LAUSR

The coming year 2022 will be special for the global plastic surgery community. From May 19th through 21st, 2022 ICOPLAST organizes the First International World Congress meeting to be held in Lima, Peru in conjunction and collaboration with the Peruvian Society for Plastic Surgery. This historic event gives us pause to look back at the creation and success of ICOPLAST over the last 6 years. ICOPLAST was formed out of the void that IPRAS created following the dissolution of this society [1]. After multiple meetings in both Chicago and Belgium, the world looked to the formation of a new society that would be more transparent, represent global plastic surgery societies, and provide educational content and patient safety issues common to international plastic surgery. The launching of ICOPLAST occurred in 2016 in Punta del Este, Uruguay during the annual FILACP meeting bringing together 23 countries from South America (Fig. 1). The beginnings of ICOPLAST focused on being careful financially, transparent, and solid with the infrastructure while providing scientific educational activities. The organization itself is composed of a council of national delegates which are decided upon by each national society that is recognized by the Ministry of Health or other governmental bodies as a primary organization for the specialty of plastic and reconstructive surgery. ICOPLAST was formed as an organization of organizations, more specifically a confederation of societies. It is a federation of national plastic surgery societies instead of individual members. One plastic surgery society/organization is allowed from each country. ICOPLAST then serves individual plastic surgeons through their respective national societies that are represented through national delegates. The purpose of ICOPLAST is to offer its members and plastic surgeons a high level of education to benefit patients, plastic surgeons, trainees, and plastic surgery worldwide as well as exceptional scientific exchange and networking [2]. The organization itself represents the full scope of plastic reconstructive and esthetic surgery. ICOPLAST is officially registered as a non-profit organization in the Netherlands. This choice occurred after several months of research on the best place for our international non-profit organization. The board of directors of ICOPLAST manages the dayto-day business operations of the organization and has all appropriate authority to do so. The board, however, is accountable to the council of national delegates ensuring appropriate representation and oversight for the organization’s management. The board itself controls and is responsible for the management of finances. The board of directors consists of 11 members nominated by the regional plastic surgery societies and consists of representatives from North America, Central/South America, Europe, Asia, Oceania, Africa, and the Middle East. The number of board seats is based upon the population of each region. Nominations for the board of directors are conducted by each particular region and subsequently voted on by the council of national delegates. * Horacio F. Mayer [email protected]