Started in 2016 at the ECTS in Rome, the “East-meets-West” symposium has been a regular appointment in the following Congresses. Initially conceived by Claus Glüer to strengthen exchange of information and collaborations between Europe and Asia, it maintained these expectations during the course of the years, even though the surge of COVID-19 pandemic partly impeded further progression of the initial proposal during the last two years.
The action group of ECTS responsible for this symposium is composed by Salvatore Minisola, Ning Wang and Ling Oei. Claus Glüer and Steve Cummings continue to have a fundamental role in both outlining future projects and shaping annual symposia. The counterpart Eastern Societies are China, Japan, and South Korea, where two main Societies exist. In recent years, an interest of being a part of this group has also been shown by other Eastern Societies (i.e. those from India and Middle East).
Last year, there was an interesting Symposium centred on “Prevention of vertebral fractures”. Dr. Oei is now leading the group of experts who participated in the symposium (S. Minisola, S. Cummings, R. Eastell, H. Yue, Y.-C. Ha, H. Hogino and C. Glüer) summarizing the most important aspects with the aim to submit a summary statement to a journal in the field.
The 2022 Symposium is entitled “Differences in national guidelines and patient pharmaceutical treatment”. Speakers from both the West and East countries will convene to discuss a very hot issue. It is expected that there will be a great participation (hopefully in presence) from the Eastern societies. In addition, the most relevant abstracts submitted by scientists from Eastern countries will be included as an oral presentation during the Symposium.
See you in Helsinki!