ISG – Highlights

Year	Event
1955	Ian Aird of London, Erling Dahl-Iverson of Copenhagen, and Alexander Brunschwig of New York conceived the idea of a small meeting consisting of 30-50 leading surgeons from English speaking countries bordering the Atlantic.
1956	Together with John Hellstrom of Stockholm, Carl Semb of Oslo, and Jonathan Rhoads, they formed the “International Surgical Club”. 50 surgeons were selected for membership: 25 from USA and Canada, and 25 from Europe.
1958	Inaugural meeting on 17th July in Edinburgh.
1959	First meeting attended by spouses.
1962	First time program booklet was prepared.
1965	The idea of honorary fellows was introduced for surgeons of special distinction. It was decided that members over 65 would be senior members. Membership increased to 60. Members were elected from nations outside of the original members.
1980	First meeting held outside of the countries of the initial membership (Scandinavian countries, British Isles, Canada, and United States). This meeting was held in Heidelberg Germany.
1982	Silver Jubilee of the International Surgical Group (ISG). Gala meeting was held in London.
1989	Commemorative publication of history of the ISG: authored by Claude E. Welch, Dick Welbourn, Eivin Hasner, Jonathan Rhoads, and Bob Macbeth.  Discussions of expanding the membership were abandoned. However, discussion of non-attenders and the 10% rule gained traction.
1994	ISG Ties designed by Michael Trede and Arthur Li.
1996	Discontinuation of the practice of inviting prospective members to meetings prior to election.
2007	Golden Jubilee 50th Annual meeting in London. Stricter rules introduced for exclusions because of non-attendance.
2012	Decision to devote one session of each meeting to debate on a topic and generating an ISG consensus statement for publication (not yet enacted in practice).
2013	Alarm Clock instituted to help speakers stay on time.
2018	Official Society Website.