After the hybrid warm-up in 2021, the 44th ICMM World Congress took place at the beginning of this
month at The Square in Brussels. For five days, 830 military and civilian visitors from no less than 67
countries were able to attend scientific presentations from the various fields linked to the four main
themes within the medical and military world.
During the opening ceremony, in the presence of Defense Minister Ludivine Dedonder, participants watched the founders of the 101-year-old International Committee on Military Medicine – William Bainbridge (US) and Jules Voncken (BE) – come to life through a holographic experience. The keynote presentations were alternated with musical intermezzos by soprano Astrid Stockman on the piano flanked by professional dancers.
The special nature of this congress was complemented by a top-notch exhibition, a range of scientific
sessions and workshops and an exclusive gala concert in BoZar. The gala dinner at the Belgian Comic
Strip Museum was a wonderful conclusion to this five-day world congress.
From the beginning, our ambition was to blend the best of both worlds – military and civilian. We are proud to say that we succeeded in this with flying colors.
“As Commander of the Belgian Defence Medical Component, I would like to express my sincere congratulations to your entire organisation for having organised the 44th World Congress of Military Medicine of the ICMM in a “masterly” manner. Thanks to a close cooperation between our services, you have succeeded admirably. I would therefore like to take this opportunity to thank you most warmly for your efforts and work, but also for the excellent team spirit and pleasant cooperation that I have experienced with you. I have indeed found that everything you have done has been of very high quality. You have greatly contributed, through your expertise, to making the Congress a smooth and successful event in every respect. This was also due to your flexibility to handle unforeseen circumstances. Strenghtened by the feedback we got from the participants to the Congress, I can assure you that we will recommend you to anyone contacting us enquiring about your company.” – Marc Ongena, Major General, Medical Component Commander