Vasculitis Foundation Canada

By Jon Stewart

VFC Announces Fall Speaker and Lecture Program Moving Forward Together on Vasculitis

VFC 2016 Fall Lectures – Saturday October 22, 2016
St. Joseph’s Healthcare – Charlton Campus
2nd.floor Frank Miller Amphitheatre
50 Charlton Avenue East
Hamilton, Ontario

 

Come to the Annual VFC Fall Lectures in Hamilton Ontario

 VFC is pleased to advise the theme for this falls lectures will be Moving Forward Together on Vasculitis.  It is an appropriate theme because patients, doctors, researchers and all members of the vasculitis family still need to come together and focus our efforts on moving vasculitis forward in every way.  Much more can be done, and with your participation we’ll continue to improve care, we will find new ways to control vasculitis and of course, together we will find the cause, and the ultimately the cure.

  We hope you’ll join us on this journey, the next chapter will be October, 22, 2016 in Hamilton when you’ll hear 6 incredibly determined, dedicated and talented doctors share their ideas about Moving Forward on Vasculitis.  Of course, we know large numbers of you are already with us on this journey, VFC turned 18 this past spring and Dr. Siminovitch’s original genetics research turned 15 this past spring, with well over 500 Canadian’s participating in this study.  And, PEXIVAS is the world’s largest clinical trial in ANCA Associated Vasculitis (AAV), and Dr. Walsh heads up this important trial. We’ve come a long way together and things continue to get bigger, and better, as you will hear from this year’s speakers.  And, you’ll have lots of time to answer questions that are important to you.

  This falls lectures will feature some familiar doctors to many of you, namely: Dr’s Nader Khalidi (Rheumatology), Gerald Cox (Respirology), and of course Michael Walsh (Nephrology & PEXIVAS).  In addition, we’ll hear updates from: Dr’s Christian Pagnoux (CanVasc), and Katherine Siminovitch (Vasculitis Genetics).  Joining the above “bright lights” will be special guest speaker Dr. Peter Grayson from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), in Bethesda, Maryland.

Registration begins at 9:00AM, as do Lab collections.  The lecture program gets underway at 10:00AM.  A food court does not exist at St. Joseph’s Healthcare (maybe for good reason 🙂 so we recommend preordering a lunch at time of registration, from a choice of 3 different “box lunches”, for just $13.00 each (tax included).  A “Tim’s” does exist on-site, however this is not a full service site, with coffee and donuts, but not soup and sandwiches etc.  Don’t be left hungry!

  Dr. Siminovitch will be collecting DNA samples, starting at 9:00AM, from all vasculitis patients who have not participated in the past.  As well, she’ll collect more fresh blood cells from GPA/MPA patients who are already participating in the 6 month follow-up study, or those who want to be. The initial study target is to get 50 GPA/MPA patients to give fresh blood samples on roughly a 6 month interval, many of our members are, and our spring and fall meetings are the ideal time to participate.  This study continues to deliver valuable information including the proteins which may be interacting with a certain identified gene(s), and the fresh blood cell study information, is about to get even more powerful as you’ll hear from Dr. Siminovitch.

Lecture Registration is FREE for VF Canada members, (whose memberships are current!), non-members can attend by making a $20 donation, or by becoming a member with a $20 Canadian membership, or a dual Canada/U.S. membership for $60. Lunch is not included and must be pre-ordered at time of registration if you want one, space may be limited so register early!

To view, or download, the full lecture program please click here.

To register for the fall lecture program as a “participant” click on participant registration in the visitors box on the main page of the registration site which can be found by clicking here: http://www.kintera.org/faf/r.asp?t=3&i=1163697