BASL2017 Annual Meeting 

19th - 22th September, Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry

Incorporating:

BLTG Transplant Meeting 19th - 20th September

BASL Nurse Forum Meeting 21st September

The BASL Committee welcomes you to Warwick

Please join us at Warwick University for the BASL2017 Annual Conference where all of us interested in liver disease will share time whether we are clinicians, nurses, basic scientists, pharmacists, working in industry or students.

BASL follows seamlessly from the third meeting of the British Liver Transplant Group (BLTG), making it easy for the many delegates who want to attend both conferences. BLTG as ever includes the ‘Williams-Calne Lecture’, given this year by Professor Peter Friend (Oxford). An additional highlight is the state of the art lecture by Professor Geoff McCaughan (Sydney).

Cellular senescence is involved in every aspect of every liver disease including inflammation, fibrosis and cancer. Recent data on reversing the process has major implications for longevity, healthy aging and Hepatology (& older BASL Presidents). We start with a small basic science workshop on Senescence on Wednesday morning (open to all comers), preceding the main BASL meeting. The BASL conference proper opens after lunch on Wednesday and will explore clinical and liver related aspects of senescence with a distinguished international faculty. A highlight of the meeting will be the state of the art lecture by Professor Judith Campisi (Buck Institute, California).

The main poster session is on Wednesday evening with supper provided (in a departure from previous meetings to encourage interaction). Please note: posters are to remain in situ throughout.

The second day has two streams: first, the interaction between the Liver and the Gut and second, the named lectures. These include the Ralph Wright Lecture (Professor John O’Grady) the British Liver Trust Lecture (Dr. Mary Ramsay), the inaugural Alex Mowat Lecture (Dr. Sue Beath) and the annual Dame Sheila Sherlock Prize Lecture.

The BASL committee is aware that conference dinners have been disappointing in recent years and hope this year’s dinner (supported by BASL) at Warwick Castle, a stunning venue, on Thursday evening will be more engaging.

In the final morning we will follow the model from 2016 with a series of case-based discussions led by recognised experts in the field before a lunchtime departure.

Oral presentations of the highest scoring abstracts of original research will be interspersed throughout the meeting.

The liver nurses hold their Annual Meeting in parallel on the Thursday and this year this has especial importance as it will be celebrating the launch of the newly formed British Liver Nurses Association following a merger of the BLNF & the BASLNF. This day promises to deliver exciting and inspiring sessions for all nurses working within Hepatology, with the programme including a wide range of topics relating to liver disease and its associated issues and challenges.

As always, we are grateful to our sponsors without whom it would be impossible to run these meetings and to all Speakers and Chairs for their individual contributions.

Enjoy the conference!

Professor Graeme Alexander & David Patch
BASL President & Secretary