Early Milan meetings
The first Annual Meeting was held in Milan on 1983, in the historical surroundings of the University of Milan. The activities were organized by a European Programme Committee with Alberto Zanchetti as Chairman, Giuseppe Mancia as Secretary, with the collaboration of Fritz Bühler, Lennart Hansson, Ian Robertson and Peter Sever. The meeting was an immediate success, with 494 abstracts received and 990 experts from 40 countries attending. Establishment of the European Society of Hypertension
In May 1988, the Scientific Council of the International Society of Hypertension expressed a positive view towards supporting structured European hypertension initiatives. The ESH was created by the European experts most involved in the previous Milan meetings, and a first Scientific Council established, with Willem Birkenhäger as the first ESH President. Thus, the 4th European Hypertension Meeting in Milan was the first to be organized under the auspices of the ESH. Much effort was given to make the ESH a true sister society of the ISH (International Society of Hypertension). The 1989 meeting was regarded as a joint activity of the two Societies. Meetings of the European Society of Hypertension
Until 1999 the meetings of the ESH were held on a regular biennial basis at the University of Milan, with an ever expanding attendance. Because of the continuously growing level of interest in the ESH meetings, with attendees coming from all countries of Europe, as well as from North Africa and the Middle East, the Asian-Pacific countries and the Americas, in 1999 the ESH decided to hold annual meetings rather than biennial. Since then, the annual meeting is held in Milan on odd-numbered years and in other European cities on even-numbered years. However, if an ISH meeting is to be held in Europe, the ISH and the ESH meetings are arranged jointly for that year. The annual meetings have continued to demonstrate the mounting popularity of the ESH and the strength of European research on hypertension.
