extended absence due to a quarantine would be a detriment to your patients and colleagues.
The majority of the board members support this decision, and we have spoken with Hotel Theresa about rescheduling the meeting forMarch 20-27, 2021. I hope all of you who were planning to attend and/or present this year would be willing to commit to the new meeting time. If that is the case, in an effort to retain the solvency of our small nonprofit organization and to cut down on bookkeeping and banking transactions, we would like to apply your registration fee to the meeting in 2021. However, if this is not possible or you are not sure if you will be able to attend, please let us know and we will refund your registration fee in full.
At this point, many of the airlines are allowing tickets to be cancelled and rebooked with no change fees, so it would be possible for you to recoup your ticket costs if you choose to attend next year’s meeting. In addition, if you made arrangements for ground transportation, you will be refunded in full if you cancel 48 hours prior to the scheduled pick-up.
This was not an easy decision as I was looking forward to an excellent meeting and a chance to catch up with old friends and make new ones. However, in the end, we have to be cognizant of our safety as well as the need to limit travel in an effort to contain this virus. I certainly hope the situation with COVID-19, which is now affecting all of us, will soon come to an end. In the meantime, I hope all of you stay healthy and come to next year’s meeting!
“Let us give thanks to seeking spirits, to those with initiative, who raise questions of interest, stimulate active researches, provoke oppositions, because in a word, science gains and humanity applauds.”
~ Prosper Méniere, 1861
Letter from the Director:
Welcome to the Prosper Ménière Society Webpage. One of the highlights of our society is the biennial Symposium on Inner Ear Disorders, the next of which will be held March 21-27, 2020. This is a week-long forum featuring presentations and discussion on inner ear diagnosis, medicine, and surgery. The presenters are the tops in their respective fields, and the research is cutting-edge. The symposium also features presentations from the Gold Medal Award recipient. The Gold Medal Award is given to an individual who has furthered the goals of the Prosper Ménière Society through research excellence, scientific innovation, and far-reaching contributions to the investigation of inner ear disorders. You will find a list of the “GREATS” who have received this award on our website. The meeting venue is the Hotel Theresa in Zell im Zillertal, Austria. For those who have attended the meeting in the past, you probably know why we return there year after year. Not only is it a great venue for our symposium, with all-inclusive accommodations for guests, the location provides many excellent opportunities for skiing, hiking, bike riding, or—if you prefer—relaxation.
I hope you take the time to browse our site and, if you have not already done so, will consider joining our society.
I look forward to seeing you in Zell in 2020.
About the Prosper Ménière Society:
Named after Prosper Ménière (1799-1862), the Prosper Ménière Society was founded in 1981 by the International Meniere’s Disease Research Institute (IMDRI) of the Colorado Otologic Research Center (CORC). The Society was reorganized in 1990 and moved to the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, where it is presently. It is a 501(c)-3 non-profit organization.
The primary goal of the Prosper Ménière Society is to promote the academic dissemination and discussion of basic and clinical research data on Meniere’s disease and all aspects of inner ear dysfunction, pathophysiology, diagnosis, and treatment. Its primary meeting, the International Symposium on Inner Ear Disorders, is held every other year and convenes a scholarly group of basic and clinical researchers from the fields of otolaryngology, otology/neurotology, neuroradiology, and audiology for a week-long continuing medical education program.