First European Respiratory Society patient symposium 2011

Dear friends,

Yesterday European Respiratory Society and European Lung Foundation announced about organization of the First European Respiratory Society patient symposium on 2011 European Respiratory Society Annual Congress in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

 

Save the date: 28 September 2011 09.30 -12.30 

Location: The symposium will take place in the F Rooms, at the Amsterdam RAI conference centre in the Netherlands. 

Program of the symposium: 

How is Europe responding to the needs of patients with respiratory disease?
Michel Goldman, Executive Director Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI)

Translating a good idea into a treatment of lung illness, the challenges and joys of developing new medicines
Tim Higenbottam, Director of Corporate Clinical Development, Chiesi

Where science and patients meet: understanding asthma
Pim de Boer, from the U-BIOPRED research project

Listening to patients to improve outcomes of COPD
Thierry Troosters, from the PROactive research project

How does the ERS guide patient care of the future?
Marc Decramer, President of the ERS

The audience will have the opportunity to discuss a number of topics, including:

• the benefits that can be gained from having patients as active partners in research
• the challenges that might be faced when involving patients in research and how these can be overcome
• examples of different levels of patient involvement in research and the outcomes
• methods that can be employed to better engage the patient 

We are inviting you to this Special Respiratory event! Registration and more information is here!

WINNER OF U-BIOPRED ASTHMA ART CONTEST 2011

Dear Respiratory Friends, we wrote earlier about U-BIOPRED project and U-BIOPRED Asthma Art Contest 2011.

The art contest is part of a European-wide project called U-BIOPRED - Unbiased BIOmarkers in PREDiction of respiratory disease outcomes.

Marije Kootstra from The Netherlands won the competition and will be presented with her award at the European Respiratory Society  Amsterdam Congress Opening Ceremony on September 24, 2011. 

ASTHMA ART CONTEST 2011

On World Asthma Day 2011 (3 May), people with asthma and severe asthma are being encouraged to get creative for a unique art contest which will explore what it is like to live with the condition. 

The contest is open to people of all ages and will help bridge the gap between doctors’ understanding of the condition and a person’s experience of it.

Asthma is a major health problem around the world and is a one of the world’s major non-communicable diseases. Not all types of asthma are the same and current treatments adopt a uniform approach, meaning they don’t work well for everybody. The art contest is part of a European-wide project called U-BIOPRED - Unbiased BIOmarkers in PREDiction of respiratory disease outcomes. U-BIOPRED is a research project funded by the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI), to understand more about severe asthma that involves scientists from universities, research institutes, the pharmaceutical industry and small companies.

U-BIOPRED will help scientists understand more about severe asthma. The researchers will look at how severe asthma differs from one person to another in the hope of uncovering more effective treatments in the future. 

                                            U-BIOPRED video

The competition is open to any person with asthma and all types of art work from dance, music and poetry, to paintings and photography are encouraged. The top three winning entries will be displayed on the U-BIOPRED website. 

The winner will be invited to the European Respiratory Society Congress in Amsterdam (24-25 September) to receive their award and see their winning entry presented at the opening ceremony. Professor Peter Sterk, project lead, said:  “The U-BIOPRED project aims to understand more about asthma and severe asthma. One important way we can do this is to hear from patients directly. This contest enables patients to express, through art, what the condition is like and how it impacts upon their life.”

Professor Peter STERK

University of Amsterdam

“The winning entry will be the piece which best conveys what it is like to have asthma and we want to hear from anyone with the condition, whether you are a budding or artist, or a complete beginner.”

The closing date for all entries is 1 June 2011. You can enter the art contest by uploading a digital copy of your artwork to the website. For full terms and conditions, visit: www.ubiopred.european-lung-foundation.org/artcontest.