Endocrine Society to host virtual meeting in June
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The Endocrine Society will host its largest-ever online meeting — with complimentary registration — in June to ensure endocrine researchers and clinicians continue to have access to the latest scientific information, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a society press release.
ENDO Online 2020 will feature a mix of on-demand and live programming for clinical and research audiences. The event will take place from June 8-22.
“We were of course very disappointed that we had to cancel our meeting. It’s the only time in our 104-year history that we have ever cancelled a meeting except for during World War II,” Robert Lash, MD, chief professional and clinical affairs officer at the Endocrine Society, told Healio. “We wanted to make sure a few things happened. One, that our members still had a chance to earn CME credit. Another was that our basic scientists, particularly our younger ones, would still get a chance to present their work and interact with their colleagues. We also wanted to make sure other educational opportunities were still available.”
ENDO was scheduled to take place March 28-31 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, and approximately 9,500 attendees were expected. The Endocrine Society Board of Directors announced earlier this month that the in-person meeting will be canceled, citing “an unprecedented health emergency” due to the novel coronavirus outbreak.
ENDO Online 2020 will feature on-demand sessions focused on clinical topics, live programming dedicated to basic science, continuing medical education sessions, programming for early career professionals, and a “digital exhibit hall” where endocrine scientists and researchers can access resources and set up appointments to chat with exhibitors.
“We recognize that many of the members of our field have been mobilized and are actively responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, and we also acknowledge that many have had to close their offices and labs,” E. Dale Abel, MD, PhD, Endocrine Society president and chair and department executive officer of the department of internal medicine at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, said in the release. “We have received feedback that many endocrine investigators, clinicians and trainees have indicated their desire to continue to advance their clinical knowledge and to be exposed to emerging science. We are proud to support them by virtually delivering the content they need during this challenging period.”
As the COVID-19 pandemic has forced the cancelation of medical meetings and conferences around the globe, the society’s leadership decided to offer complimentary registration for this year’s virtual event to health care providers and scientists, Lash said.
“We wanted to make this part of a global community, so we elected to open it up to everyone, not only meeting registrants,” Lash said. “Anyone who wants to come is welcome to come. With all that is going on, anything we can do to support our fellow health care providers and researchers to give them an easy way to learn new things would be good. At this point, creating a global community is the right message to send.” – by Regina Schaffer
Disclosure: Lash reports no relevant financial disclosures.