Dear Colleagues and Friends,

 

Despite being hopeful and starting planning for the Annual Conference 2021 in Lisbon where we would really meet again, we faced the tough decision to change the face-to-face meeting in 2021 to again a virtual meeting. The continuously changing travel conditions and international disparities due to the pandemic, affected the possibility to have a truly international meeting.

Therefore in 2021, 100 years after the discovery of insulin, the 47th ISPAD Annual Conference is “virtual” meeting from Wednesday October 13 to Friday October 15 2021.

Zdeněk Šumník has accepted to take over the flag for this year meeting and will be the convener of ISPAD 2021.

We have an exciting program, prepared in close collaboration with Catarina Limbert and the scientific program committee. It will bring us together virtually and -in keeping with our aims- will include people from all over the world to join and participate in the program.

The motto of the 2021 meeting is Bridging the Distances. Building the “bridges” to people with diabetes who are severely affected by the Covid 19 outbreak, due to isolation, but also to the lack of regular diabetes care.

This is one of the most important challenges for diabetes teams today. The word Telemedicine will be used frequently throughout the conference. We hope that the virtual bridges between the ISPAD family members bring new inspiration to all of us by exchange of experience, good clinical practice and by the presentation of novelties in research and clinical practice.

The CDT time zone may be difficult for some regions, but the sessions will be available on replay for all registered participants immediately. We will have Plenaries, Symposia, Meet the Experts and Debates with as much as possible “live” participation in the presentations. And of course, the oral presentations of the best abstract submissions, the Lecture from ISPAD Prize for Achievement 2021 awardee, the Society’s highest honor, ePosters and special interest groups discussions with virtual networking forums will be part of the program .

We hope you can join us in our virtual adventure in October 2021 and look forward to meeting you again face to face in Abu Dhabi next year!

Let us not miss an opportunity to engage in what we all love, meeting to learn from each other and share our experiences, albeit in virtual space.

 

Warm Regards

Zdeněk Šumník

ISPAD 2021 Conference President

Catarina Limbert

ISPAD 2021 Co-Chair

Carine de Beaufort

ISPAD President