Society for Heart Valve Disease

[BillC]

Peter's post yesterday (More Questions/Heart Talk) mentioned a web-site which he had gotten from a friend on the Ross Procedure board. This was a web-site on the "Society for Heart Valve Disease" and is specifically about their first biennial meeting held recently in London. In looking thru this I noticed it said that "the meeting is open for all those with an interest in heart valve disease".

Even though it is geared for Doctors, Nurses and Technicians, the agenda was fascinating and covered a broad range of topics.

I took the liberty of emailing the Executive Secretariat of the Society to clarify if these meetings were also open to Heart Valve Recipients.

Below is the reply which I've just received. The good news is that we would indeed be welcome to attend. Since I'm in the Travel Industry and get free airline tickets, it's frequently cheaper for me to travel abroad instead of closer to home. And the registration fee for non-doctors is very reasonable.

Don't know if this would be interesting to anyone else, but wouldn't it be neat if we could some day schedule a reunion or get-together in conjunction with a meeting of the Society for Heart Valve Disease. You know .... stranger things have happened.

...................


Dear Mr. Clifford,
Thank you very much for your interest in our Society. Indeed, the meetings
are open for all those having a vested interest in heart valve disease, and
this definition includes literally everybody with an interest. All you have
to do is to come and register, paying the registration fee.
It is another matter how much you might profit from attending a scientific
meeting, where the style and wording of the presentations are not meant to
address lay people but fellow scientists. As a first step, please visit
www.icr-heart.com or www.shvd.org, the to sites are interlinked; the former
is for The Journal of Heart Valve Disease, the latter for the Society for
Heart Valve Disease. On the Journal site, you will find abstracts of
published articles since January 1998, on the Society site you can read
online all abstracts of the past meeting in June 2001.
Please let me know if we can be of any additional help.
Best regards,
Endre Bodnar MD, PhD, FESC
P.S. Texan surgeons are excellent, I am sure you are doing fine!

 

[fdegranville]

Valve Disease Society

Valve Disease Society

Hi Bill,
Very interesting!
fdeg

 

[BillC]

To Francesca

To Francesca

The next meeting will be held in Paris. Even though it's probably "too much information", I think it would be fascinating to see the world's top valve experts come together to learn from each other. From the lack of response, I guess I'm the only one who feels this way... Hey, I'll bet we could twist Janie's arm into joining us for a crazy weekend in Paris!

 

[Peter Easton]

Dynamite idea

Dynamite idea

Bill --

I think that the information you posted and the idea you launched are really great. The notion of co-scheduling an AVR reunion with a medical conference on the topic seems to me to make a whole lot of sense both substantively and "polticially," so to speak. There ought to be a way to develop venues in addition to the international ones that are a bit more accessible to everyone than, say, European sites -- though one could think of always having "reps" at least at those more galactic events. (And think of the raffle we could have to determine who gets to be "rep" to Paris!)

Matter of fact, Paris promises to be a pretty stimulating location for such an encounter for other reasons. I remember when I was being treated for another medical condition there some 20 years ago (at a time when I was working in Africa), I ran into a national medical clients' association called ... "Impatience"! Alliances and solidarities of the operees were alive and well!

Peter

 

[fdegranville]

to Bill

to Bill

Now that you have mentioned it will be in Paris, I'll bet a few more people will come forward.

Maybe we could charter a jet, LOL
fdeg

 

[Kevin M]

I'm in. I've not been, but I understand they have excellent wine there.

It might be a challenge to hold the reunion in Paris due to distance and cost, but perhaps we could send a delagation that could report back at a U.S.-based reunion?
Kev

 

[BillC]

Kevin ... that's the Spirit! There's got to be a major benefit to our group hiding in there somewhere. I'll keep you posted regarding the Paris meeting. (I think we've got time to save $$ and get ready, however... it's probably not happening till 2003!) Anyway, thanks for your interest. And yes -- the vino (aka vin) is incredible.

Cheers ~ Bill