HAMBURG 2018

The highlight of our activities is always our annual Symposium being linked with a subsequent General Meeting, where we had to elect new board members for our executive committee. It took place at the Historical Hotel Reichshof, right in the heart of Hamburg. The alumni, coming from all parts of Germany, could participate in interesting discussions based on 3 topics.

The first was titled "personal freedom within a data linked society“ presented by Diplom-Ökonom Manfred Speck, longtime head of Information Security and Privacy of Nestle, Germany. He explained the extent to which we leave unintentionally all over electronic foot prints during our daily life, which can easily be put together to a complete picture of our personality, social attitudes, predilections, buying habits etc. This can be to our advantage, but if misused, also to our disadvantage in as much as we can easily be manipulated to our detriment. A legal framework to protect us against misuse of our data becomes a necessity as well as a corresponding education of our children to make them aware of possible dangers in this respect. Responsible handling of once own data is most important. The second topic presented by Rechtsassessor Wieland Kessler covered the necessity of outside financing of University Research within the existing legal framework and the risks attached to lt, when it comes to improper advantage associated with it. The third presentation, given by PD Dr. med. habil. Wolfram Kessler, Facharzt für Chirurgie, gave an overview of how the „quality of chirurgical activities" can be measured and made comparable for the ranking of hospitals.

The three presentations provided much food for thought leading to lively discussions thereafter.

The major part of the General Meeting concerned the reelection of the board members. Regrettably, our longterm President, Dr. Martina Nieswandt, had to step down for professional and private reasons, so our Alumni Officer, Helmuth Stahl, was elected to replace her, but more importantly, two new members could be elected to our executive committee, promising with the current once a strong and innovative leadership for the coming years.

The day ended with a superb dinner at the hotel.

The following day some alumni visited the Planetarium in Hamburg, which has recently been upgraded to be one of the most modern and sophisticated planetarium in the world.