The 15th meeting of the famous international conference “Cardiology and Diabetes at the Limits” opened today in Cape Town.
Professor Derek Yellon, UCL Professor of Molecular & Cellular Cardiology and supported by the BRC first set up the meeting in 1997 with Professor Lionel Opie from University of Cape Town (UCT) to mark the launch of the Hatter Cardiovascular Institute at UCT and to celebrate the partnership between UCL and the University of Cape Town. It is also supported and endorsed by the The Lancet journal.
The meeting was established just as apartheid in South Africa was ending and was based on the principle of exchanging science and medicine between African and European continents.
What began with a meeting of 50 cardiologists from South Africa and 50 from the UK has snowballed into a meeting with 300 of some of the most eminent experts from over 25 countries. The meeting also now includes diabetes and is helping to build a network of specialists across the world.
This year’s meeting is being opened by Sir John Tooke, Vice provost for Health at UCL and Dr Max Price, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Cape Town. It includes a talk by BRC director Professor Bryan Williams. The agenda involves speakers, not only from South Africa and the UK but also from USA, Switzerland, France, Germany, Italy and Australia.
Professor Yellon said: “I think the reason why this meeting works so well is that there’s no actual theme. Every talk is different. It’s like a pot pourri or Grand Round. This is what we all enjoy and we are very privileged in being able to get the best speakers in the world to take part”.
