We asked Society members to share their thoughts and highlights from two major endocrinology conferences this summer: ECE 2023, organised by the European Society of Endocrinology (ESE), and ENDO 2023, the annual meeting of the Endocrine Society.

ECE 2023

The 25th European Congress of Endocrinology took place in Istanbul, Turkey on 13–16 May. Here, Society members Cynthia Andoniadou and Helen Simpson give us their insights.

Cynthia Andoniadou

Reader in Stem Cell Biology and Associate Dean for Postgraduate Research, King’s College London

I had a superb experience at ECE 2023 but, as Chair of the ESE Congress Committee, I am somewhat biased in my opinion of the programme!

As a basic scientist working on stem cells of the hypothalamus–pituitary–adrenal axis, I found that there were sufficient basic and translational talks to attract me for this content alone, despite ECE being a mostly clinical conference. At the same time, I valued keeping informed about the clinical advances in my field, and networking with colleagues from Europe and beyond.

On site, I attended all the plenaries, pituitary and neuroendocrinology sessions and adrenal and cardiovascular sessions. Even just through the (truly stellar) plenaries, I received a very well-rounded experience. The six plenary sessions and seven award lectures covered a broad range of topics across varied endocrinology focus areas. I have been able to watch most of the remaining Congress content through ECE@Home (ESE’s on-demand catch-up service), although I still have a few talks to go!

Within the pituitary and neuroendocrinology symposia content, highlights for me were ‘Spotlight on the posterior pituitary’ (Chris Thompson, Cihan Atila and Alessandro Peri) as well as ‘Prolactinomas’ (Erika Peverelli, Gerald Raverot and Renata Auriemma). Both were extremely well attended. Among the adrenal and cardiovascular content, I particularly enjoyed the symposium on ‘Aberrant/illicit expression of receptors in adrenal lesions’ (André Lacroix, Peter Kamenicky and Hervé Lefebvre) and the basic symposium on ‘Research advances in adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) pathogenesis’ (Katie Basham, Pierre Val and Andreas Schedl). The speakers in this session presented recent cutting edge findings that reveal valuable new insights into the molecular underpinnings of ACC.

Excellent basic science also featured in the New Scientific Approaches sessions:

• Thyroid effects on organoids – Sylvie Remaud-Jachiet
• Single cell -omics – Igor Adameyko
• Circulating DNA to identify targetable mutations in metastatic endocrine cancers – Rodrigo Toledo.

These sessions, given by world experts, are always superb and approachable for all audiences, so I would highly recommend catching some of them next year.

Helen Simpson

Consultant Endocrinologist, University College London Hospitals

This was my first ECE and I went to deliver my first international invited speaker talk. It was also my first overseas meeting for many years: single parenting and a pandemic don’t lend themselves to globe trotting. Flying in over the Bosphorus made me aware of the geographical location, bridging Europe and Asia. Coupled with the fact that Turkey’s general election happened whilst we were there, my attention was acutely drawn to the geopolitics.

Once at the meeting, the sessions I enjoyed most included the symposium ‘Spotlight on the posterior pituitary’ and a rapid communications session on adrenal insufficiency.

I loved hearing Chris Thompson distil years of clinical experience into 30 minutes; take aways for me were the use of a visual analogue scale for thirst to document adipsia, and being reminded of the data for measuring co-peptin with hypertonic saline to diagnose cranial diabetes insipidus/vasopressin (AVP) deficiency. As an aside, the debate on the renaming of cranial diabetes insipidus concluded that the audience did not favour using the new name AVP deficiency, which was provocative!

I really enjoyed the rapid communications session: three-minute presentations by research fellows and trainees, followed by an oral poster session which gave the opportunity to talk about their work in more detail. I loved the enthusiasm and passion they had for their work, and also felt encouraged, as the consensus was that it is hard to know who is at risk of adrenal crisis.

Whilst it was great to see people (as demonstrated above by Maria Fleseriu and me deciding who will be chief physician; photo credit to Rob Fowkes), the expense and time out of work present a challenge, and travel with its impact on climate change deserves thought. It was great to see hybrid sessions and the ability to see sessions on demand, which has many benefits, not least increased inclusion.

And how did my talk go? Well, I’m not best to comment on that, but there was a long queue of people asking questions and a request for more sessions on transition at future meetings. I’ll see what I can arrange.

 

ENDO 2023

The 2023 Annual Meeting of the Endocrine Society was held on 15–18 June in Chicago, IL, USA. Here are some highlights from Kate Laycock and Sophie Clarke.

Kate Laycock

Endocrinology Registrar, Queen Mary University of London, William Harvey Heart Centre

As a first-time attendee and presenter at ENDO 2023, I was struck by the size of this vast conference. However, whatever ENDO might have lacked in intimacy, it made up for in its breadth and quality. At any one time, multiple sessions were taking place on key areas of endocrinology. I was delighted to see presentations on a lot of unpublished, or very recently published, work.

I presented some of my data on adrenal single cell sequencing to experts from different countries, and found ENDO 2023 particularly notable for the presence of global lecturers and attendees. The conference delivered a series of Meet the Professor sessions by international speakers that were accessible to trainees, as well as social events directed at early career members.

I particularly enjoyed the Meet the Professor session entitled ‘How do I work up a woman with androgen excess?’ and the Adrenal Tumor Board event ‘Selected cases from the adrenal clinic’.

Sophie Clarke

Consultant Endocrinologist, University College London Hospitals

Due to the pandemic and home and work commitments, I had not attended ENDO for several years. I had forgotten the vast scale that it operates on, and how many high quality sessions it includes.

As a reproductive endocrinologist, some key highlights for me included attending the session on the new international guidelines for polycystic ovary syndrome, as well as the session reporting the findings of the TRAVERSE trial, which sought to examine the cardiovascular safety of testosterone treatment in hypogonadal men at risk of cardiovascular disease.

I also had the privilege of being invited to take part in a symposium on long COVID, where I presented work on the impact of COVID-19 on the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal and –thyroid endocrine axes in those with persistent symptoms. It was fascinating to meet other contributors to the field, and to learn of ongoing research in the area. I was also able to present work from a clinic I undertake with the Paediatric Adolescent Gynaecology Team, investigating the most effective hormonal therapies to achieve menstrual suppression for those patients who require it preoperatively. It was great to hear of others’ experience, both from the USA and from other international centres.

As well as being able to find out about the latest research, ENDO 2023 provided a great chance to catch up with friends and meet others working in similar fields and – in the midst of the challenges we currently face in the NHS – a great chance to remember all that is fun and brilliant about endocrinology.