Programme committee & streams

The IDF Virtual Congress 2023 programme is organised across four streams:

  • Cardiovascular disease and hypertension
  • Eye and kidney
  • Foot and neuropathy
  • Diabetes in crises

Chair

Andrew Boulton
United Kingdom

Advisor: Living with Diabetes Complications

Iryna Vlasenko
Ukraine

Streams

Cardiovascular Disease & Hypertension
Lead
Naveed Sattar
United Kingdom
Members
Sophia Zoungas
Australia
Anoop Misra
India
Jennifer Green
USA
Eye & Kidney
Lead
Per-Henrik Groop
Finland
Members
Sobha Sivaprasad
United Kingdom
Rafael Simo
Spain
Meda Pavkov
USA
Foot & Neuropathy
Lead
Andrew Boulton
United Kingdom
Members
Rayaz Malik
Qatar
Shazli Azmi
United Kingdom
Hermelinda Pedrosa
Brazil
Diabetes in Crises
Leads
Akhtar Hussain
Norway
Alicia Jenkins
Australia
Members
Mark Barone
Brazil
Linong Ji
China
Abdul Basit
Pakistan
Boris Mankovsky
Ukraine

Programme Chair

Andrew Boulton (United Kingdom)

Professor Andrew Boulton is the Immediate Past President of the International Diabetes Federation (IDF). He is currently President of the Worldwide Initiative for Diabetes Education and Chair of the European Alliance for Diabetes Research (EURADIA). Professor Boulton is a graduate of Newcastle-upon-Tyne University. He subsequently trained in Sheffield and Miami prior to accepting an appointment at Manchester University, where he is currently Professor of Medicine with a special interest in diabetes and its complications. He is also Consultant Physician at Manchester Royal Infirmary.

Advisor, Living with diabetes complications

Iryna Vlasenko (Ukraine)

Dr Iryna Vlasenko is an international expert in diabetes, currently a Vice President of the International Diabetes Federation. She has contributed to developing national and international regulatory documents and medical standards. In addition, her regular participation in government and key stakeholder meetings and attendance at international congresses has raised awareness of diabetes and brought about policy change. Dr Vlasenko’s areas of research include pharmaceutical care for people with diabetes, therapeutic education for people with NCDs and healthcare reform.

Streams

Cardiovascular disease and hypertension

Lead: Naveed Sattar (United Kingdom)

Professor Naveed Sattar is an Honorary Consultant at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary, co-leading a CVD prevention clinic. He graduated from the University of Glasgow in 1990. In 1993 he moved to Glasgow Royal Infirmary, first as a Specialist Registrar, then as Senior Lecturer and Reader. He was awarded a PhD from the University of Glasgow in 1998. After that, he joined the staff of the University of Glasgow and, in early 2005, was appointed as Professor of Metabolic Medicine at the Institute of Cardiovascular & Medical Sciences. Prof. Sattar is a Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists, the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons, Glasgow, the Royal Society of Edinburgh and the UK Academy of Medical Sciences.

Dr Sophia Zoungas, MBBS, FRACP, PhD, is the head of Monash University’s School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine in Melbourne, Australia, and also leads the School’s Metabolism, Ageing and Genomics Division. She collaborates extensively locally and internationally in the speciality areas of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, and healthy ageing.

Eye and kidney

Lead: Per-Henrik Groop (Finland)

Prof. Per-Henrik Groop is currently a Professor of Internal Medicine (Chair) at the University of Helsinki; Chief Physician at the Abdominal Center Nephrology, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital; Principal Investigator of the Finnish Diabetic Nephropathy (FinnDiane) Study at the Folkhälsan Research Center in Helsinki; and an Adjunct Professor at the Department of Diabetes, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia. He graduated from the University of Helsinki in 1982. Following post-doctoral studies at Guy’s Hospital, University of London, under Professor Giancarlo Viberti, Prof. Groop returned to Helsinki as a nephrology consultant. He served as a Professor of Nephrology (Chair) at the University of Helsinki from 2010–2015.

Prof Sobha Sivaprasad is an ophthalmologist at Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and a Professor in Retinal Clinical Research at University College London, London, UK. Her clinical and laboratory research interests include AMD, diabetic retinopathy and retinal vascular disorders, and she also runs several clinical trials in these areas. She works collaboratively with many institutions both in the UK and globally.

Foot and neuropathy

Lead: Andrew Boulton (United Kingdom)

Professor Andrew Boulton is the Immediate Past President of the International Diabetes Federation (IDF). He is currently President of the Worldwide Initiative for Diabetes Education and Chair of the European Alliance for Diabetes Research (EURADIA). Professor Boulton is a graduate of Newcastle-upon-Tyne University. He subsequently trained in Sheffield and Miami prior to accepting an appointment at Manchester University, where he is currently Professor of Medicine with a special interest in diabetes and its complications. He is also Consultant Physician at Manchester Royal Infirmary.

Dr Rayaz Malik is Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar (WMCL-Q) and Senior Physician in Endocrinology and Internal Medicine at Hamad General Hospital. His research focuses on the pathogenesis, assessment and treatment of diabetic neuropathy and neurodegenerative diseases such as stroke, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, and dementia.

Diabetes in crises

Co-Lead: Akhtar Hussain (Norway)

Prof. Akhtar Hussain is President of the International Diabetes Federation (2022-24). He previously served on the IDF Board as a Vice President (2013-2017) and President-Elect (2020-21). Prof. Hussain is originally from Bangladesh. After graduating in medicine from the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh, he received post-graduate and doctoral diplomas in Boston, USA and Bergen and Oslo, Norway, where he has resided since 1982. Over the last 25 years, Prof. Hussain has worked actively in diabetes and is currently a professor at NORD University in Norway, focusing on diabetes and metabolic syndrome.

Co-Lead: Alicia Jenkins (Australia)

Prof. Alicia Jenkins is a clinical endocrinologist and physician researcher. Her research focuses on type 1 and type 2 diabetes and their associated acute and chronic complications, vascular health, clinical, biochemical and molecular biomarkers and the use of technology in healthcare. She trained in medicine and research in Australia (University of Melbourne), the UK, Ireland and the USA. After 13 years full-time at the University of Melbourne/St Vincent’s Hospital (Melbourne) she joined the Faculty of Medicine at The University of Sydney in 2013 as Professor of Diabetes and Vascular Medicine, and continues clinical work at St. Vincent’s Hospital, Melbourne. Since 2000 she has served on the Board of the diabetes aid organization Insulin For Life and collaborates with the Life For a Child programme.

Dr Mark Barone has over twenty years of experience in developing solutions to improve diabetes and other non-communicable diseases care and prevention in Brazil, Latin America and globally. He the founder and general manager of the Intersectoral Forum to Fight NCDs in Brazil (ForumDCNTs) and a member of the BMJ Patient Advisory Panel, the Ramaiah International Centre for Public Health Innovations (RICPHI). He also sits on the steering committees of Life for a Child and the NCD Labs on People Living with NCDs at the WHO. Dr Barone served as a Vice President of the International Diabetes Federation from 2020 to 2022.

Stream descriptions and learning objectives

In this stream, you will learn all aspects of cardiovascular disease related to diabetes, both prevention and treatment of people with diabetes and existing cardiovascular disease or heart failure. Additional topics include epidemiology, screening processes and organisation of such care, diagnosis and latest management. The data presented during this session derives from high-, middle- and low-income countries. Therapy areas will focus on lifestyle factors, established cardiovascular risk reduction therapies and anti-diabetic medicines.

Learning objectives

After attending sessions in the Cardiovascular Disease & Hypertension stream, you will:

  • Understand the main risk factors for cardiovascular risk in diabetes and how to determine cardiovascular risk with simple risk scores.
  • Understand that early treatment of lipids and blood pressure has substantial benefits in diabetes and, where relevant, discuss appropriate treatment targets.
  • Understand the evidence base for lifestyle interventions to lower cardiovascular risk in diabetes.
  • Understand drivers of heart failure in diabetes and how to assess such risks.
  • Understand the evidence base for treatments designed to lower glucose but now available for lessening cardiovascular or cardiorenal risks and when to use them.
  • Gain an appreciation of trends in cardiovascular risks in people with diabetes over time and across different regions.
  • Apply evidence-based research to the management of cardiovascular disease and heart failure in diabetes.
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