The OMI is eager to announce the kick-off of the 2023 satellite symposium series! OMI fellow, Dr. Natia Vashakmadze, reports on a successful event.
The Georgian Association of Endocrinology and Metabolism (GAEM) organized an International Conference on Clinical Endocrinology in Tbilisi, Georgia from February 4 to 5, 2023. The meeting was supported by the Open Medical Institute (OMI), Ilia State University, and the Israeli-Georgian Medical Research Clinic “Healthycore”.
GAEM invited world-renowned experts as well as local leaders in the field of endocrinology to give lectures and share knowledge and experience in clinical endocrinology with the audience. The meeting was held at the Holiday Inn conference hall and brought together more than 250 delegates, including not only endocrinologists, but also cardiologists, family doctors, internists, gynecologists, clinical residents, and medical students. The meeting opened a space for interdisciplinary discussion of clinical cases and interaction between doctors of different specialties.
The conference covered various topics in clinical endocrinology and was divided into four sessions: Adrenals and Gonads, Thyroid, Lipids and Cardiovascular Endocrinology, and Diabetes. Especially for this meeting, GAEM translated and published the Endocrine Society Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Hypertriglyceridemia and Lipid Management in Patients with Endocrine Diseases. The Cardiovascular Endocrinology session was chaired by world-renowned lipidologist Dr. Peter Lansberg, whose visit to Georgia was supported by the OMI. Dr. Lansberg gave a lecture titled “Are Statins Obsolete?!” After Dr. Lansberg’s talk, there were many questions and an active discussion among the audience and the faculty. The attending clinicians were actively involved in discussion and received a lot of practical information that will be used to improve patient care in Georgia.
The Georgian Association of Endocrinology and Metabolism (GAEM) was founded in 2018 by OMI fellow and endocrinologist Dr. Natia Vashakmadze. The organization has a small but motivated and hardworking team. One of the first meetings of the society was the international satellite symposium on lipidology, which took place in 2019 with the support of the OMI.
Dr. Natia Vashakmadze met Dr. Peter Lansberg and Dr. Philip Barter in 2016 at the Salzburg Weill Cornell Seminar in Lipid Metabolism and Atherosclerosis. Shortly after the seminar, with the help and support of the OMI, she invited them to a scientific meeting in Georgia. After the first successful satellite symposium, Dr. Vashakmadze organized two more satellite symposia in Georgia with the support of the OMI.
GAEM has been very active from the beginning and has already organized 10 international medical conferences on various topics in Endocrinology. GAEM hosted the 30th European Society of Endocrinology Postgraduate Course in Clinical Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, and has translated and published nine international guidelines, including those of the European Thyroid Association, the American Thyroid Association, and the Endocrine Society. The publication of the Endocrine Society’s Guidelines in Lipidology was sponsored by the Endocrine Society itself. In addition, GAEM has created patient information brochures about common endocrine diseases and is doing its best to raise awareness about endocrine diseases in Georgia. GAEM has also developed four national guidelines on thyroid diseases and vitamin D deficiency, which are approved by the Ministry of Healthcare of Georgia. GAEM is an affiliated member of the European Society of Endocrinology (ESE) and the International Society of Endocrinology (ISE).
