Saturday, June 9, 2007

Endo 2007, Toronto


Yes, this is my first Cross-Atlantic Medical Conference attended. My kind acknowledgements to my sponsors, fellow colleagues, mentors, and supervisors who without their undestanding and help, this trip would not be possible.
The conference was attended by over 7,000 participants, and is well recognised as "the Event" that a Endocrinologist or aspiring Endocrinologist should attend once or more in their careers. I am thoroughly impressed with the organisers for hosting such a huge event without major hiccups. Needless to say, millions of dollars must have been poured into this event.
As for me, I never thought it would be a reality that I would be sponsored to such an event at my stage. My gratitute again to my mentors who introduced me to my sponsors.
The event lasted 5 days, and the programme starts from 6am until 9pm almost everyday. It is almost impossible to attend every session of the Event, hence there's even a computerised event scheduler that you can pre-plan the sessions that you intend to participate. It is all too overwhelming for me at first, but finally manage to accomodate to the event environment by the end of the 2nd day (minus the severe jet-lag).
What I learnt from the Profs that attended this event is to network and get to know fellow researchers in the same interest field for the purpose of enriching our research experience. By the way, a Malaysian Endocrine Fellow from the very prestigious Mayo Clinic made a friendly gesture by approaching us during our poster presentation time. He is Dr Khoo Teck Kim, from Seremban, now almost in his last year of his Endocrine Training. I wish him every success in his career, and really appreciate is gesture of friendliness.
The hard-copy of the handouts, abstracts, etc, amounts to 3 telephone-directory thicked books for the participants. Everyday, 700 different posters are presented, hence at least 3,500 posters have been displayed during the course of the Event! I think just by the sheer numbers alone, this is the most super kiasu event I ever attended!
Anyway, thanks to the 60 hours of travelling time (to-and-fro) I had to endure to attend the event, I am suffering from severe jet-lag. I am glad that I am finally back home and enjoying the local food to alleviate my symptoms of acute withdrawal from Penang food. In addition to that, I am still adjusting to the local time zone, hence more time to blog, given the fact that I woke up today at 4am!
To those who still occasionally view my blog (evidenced by the stat counter), thank you for your participation, and your views are most welcomed.