Upcoming conference highlights multidisciplinary approach to metabolic health

The upcoming Cardiometabolic Health Congress will feature the latest medical research in a range of fields, including obesity, diabetes, hypertension and dyslipidemia, along with practical, clinical approaches on managing both cardiovascular and metabolic risk.

The annual meeting, now in its 10th year, is expected to bring approximately 1,200 cardiologists, endocrinologists and other health care professionals to the Sheraton Hotel in Boston from Oct. 21 to 24 to learn about the latest scientific and clinical developments in a multidisciplinary approach.

“This isn’t a basic science meeting,” Robert H. Eckel, MD, professor of medicine and Charles A. Boettcher chair in atherosclerosis at the University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus, said in an interview. “We have cutting-edge science presented that impacts clinical care. This is something where attendees can take away new information that applies to their practices right now.”

Attendees will have access to 4 days of scientific sessions, case presentations and workshops, as well as a “meet the experts” lounge and more than 20 educational (includes CME and non-CME) symposia.

“It’s the broad strokes,” Eckel said. “We’re dealing with diabetes, we’re dealing with hypertension, we’re dealing with thrombosis, with obesity and dyslipidemia, and all tied into the big net of cardiovascular disease. That makes it a really outstanding meeting.”

Some of the meeting highlights include:

A keynote session on genetics to therapeutics and the role of PCSK9, by Jay D. Horton, MD. Horton, a researcher among the original groups that cloned the PCSK9 gene, will speak about why PCSK9 inhibitors have developed so rapidly. “Now that we have two drugs approved, I think this is really going to be important for this audience,” Eckel said. “They will be in a better position to understand when to use [the drugs].”
A keynote session on leptin and metabolic disease by Jeffrey M. Friedman, MD, PhD. Friedman, who helped to originally identify leptin as a hormonal signal, will discuss its relationship with insulin resistance and lipodystrophic syndromes, and explain how to apply that information to clinical diagnostics and therapeutics.
A symposium on the evolution of insulin therapy, by Anne L. Peters, MD, Howard A. Wolpert, MD, and Martin J. Abrahamson, MD, will focus on new therapies that aim to increase insulin absorption rate, prolong the duration of action, reduce peak variability and weight gain and offer alternative delivery methods.
A symposium on the prevention and clinical management of hyperkalemia by George L. Bakris, MD, Bertram Pitt, MD, and Matthew R. Weir, MD, will focus on newer therapies now in development that may provide safer, more consistent management of the condition.

Additional sessions will touch on the debate surrounding metabolic surgery as a treatment option for diabetes, current controversies surrounding lipid management and late-breaking clinical trial data and FDA updates. Sessions are organized so that similar topics take place on each individual day.

“We could intersperse these topics, but we tended to have half days on each of these, and the purpose there is to get a concentrated dose and update in the various respective sessions,” Eckel said. “The theme of the meeting is the interface between all of these together.”

In addition, the meeting will include a Cardiometabolic Health Congress (CMHC) exhibitor showcase, featuring more than 50 exhibits from leading pharmaceutical, device, technology and health and wellness companies.

“This is really a meeting that’s going to meet all the needs for the cardiometabolic space,” Eckel said.

The Cardiology Today, Endocrine Today and Healio.com staff will provide coverage from CMHC, including reports on the sessions described above and others, onsite video interviews and much more. For more information on the CMHC agenda and registration, visit www.cardiometabolichealth.org. – by Regina Schaffer

Disclosure: Healio.com is a platinum media partner of the Cardiometabolic Health Congress.