Sequoia at the ESSM Congress 2025 in Vienna

From the 20th to the 22nd of February, the annual European Congress on Sexual Medicine took place in the capital of the Austrian Republic. The venue for the event was the University of Vienna, the third-largest university in Europe and the first among German-speaking institutions.

University of Vienna

Founded in 1365, the university has been the alma mater for 15 Nobel Prize laureates. Sigmund Freud (founder of psychoanalysis), Ludwig Boltzmann (one of the founders of statistical mechanics), Otto Wallach (Nobel laureate for his work in organic chemistry), and Karl Landsteiner (Nobel laureate for his discovery of blood groups) are among its graduates.

Upon entering the university, you immediately understand why this place was chosen as the venue. It is a monumental, majestic, and pompous building in the neo-Renaissance style, featuring an abundance of columns, arches, and pilasters. Everything here is imbued with the spirit of sacred knowledge that you feel compelled to absorb.

University of Vienna main entrance

The Agenda

The ESSM Congress lasted for three days. During that time, in 8 auditoriums and two large halls, lectures, performances, workshops, debates, and much more were held in parallel. In total, over 160 sessions took place. The main topics of the event included: basic and translational science, male sexual health and dysfunction, female sexual health and dysfunction, and issues concerning transgender and gender-diverse people.

Networking area

There was also a separate exhibition area, a talk show space, and a poster area.

Exhibition area

What I would like to highlight as unusual is the semi-online broadcasts of surgeries, which were commented on by experts in the field. This is very useful for practicing surgeons.

Moreover, for the first time in my life, I encountered what are called "nightmare sessions," where medical errors, their causes, and consequences were analyzed. It's really impressive that specialists are not afraid to face their failures, conduct detailed analyses, bring them up for wide discussion, and turn them into growth points for both themselves and the community.

One of the halls

Sequoia’s Participation

This year, we submitted our study on male preferences in choosing underwear. It was selected for presentation as a poster. We needed to print and hang it in a specially designated area. People could approach, read, and ask questions. I have already written about the study and its results in more detail. You can read about it here.

There were several interesting studies relevant to the Sequoia topic. We will share more about them in our upcoming publications.

Results

There’s no need to emphasize the benefits of participating in such events. These include new connections, maintaining old ones, building long-term mutually beneficial partnerships, and the opportunity to showcase Sequoia’s progress to the scientific community.

If we talk about numbers, the key highlights are:

• Connecting with more than 30 specialists
  
  
• 5 doctors agreed to work with us: write content and conduct online consultations
  
  
• A review of Sequoia by the former president of ESSM, Yakov-Kobi Reisman
  
  
• 2 potential partnerships in the field of joint research: with the World Association for Sexual Health (of which we recently became members) and with the Belgian Medical University

Foto with the past president of WAS, Prof. Pedro Nobre

Sometimes I am asked, "What’s the benefit of your trips? Why do you spend time and money on this?" And yes, there are no immediate results. But there are seeds that can and should be worked on. Now, it’s important to continue communication, make calls, and engage in discussions. The main results will only become visible over time, but they will definitely come. And I will tell you about them.