Meetings and Congresses of the Society

1972-2007

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Until the end of the 1970s, three BTS meetings were held annually; a Spring meeting was held in the provinces, and two meetings in London. About half of the London meetings were held at the Wellcome Foundation (now the Wellcome Trust), the rest in hospitals, frequently the Royal Free Hospital.

From 1981, two meetings were held a year, either in hospitals or at the Royal College of Physicians or Surgeons. These were two day meetings consisting of a series of symposia, chosen from abstracts submitted by members, on subjects of special interest at the time. In 1997 it was decided by the Council (formerly the Committee) to hold a single three day meeting each year, the first Annual Meeting being held in Dublin in 1998. Each meeting included a session of presentations for the Medawar Medal, in memory of the first Chairman, Sir Peter Medawar.

Special interest sub-committees have been set up to address issues needing attention. From 1973 to 1980 interest centred on immunology, tolerance and enhancement. From 1985 onwards the Society was greatly concerned with the need to ensure that all live donation followed ethical principles, notably that money and other inducements or pressures were not being used to procure organs for donation.

The Supervisory Committee on Organ Transplantation (renamed the Ethical Committee in 1989 after the Human Organ Transplant Act was passed) was set up in 1986 in response to these concerns, and worked towards establishing a registry of organ transplants in order to regulate ethical standards, as well as responding to proposals for the use of unrelated live donors. Other sub-committees documented include The Transplant Training and Advisory Committee, which addressed concerns about the training and availability of Transplant Surgeons; The Transplant Information Bureau which managed media relations and provided information on transplantation to the press; and The Working Party on Organ Donation which addressed concerns about the lack of organs available for transplantation.