The Grand Central location lived up to its lavish history, having previously hosted many famous residents including Frank Sinatra and Winston Churchill.
The John Wales memorial lecture was delivered by Dr Peter Winocour. It was an elegant journey of where we are in the world of diabetes. Dr Winocour stated that continual challenge of dogma will lead both to better treatments as well as outcomes for our patients. This was demonstrated by some key projects with which he had involvement.
The main programme was kicked off by Professor Naveed Sattar, whose lively energetic style is enough to capture any audience, both north and south of the border! He gave insights into cardiovascular disease management and questioned many dogmas. Professor Helen Murphy followed by giving a contemporary update on the management of diabetes in pregnancy and asked colleagues to help shape a consultation regarding a NICE guideline update. Coffee was taken after an interesting update on thyroid eye disease management, an area in which there is much room for improvement. Dr Peter Taylor from Cardiff proficiently outlined the role of adjunctive immunotherapies and evidence for their use. On the same line of thyroid disease, delegates had the benefit of Professor Graham Leese from Dundee who led them gallantly through the minefield of clinical science and political pressures determining the appropriate use of T3 thyroid replacement therapy.
Similar to the last meeting selected abstracts were presented on a variety of topics covering diagnostics, quality improvement and therapy. Many congratulations go to Dr Amy Coulden who took the award for best abstract.
After lunch, delegates were duly updated on important areas of workforce and ABCD audits by key committee colleagues. The session was rounded off by experts on the pathophysiology of stroke and heart failure – an area of much individual and clinical burden.
The final session, chaired by our general secretary, provided a lively end to the day. Surgical treatment options for diabetes and obesity were thoughtfully and eloquently shared by Mr Dimitri Pournaras, followed by Professor Roy Taylor who led us through mechanisms underlying the positive effects of very low calorie diets and, in doing so, defining a metabolic point of no return for beta cells.
See you in London 8–9 November 2018.
Correspondence: Dipesh Patel
ABCD Meetings Secretary and
Executive Committee Member
E-mail: meetingsecretary@abcd.care
https://doi.org/10.15277/bjd.2018.187
Br J Diabetes 2018;18:126