It’s lovely to meet with colleague Bianca Itariu, who is a board member as secretary in the Austria Obesity Society.
Bianca, can you please share an overview of key topics and themes for the 2023 Congress, which will be held 12-13 October 2023 in Vienna? Will the congress be held in German?
This year’s joint annual meeting of the Austrian Obesity Society and the Austrian Society for metabolic and bariatric surgery focuses on the multidisciplinary therapy of obesity including: 1) sustainable nutrition, the benefits of diet vs physical activity and motivational aspects, 2) medical therapy of obesity including a key note lecture by Prof Daniel Drucker and an update on medical treatment of children with obesity and 3) interdisciplinary approaches to obesity surgery, potential complications after bariatric procedures and surgical aspects will be also key themes. Interdisciplinary treatment programs will be presented as.well. Other topics include the link between obesity and liver health, the relationship between obesity and addiction and a basic science session. The event provides a platform for knowledge exchange highlighting many approaches to obesity treatment. One very exciting part of the Congress will be presenting the Austrian Obesity Association’s consensus statement on the diagnosis and management of people with obesity in short the Austrian Guidelines. The IFSO/ASMBS Guidelines for bariatric/metabolic surgery will also be discussed. The Congress will be held in German except for the keynote lecture.
It looks like you have a busy agenda for the congress. Who is your keynote speakers this year?
The Keynote lecture will be presented by Professor Daniel J Drucker.
Are there any special workshops, panels, or interactive sessions planned for the congress? If so, can you share some details?
There are several interactive sessions including an interdisciplinary obesity board covering topics from lung fibrosis and obesity, eating disorders and hernia as well as type 2 diabetes remission. Furthermore we also included expert battles on diets and BMI thresholds for surgical Vs medical treatment. We also look forward to the oral presentations selected from all the abstracts that have been submitted. A few industry sponsored Symposiums round up the Congress as usual.
What are the longer-term goals of the Austrian Obesity Society around obesity research and treatment in country?
The Austrian Obesity Society aims to promote, conduct, and coordinate scientific activities in the entire field of obesity, as well as to implement the knowledge gained into practice. We support obesity research awarding abstract prizes for the best abstracts and we are very outspoken about access to treatment for PwO in Austria. We hope that the consensus statement will have an impact on insurers reimbursing costs for medical therapy. One long term goal for us as Society is to contribute to the implementation of accessibility of obesity treatment for everyone who needs it. Herefore we partnered with the Austrian Medical Association and the Austrian Pharmacists Association and created the Obesity Alliance (Adipositasallianz) with the goal to help recognise obesity as a chronic disease and improve prevention and treatment as well as educate HCP and the general public on relevant issues.
The Austrian Obesity Society independently organises the Obesity Academy twice a year – an educational programme for HCPs who become “obesity trainers” (Adipositastrainer) upon successful participation.
And finally, Bianca, how can people review the programme and register?
The preliminary programme is already online on the society’s Homepage www.adipositas-austria.org Updates to the programme can be checked in real time via QR code access. Registration is open and can be accessed on the homepage by clicking on the registration link https://www.adipositas-austria.org/registration-2023/index.php We hope we got your readers curios and look forward to a productive and interesting Congress.