Fibrosis Across Organs Symposium

An interesting concept. As fibrosis develops in many organs including lungs, this symposium gathered all the fibrosis researchers and experts together in one room to share information and possibly bring forth ideas toward new research. Brilliant!

Below is the e-mail I received from Mishka Michon from The Coalition for Pulmonary Fibrosis  and the press release from the American Thoracic Society:

"The Coalition for Pulmonary Fibrosis was proud to co-sponsor the first Fibrosis Across Organs meeting that was held last week in Denver, Colorado.  This breakthrough meeting was convened by our partner, the American Thoracic Society (ATS), and was the first meeting to bring together experts in heart, lung, kidney, liver and skin fibrosis.  The goal of the meeting was to uncover similarities of the diseases and spur ideas to move the science forward in all organs.  While lung fibrosis (pulmonary fibrosis) doesn't yet have a treatment or cure, this meeting may help to spur future research to move us faster to answers.  Please read the ATS' press release below.

Sincerely,

Mishka Michon, CPF CEO

American Thoracic Society News Release

First Fibrosis across Organs  Symposium Provides Direction for Future Research and Treatment Efforts in  Fibrotic Diseases
 
Global experts in lung, liver, kidney, heart  and skin fibrosis meet to discuss similarities and differences of fibrotic  diseases that affect millions worldwide- collaboration  could drive future treatments and cures

Denver, Colo., March 13, 2012  – Experts from around the globe gathered in Denver over the weekend for a workshop in fibrotic diseases that exist in different organ system, including  the lung, liver, kidney, heart and skin and claim millions of lives.  These discussions will advance the understanding of diagnosis and treatment in these organ systems.  Most fibrotic diseases are progressive, irreversible and ultimately deadly.

The American Thoracic Society  (ATS) convened the meeting March 8-11 to bring together top scientists, researchers and physicians from academia, clinical practice and industry to identify the shared molecular and physiologic responses operative during tissue  injury and repair. More than 60 participants from around the world attended the meeting.

“The ATS was excited to be the first to offer a meeting of this kind to explore and identify new pathways  to  discovery in fibrotic diseases,” said ATS Executive Director Steve Crane,  PhD, MPH. “It was an impressive collaboration of  experts in different specialties that we  believe will advance the speed of discovery and move us faster towards  treatment and cures.”

The meeting’s objectives were to set the scientific priorities for future investigations in single organ and  cross-organ fibrotic disease, assess the currently available experimental  models and their relevance to human health and disease and  to identify  potential promising therapies for pathologic tissue fibrosis, including  idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), also referred to as simply pulmonary  fibrosis (PF) or lung fibrosis and fibrosis that occurs in the heart, liver,  kidney and skin.  “The physician and research participants at this meeting covered a lot of ground in a short period of time  and worked to identify the directions we should take in the area of fibrosis,”  said Gregory Cosgrove, MD, chair of the Fibrosis Across Organ Systems  Organizing Committee  and a pulmonologist  at National Jewish Health in Denver.

“The real success of this meeting will be measured by its impact on research into diseases and the lives of the patients who suffer from them and the stimulation of similar meetings around the world.”

“We all work in silos and we’ve broken down the barriers of our silos here,” said William Travis, M.D., a pathologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. “We go back to our areas to work outside of the box and work with other specialty areas.”

The meeting was organized by a group of physicians, academic experts and patient advocates, including the  meeting’s founders, John Tosi, DDS and his wife, Teresa Barnes who chairs the  ATS Public Advisory Roundtable (PAR) and is vice president of the Coalition for  Pulmonary Fibrosis.  Other committee organizers were Kevin Brown, M.D., a pulmonologist at National Jewish Health;  Dennis E. Doherty, M.D., pulmonologist at University of Kentucky and the  Lexington, Kentucky Veteran’s Administration (VA) Medical Centers; and Dolly  Kervitsky, RCP, CCRC, an experienced respiratory therapist who is vice  president of the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation.

The outcomes of the meeting will include a “Fibrosis Roadmap” for multidisciplinary and inter-institutional investigations that will published in a scientific journal.  “It is our intent that with a multidisciplinary approach, advances in our understanding in one disease may foster understanding in different fibrosing diseases so that exponential rather than incremental advances will be achieved,” said Dr. Cosgrove."