After two years of virtual meetings, the ISTH’s annual congress is coming out of the pandemic and back as a hybrid in-person/online event, to be held in London on 9-13 July. Professor Beverly Hunt, Professor of Thrombosis and Haemostasis at King’s College London, a Consultant at Guy’s and St. Thomas’ Hospitals, and ISTH 2022 Congress Chair, tells the limbic why haematologists should attend, either in the UK venue or online.
So, we’re finally back to face-to-face…
Yes and it’s a huge thing, there’s a huge appetite for it out there. People want to meet face-to-face, to be able to network and to catch up with others. [It allows for] those chance comments you might make to someone that might just tip their lives in a different direction – it’s so important. And I think people want to have fun as well!
What’s in store for delegates this year?
The format is much as it ever has been. We have four really good plenaries looking at cutting-edge science, and a large number of people who are key in their field who [will provide] a summary of where we are in all the major important areas. And we have people from diverse backgrounds, so I think it’s going to be quite dynamic.
We had about 2,000 abstracts (oral and posters), so have a good selection of science on offer, and we’ve also had over 100 late-breaking abstracts, which is extraordinary, and we’re just in the process of evaluating those.
So the science is going to be good, and we have laid on social and networking events to make sure people can meet up and share views and what they’re working on. It’s really exciting.
What excites you most about the program?
For me, as the Chair of the Committee, we have introduced a new section on acquired bleeding disorders. ISTH has always been really good on inherited bleeding disorders, but not so much on acquired bleeding disorders.
If you look at global deaths, just under 10% are due to trauma, so interpersonal violence, road traffic accidence, shootings, postpartum haemorrhage, etc, and the major preventable cause of death due to trauma is bleeding.
So we’re going to focus much more in that area. One of the plenary talks* is going to set the scene, and we’ve got quite a lot of related state-of-the-art research. We’re trying to encourage people to do more research in those areas.
*Personalized Management of Acquired Bleeding Disorders, Katharine Dormandy Memorial Lecture, July 11, 9:30-10:15, Dr Anne Godier
Is there much on COVID?