The International Congress on Stress was initiated in an attempt to assemble leading authorities from all over the world to present cutting edge research advances and state of the art reviews. This event also served to commemorate and pay homage to Hans Selye by bestowing the Hans Selye Award to a senior scientist who had made significant contributions to our understanding of stress. In many instances, researchers were attempting to reinvent the wheel because they were unaware of the groundbreaking efforts of these pioneers. The First International Congress on Stress in 1988 was a two day event held in 1988 in Montreux, Switzerland sponsored by The Biotonus Clinic in Montreux, Switzerland.   Dr. Paul Rosch served as Consultant to Biotonus, was involved in their evaluation of a new stress reduction device that utilized weak electromagnetic stimuli to relieve anxiety and insomnia and Chaired an International Conference on Aging they had sponsored in 1976. Claude Rossel, M.D., Ph.D. Executive Vice-President of Biotonus, subsequently indicated his interest in sponsoring a similar International Congress on Stress under the direction of The American Institute of Stress. He was anxious to report on the results of the low energy emission stress reduction device we had been evaluating to a critical audience and wanted to learn if others were researching similar approaches or could suggest additional approaches that might improve or expand the services provided by Biotonus Clinic. The AIS had been contemplating a conference that would assemble leading authorities in the rapidly expanding field of stress, and eagerly accepted this gracious invitation and attempted to satisfy our mutual goals.  The American Institute of Stress: International Congress on Stress was born.