CME supports 6th Annual Conference On Nephrology and Hypertension in Jamaica
In collaboration with the University of the West Indies, Faculty of Medical Sciences, the University of Michigan, and Ann Arbor, the Caribbean Institute of Nephrology hosted the 6th annual International Conference on Nephrology and Hypertension from January 30 to February 1st, 2014, at the Montego Bay Convention Centre under the theme: “Touching the Disadvantaged.”
The conference was officially opened by Professor Everard Barton and saw an address from the Chief Medical Officer on behalf of the Minister of Health of Jamaica. The Minister of Health joined the conference on February 1, 2014 with members from the Health Ministry. Greetings were also issued by His Excellency Pratap Singh-High Commissioner of India to Jamaica.
Some 23 international delegates provided insightful presentations on kidney disease, vascular and dialysis access, peritoneal dialysis, transplantation as well as the Caribbean Renal Registry and hypertension.
On the first day, participants listened to a state-of-the-art lecture on early life factors in disadvantaged populations and the impact of chronic non-communicable diseases. This was followed by a lecture on managing kidney diseases focusing on hypertension and anemia.
ISN Continuing Medical Education Committee Chair Fredric Finkelstein joined the talks, sharing his expertise on peritoneal dialysis in developing countries. Transplant surgeon Devon John spoke about “Nuances in a Transplant Program” and Guillermo Garcia spoke about multidisciplinary care and screening chronic kidney disease and hypertension in developing countries. Other talks focused on overcoming barriers in kidney transplantation in the developing world and recent advances in chronic allograft rejection.
Over 160 participants took part in the meeting including general practitioners, nephrology nurses, dialysis care technicians, pediatric nephrologists and students. These came from Jamaica but also from India, the Caribbean, North America, Trinidad and Tobago, the Cayman islands and the Bahamas.
The Caribbean Institute of Nephrology seeks to create a specialized and advanced academic to study nephrology. Since 2003, it has developed postgraduate training and updates through symposia, seminars and conferences in nephrology.
Every year, the ISN Continuing Medical Education Program brings essential teaching and training to some 14,000 doctors and health care practitioners in the world. It enhances the exposure of medical professionals to formal nephrology education.
