Welcome Address from the Dean of the Charité

Dear colleagues,

It is my pleasure and honour to welcome you in Berlin to the postgraduate course of the ESPN in the year of the tercentennial anniversary of the Charité.

The Charité has succeeded to maintain excellence in the fields of research, education and patient care throughout these 300 years despite tremendous challenges posed by history and politics. Specialization of care, affordability and personalized medicine are the key topics and challenges of academic medicine in this century. The demographic changes challenge the health care system and direct resources towards the older generations. Therefore it is extremely important not to neglect the need for a high standard of care in children and adolescents who will be the supporting fundament of the future societies.

Pediatric neurosurgery has become a specialized discipline and is focussed on problems such as developmental defects of the central nervous system and pediatric brain tumors, which differ considerably regarding etiology and treatment from CNS neoplasias in adults.
Neuroscience is one of the focus areas in research at the Charité within Neurocure, the cluster of excellence. We therefore hope that the Charité in Berlin in this special year is the appropriate venue for the postgraduate course, which will hopefully be a success for all attendees and the ESPN as well.
With my best wishes for a successful meeting and an interesting stay in Berlin


Annette Grüters, MD
Dean of the Charité

Welcome Address from the Local Organizer

Dear Colleagues and Friends,

Welcome to the 2nd year of the 8th circle of the annual course of the ESPN at Schloss Liebenberg in the vicinity of Berlin. The main topics will include dysraphism, craniovertebral junction anomalies, vascular malformations, craniosynostosis and sellar- and suprasellar tumours.

Apart from that and any less important, some days of  formal and informal exchange of ideas, lively discussions of approaches, attitudes and personal experiences are  waiting for your participation.

Following the rules of this course we found a remote place and hope that its charming ambience and calm aura will enhance the concentration and inspire the atmosphere of a traditionally very personal meeting.

Not to forget that springtime is an exceptionally exciting season in Berlin and Wednesday afternoon will take you on a boat tour through the city, followed by “Qi” - a world-class show of superlatives at an unbelievable tempo.

I strongly recommend to add a weekend before or after the course to convince you that only the Copacabana can beat the 30 beach bars along the Berlin rivers....


Hannes Haberl
Local Organizer