On the heels of the official site visit for the International Neuromodulation Society’s (INS) 2017 Congress in Edinburgh, Scotland, I am excited to tell you that Edinburgh truly is a strikingly beautiful and unforgettable place.  Together with members of the INS Executive Committee, Drs. Robert Levy and Simon Thomson, as well as with Mr. Roger Strachan, and Drs. Ganesan Baranidharan and Ashish Gulve from the Local Organizing Committee and UK and Ireland Chapter (NSUKI), we explored the city from its cobble-stoned Royal Mile up to Edinburgh Castle, to the state-of-the-art Edinburgh International Conference Center (EICC), and have come away inspired, knowing that Edinburgh offers the perfect mix of cultural wealth and innovation, and thus is the ideal venue for the INS’s 13th World Congress. We cannot wait to share it with you!

Steeped in history and once hailed as the Athens of the North, Edinburgh has been home to enlightened writers, philosophers and physicians -- including two pioneers of early surgical technique: Sir Joseph Lister, who championed the use of carbolic acid as an antiseptic; and Sir James Young Simpson, who discovered the anesthetic properties of chloroform in surgery.  A more recent alumnus of the University of Edinburgh’s medical school, Mr. Roger Strachan -- President of NSUKI, generously shared with us his insider’s perspective and insights as we toured the grand Royal College of Surgeons, the likely venue for our hands-on cadaver workshop.

The main congress will take place in the heart of Edinburgh at the EICC, a cutting-edge conference center with ample room for the INS to increase its scientific offerings and better serve our members’ and commercial supporters’ needs, while maintaining the intimacy that is vital to nurturing communication and collaboration in our society.

The EICC is within walking distance of the main tourist attractions and many hotels (suiting a wide range of budgets), the closest being the newly refurbished Sheraton Grand Hotel and Spa, which is only a few meters away and will host most of the congress’s ancillary events. The EICC and Sheraton staff and all the locals we met during our visit were extremely knowledgeable and eager to please as they very much look forward to hosting us in their magnificent city.

I was also excited to learn that the Edinburgh Marathon is scheduled for the 28th of May, so we may plan some INS-related events around the marathon for our athletic delegates.

Please stay tuned as more details unfold. In the meantime, I would like to thank Mr. Strachan, and Drs. Baranidharan, Gulve, Levy and Thomson, along with Annika Hayes, our meeting planner at Vanern Enterprises, who made all the arrangements with her local contacts, for joining in the site visit and setting the wheels in motion for an excellent and memorable congress.  I hope we have inspired you to join us in Edinburgh!