It is a novelty in andrology: for the first time in its history, the International Society of Andrology (ISA), the European Academy of Andrology (EAA) and the German Society for Andrology (DGA) are holding a joint congress. The 12th International, 11th European and 32nd German Congress of Andrology, Andrology 2020. 

The meeting was launched with the motto “three companies, one congress”. The world’s largest andrology congress celebrates its premiere in a digital format due to the corona pandemic. Andrology 2020 goes online December 5-9, 2020. The major andrological event was supposed to take place in Münster, Germany which is an internationally renowned location for research in andrology. The two conference presidents Prof. Dr. med. Sabine Kliesch, Chief Physician of the Department of Clinical and Operative Andrology, Center for Reproductive Medicine and Andrology (CeRA) at the University Hospital Münster and Univ.-Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Stefan Schlatt, Director of CeRA, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster.

Originally around 1000 participants from all continents were expected on site in Münster, but as a result of the corona pandemic, like so many others, this congress had to be converted into a digital format. “The transformation of our innovative congress concept from a face-to-face event into a virtual meeting was another enormous challenge,” says Prof. Kliesch. “We would like to thank everyone involved in the participating companies for their great cooperation,” adds Prof. Schlatt and emphasizes that Andrology 2020 as an online congress is also a great opportunity to enable international experts to take part virtually around the world without having to travel.

For the President of the ISA, Prof. Dr. rer.nat. Andreas Meinhardt, Deputy Managing Director, Institute for Anatomy and Cell Biology, Justus Liebig University Gießen, the President of the EAA, Csilla Gabriella Krausz, Professor of Endocrinology, University of Florence, and the President of the DGA, Prof. Kliesch, the first joint Congress of the three major representations in andrology offers an unprecedented forum to present the latest news and research findings in all facets and for all representatives of andrology. They include both natural scientists, some of whom do basic or translational research, as well as clinicians who are mainly andrologists and who in Germany are mainly represented in the fields of urology, endocrinology and dermatology. Internationally, many paediatricians, geneticists and reproductive physicians are also andrologists.

Andrology 2020 includes both a current training program and an exciting science program that covers the entire area from basic research to the clinic and the spectrum from fertility protection to sexual medicine and aging men to special topics such as sperm or epididymis function and male contraception. In addition, the three specialist societies award numerous grants to the selected young scientists who have submitted a total of 222 abstracts. Six plenary sessions, 20 symposia and 110 invited top speakers as well as 15 poster sessions with 181 poster presentations reflect the breadth of the program.