Duque to grace first int’l liver conference

Health Secretary Francisco Duque will be the guest speaker during the opening ceremonies of the First St. Luke’s International Liver Conference scheduled on Jan. 15-16 at the Garden Ballroom of the Edsa Shangri-la Hotel in Mandaluyong City.

Organized by the Center for Liver Diseases of St. Luke’s Medical Center in cooperation with the St. Luke’s College of Medicine-William Quasha Memorial, Philippine Association for the Study of Liver Diseases and the Philippine Foundation for Liver Diseases, the two-day conference features eight foreign experts who have been invited to speak on updates and controversies in the diagnosis and management of chronic hepatitis B, chronic hepatitis C, alcoholic liver disease, liver cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma and metastatic liver disease, and hepatitis B in pregnancy.

The opening ceremonies will have the St. Luke’s College of Medicine choir singing the National Anthem. Afterwards, Dr. Marvin Basco, co-chairman of the conference’s organizing committee and director of St. Luke’s Medical Center’s Institute of Digestive Diseases, will give the invocation.

This will be followed by the welcome remarks of Jose F.G. Ledesma, St. Luke’s president and CEO. Juliet Gopez-Cervantes, co-chairwoman of the conference’s organizing committee and head of St. Luke’s Center for Liver Diseases, will give the opening remarks, after which she will introduce Duque.

Scheduled to speak during the two-day conference are Dr. Samuel Bernal, hematology and oncology chief, UCLA-San Fernando Valley and the Sepulveda VA, Medical Center and professor of medicine, UCLA School of Medicine; Dr. Yuman Fong, gastric and mixed tumor service chief and Murray F. Brennan chair, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center; Dr. Robert Gish, medical director for liver transplant, California Pacific Medical Center; and Dr. Patrick Kamath, director, Advanced Liver Diseases Study Group, and professor of medicine, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine.

Also invited are Dr. Ching Lung Lai, professor of medicine and hepatology, Department of Medicine, University of Hong Kong; Dr. Willis Maddrey, executive vice president for clinical affairs, internal medicine-digestive and liver diseases, University of Texas; Dr. Teerha Piratvisuth, associate professor, Prince of Songkla University, Thailand; and Dr. Solko Schalm, PhD, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

Bernal will be talking about "Molecular Therapy" as a treatment modality for liver disease, while Fong will discuss "Resection" and "Surgical Options for Metastatic Liver Lesions."

"Monotherapy Issue: The Needle or The Pill" and "Combination Treatment: How Strong is the Evidence?" are just two of the topics to be handled by Gish.

Mayo Clinic’s Kamath is scheduled to talk about "Renal Dysfunction in Cirrhosis: Diagnosis and Management" and "Therapeutic Strategies in Variceal Bleeding and Ascites." Another interesting talk is Lai’s "Role of HBV Genotypes in Managing CHB among Asians."

Maddrey is scheduled to speak on the first day of the conference on "Current Options for Treatment" and "What to do with the Relapsers?" Piratvisuth will share her expertise on the topic "Options for CRF or ESRD and Post KT CHC."

Schalm, on the other hand, has been assigned to talk about "Nonresponders in CHC: Treatment Options" and "Antiviral Resistance: What is the Best Option?"

For more information about the conference, call 724-1737 or 723-0101 extension 4122 or 4123, or e-mail at [email protected].