BestCities
IHPBA’ s Incredible Impact
IHPBA 2026 CONGRESS PRESIDENT DR SHRIDHAR IYER ON TURNING CONGRESS INTO LASTING CHANGE
A congress lasts a few days –
but its impact can last years. That’ s the ambition behind the International Hepato- Pancreato Biliary Association’ s( IHPBA) plans for its 2026 World Congress in Singapore( 28-31 October). It’ s also an approach that has earned the association the 2026 Incredible Impacts Seed Fund Grant from BestCities Global Alliance and ICCA.
Dr Shridhar Iyer, chair of the IHPBA 2026 Legacy Project and Congress president, explains how IHPBA is using its global gathering to tackle inequities in liver cancer care across Asia-Pacific – and what other associations can learn from its approach.
Why was it important to build legacy into IHPBA 2026 from the beginning? A World Congress brings together an extraordinary concentration of expertise and relationships. If all of that disappears when the congress ends, we have probably missed an opportunity.
So legacy grew alongside the Congress itself. We kept asking,‘ What can happen because IHPBA came to Singapore that might not otherwise have happened?’ That meant thinking not only about the scientific programme, but about partnerships, policy, research, and what could continue after October 2026.
How did you decide where the Congress could make the biggest difference? Asia-Pacific includes some of the most advanced healthcare systems in the world alongside many developing economies. In one country, we may be talking about immunotherapy, complex liver surgery, transplantation, and AI. In another, the challenge may still be getting a high-risk patient an ultrasound every six months.
Our question became less about whether modern HCC treatments exist and more about who has and can afford them, and whether geography or the healthcare system determines the treatment a patient receives.
What does the legacy initiative look like in practice? We are developing the ACCESS HCC framework to understand access and affordability, an HCC Equity Heatmap to make disparities visible, a regional registry, and the Singapore Declaration on HCC Equity.
But the real measure of success comes later. If countries participate, if centres begin collaborating, and if the gaps we identify lead to practical initiatives, and if we can come back in five years and ask whether care has actually improved, then the project has achieved something. The Congress is a catalyst, not the end of the process.
As a professional association, we cannot solve every issue or fund national healthcare systems. What we can do is bring the right people together, identify gaps, generate evidence, create common frameworks, and start collaborations.
What can associations with smaller budgets learn from this approach? The most valuable thing an association
Above: Dr Shridhar Iyer
possesses is often not money. It is its network.
Choose one problem that matters and one intervention that is achievable. A relatively inexpensive programme that continues for five years may achieve far more than an expensive project that lasts only for the duration of the congress.
What is the biggest misconception about event legacy? That legacy is something you think about after the meeting. By then, it is probably too late.
We also need to distinguish between outputs and outcomes. A White Paper, declaration, or conference session is an output. The legacy is what changes because of it.
My advice is to start with the problem, not the event. Ask,‘ What problem can we help solve?’ Then consider what your organisation can bring to it.
If the work continues after everyone has flown home – and ultimately translates into measurable improvements – that is when a congress has genuinely left a legacy. n
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