We’re gearing up for #ESASRB2015

Bone health

20 Aug 2015

Hormones are surging in the city of churches as Adelaide readies itself for the annual scientific meeting of the Endocrine Society of Australia and the Society for Reproductive Biology on 23-26 August.

ESA Past President Professor Peter Ebeling says the meeting will reflect the vigorous and active state of endocrinology in Australia, and will offer the best of local and international speakers covering the spectrum from basic research to clinical practice.

“We’re particularly fortunate to have attracted Professor Dick Santen from the University of Virginia, who’s Immediate Past President of the Endocrine Society in the United States,” Professor Ebeling says. “He has made major contributions to understanding the oestrogen-related mechanisms in breast cancer and the development of aromatase inhibitors.”

Professor Ebeling will join Professor Santen and current ESA President Professor Helena Teede in a special sessions on empowering the next generation of clinicians and researchers in endocrinology.

“We have the advantage that our advanced trainees can start a PhD in their third year, but we need better strategies to develop career pathways that successfully combine clinical work and research,” Professor Ebeling says.

“Research funding is a challenge, of course, and we have to look beyond traditional NHMRC grants to support our trainees. Dick Santen is strongly committed to training and research, and we hope to learn from his experience.”

Other options include the expansion of research fellowships supported by the ESA, RACP and other bodies.

The strong contingent of international plenary speakers also includes:

  • Professor Steven Kahn from the University of Washington in Seattle, renowned for his work on the pathogenesis of beta-cell function in type 2 diabetes and potential treatments to intervene in beta-cell decline
  • Dr Bill Rainey, from the University of Michigan, who specialises in adrenal disease and the role of gene mutations in adrenal neoplasia
  • Professor Mike Tuttle, from the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, an expert in the management of thyroid cancer.

In the area of bone disease, Professor Ebeling is keen to hear more at the meeting about new anabolic therapies for osteoporosis. He will be presenting on the complex links between obesity, diabetes and fracture risk, and the implications for diagnosis and treatment of minimal trauma fractures in the growing number of Australians with type 2 diabetes.

You can access the full programme and abstracts here.

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