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Q: As Head of Assembly 6, what are you most looking forward to about this year’s ERS Congress?
The ERS Congress is the annual highlight for top-quality scientific updates and networking opportunities for a vast number of researchers and clinicians, and I look very much forward to these important aspects in this year’s Congress.
The overarching theme this year, “Humans and machines: getting the balance right” will make an exciting, timely and important framework for the Congress, and will make for innovative learning and inspiration for all participants.
For Assembly 6, we have had a vast number of high-quality abstracts submitted to the congress from our Assembly members, covering a wide range of thematic areas – and I look forward to showcasing both the breadth and depth of our Assembly.
I also look forward to Vienna as a Congress venue – I have positive memories of well-organised ERS Congress here before and expect it will be better than ever this year.
Q: What in your opinion will be the hot topics for epidemiology and environment?
For our Assembly I think the hot topics will be particularly related to an overarching challenge of our time: climate change and air pollution.
Also, an increasing focus is emerging on the exposome approach to developments of respiratory diseases – where we need to take into account all exposures an individual has throughout its lifespan, and to some degree even in preceding generations, and see this holistic exposure picture in association with health and disease.
Several sessions from Assembly 6 this year will shed light on these pivotal themes, paving the way for exciting new knowledge.
Q: Tell us your top three picks from the Congress programme?
Monday, 9 September, 08:30 – 10:00 CEST
This session will cover the forthcoming joint Report of WHO Europe and ERS on Chronic Respiratory Disease (Towards Health equity in 2050), and provide brand new updates from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study. The session will focus on population-based chronic respiratory disease findings, research cooperation and future developments with regional director of WHO Europe, Hans Kluge, as introductory speaker. It will shed light on disease development in the present and provide guidance on how to tackle future challenges. For me, this session is a clear highlight at this year’s Congress.
2. Pro-con debate – Smoke-free environments in Europe – a utopia or a feasible reality?
Saturday, 7 September, 14:00–14:45 CEST
Although there will obviously not be a pro-con debate on whether a smoke-free environment is desirable or not, this session will provide important insights on the goal of a smoke-free generation and not least on the barriers we need to confront in order to create smoke-free environments for all. Although we see a very positive development in this regard in some countries in Europe now, important obstacles need to be overcome to achieve our goal in an efficient manner and I think this session may provide clinicians, researchers and policymakers with valuable tools to enable smoke-free generations and consequently a healthier future for our youngsters.
3. Hot topic session – Overcoming the challenges of increasing urbanisation on respiratory health
Monday, 9 September, 10:15–11:45 CEST
With the psychologically positive approach of focusing on how to overcome challenges rather than simply identifying problems, I think this session will add pivotal knowledge on disease prevention. The aims are to identify how future city life around the world may pose potential for improved respiratory health. While researchers often focus on adverse outcomes, we will in this session focus on beneficial outcomes – on how we can put our knowledge on risk factors to use and flip harms to benefits for an improved respiratory future. The session will describe such potential in lifestyle factors and in environmental exposures, from pre-puberty exposure windows for opportunities to indoor and outdoor environmental exposures, in a global context.
In addition, I need to emphasise how three picks is absolutely not sufficient, this year’s programme is of fabulous quality and I will indeed have a hard time getting around to all the important sessions I will want to see in Vienna – but it will definitely be worth it!
My top three picks from the 2024 ERS Congress programme are:
Monday, 9 September, 08:30 – 10:00 CEST
In this much anticipated major report release, respiratory health clinicians can expect a broad perspective on population-based chronic respiratory disease across multiple nations. This information is crucial to the development of effective and much needed multinational research collaborations, and the design and implementation of effective interventions indispensable to the effort to reduce respiratory disease burden.
2. Studio session – Use of artificial intelligence as a predictive modelling and diagnostic tool for COVID-19
Monday, 9 September, 14:00 – 14:45 CEST
As the theme of the Congress, the promise of artificial intelligence (AI) looms large in medicine, and in this session we chose to focus on research and clinical care of one of the most lethal environmental challenge of recent times, the still unresolved pandemic of COVID-19. AI enables the analysis of ever larger datasets, to identify risk factors for development and progression of long COVID, and promises to help healthcare providers to anticipate and manage cases more effectively. As the concerns of long COVID-19 refuse to go away, AI-powered diagnostic tools may help identify its symptoms and predict potential complications based on individual patient data. Clinicians need to understand both the promise and current limitations of those approaches, in order to better guide patient care.
3. Symposium – Why is idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis not so idiopathic?
Tuesday, 10 September, 10:15 – 11:45 CEST
Perhaps one day clinicians will equate the category of “idiopathic” with “cause to be discovered”, which would help reduce therapeutic nihilism! This session will strive to present the most up-to-date data on what we know about risk factors for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) that are preventable, including occupational and environmental exposures and protection of vulnerable individuals can help idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) management; to discuss how both treatment and prevention may extend the lifespan and improve the quality of life of people with IPF.