Updates on gas exchange, CF and the big health policy debates in Canberra are among the highlights for this weekend’s TSANZ annual scientific meeting for specialists in lung health and respiratory science.
But organisers admit the greatest drawcard for many in the specialty is likely to be the social calendar at the conference, the first major TSANZ event to be held face-to-face since early 2019.
Jointly conducted with the Australian and New Zealand Society of Respiratory Science, the TSANZ 23 meeting is scheduled to begin on 25 March, with nearly 1000 delegates expected at the Te Pae Convention Centre in Christchurch, New Zealand.
“A lot of us just haven’t seen each other in three or four years. This is our first conference back,” says TSANZ organising committee chair Dr Shannon Simpson.
“We surveyed the members early in the planning process and the thing that came through overwhelmingly was that people wanted opportunities to catch up and reconnect so we have put in a number of events to try to help facilitate that.”
With that in mind, the organising team has created a number of dedicated networking and “meet an expert” events, as well as the usual hectic social program of years gone by.
The program even includes yoga classes among other opportunities “where people can catch up and talk science outside of the regular scientific sessions”, Dr Simpson says.
She stresses the conference, which has been programmed around a key theme of disparities in respiratory health care, does have a major clinical focus.