This event saw around 350 leading healthcare experts working in the field of Osteogenesis Imperfecta from around the globe transcend on Sheffield for this 4 day conference. This International Conference takes place every 3 years and should have taken place in 2020, but was postponed due to the Covid Pandemic.
The Brittle Bone Society Team were delighted to be able to attend. CEO, Patricia Osborne shared a platform with Ingunn Westerheim, President of OIFE and CEO Tracy Hart from OIF. All three gave an overview of the work of patient organisations and provided updates on their organisations. We also heard updates on the importance of the Impact Survey. The BBS were also able to display their History Bones Popups as well as hosting an information stand.
Highlights
Day 1: we heard talks from Allied Healthcare Professionals from Sheffield and Bristol covering topics such as early life interventions, play and involvement with caregivers. The BBS also attended talks on registries, diagnostic pathways, gene therapy and more.
Day2: the morning session focused on Wellbeing in OI and included talks from Dr Rebecca Jones from Sheffield who discussed psychological well-being in children and young people. We also had a talk from Davina Ford and Dr Jennie Walsh who gave an overview of the Sheffield Transition process into Adult Services and Dr Ruth Kingshott shared resources on sleep.
Our CEO, Patricia met Dr Wolfgang Hogler, formerly of Birmingham Children’s Hospital, now working in Linz Austria. Dr Hogler was speaking to fellow clinicians about mutations, bone fragility and muscular hypotonia. We also heard talks from our MAB member Dr Meena Balasubramanian (Sheffield) who was covering bone, brain and beyond. Other talks included, surgery, post-surgery rehabilitation, cellular/tissue pathophysiology and more.
Day3: we attended the bench to bedside section; this was a session sharing updates on early phase studies through to integrated care. The holistic approach was delivered by Dr Paul Arundel (Sheffield). We also heard talks from Outi Maktie Helsinki on clinical management of rare bone diseases as well as lessons and synergies across diseases.
Day 4: There was a session of oral communications which consisted of short 10-minute presentations and an interesting overview of surgical management of skeletal dysplasia from Tae-Joon Cho (Seoul, Republic of Korea). We also heard an amazing talk from surgeon Mr Paul W Esposito USA, who was hugely respectful of the knowledge he gained from Sheffield in the treatment of OI. He also had huge respect for mums of OI children whom he said drove surgeons like him to do his best, and safely! This amazing surgeon who is set to retire from the orthopaedic world was given huge praise for his services to the OI Community!
There were also interesting updates on current and future research trials. We heard about the latest news on Setrusumab and Topaz Trials.
Poster Presentations
Support Development Officer, Coreen Kelday was on hand to discuss the BBS Poster on Clinical Care during the Covid Pandemic and received good interest.
Sophie Barlow, Physiotherapist from the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, Stanmore was presenting a poster in relation to the BBS funded research project on percieved therapy needs of adults living with OI.
Chloe Morgan, Phd Student from Swansea University was sharing her BBS supported research project investigating the transition from paediatric to adult services.
Keynote Address
We also must mention we got the chance to see the magnificent Sheffield Cathedral where Lord Shinkwin delivered the keynote address. You can watch Lord Shinkwin’s talk here.
The week was extremely beneficial in terms of learning and collaboration for both Healthcare Professionals and Patient Groups. A huge thank you to Professor Nick Bishop and the team at Sheffield for organising the incredible conference.
