Learning doesn’t stop—especially for those in the medical field.
For United Laboratories, Inc. (Unilab), bringing the world’s top-caliber medical experts to the country for a yearly lecture on holistic approaches to curing certain ailments is one step to help ensure that the knowledge and practice of Filipino physicians is keeping up with the rapidly evolving medical trends.
For the third straight year, Unilab assembled another elite cast of four globally renowned physician-educators for the 2017 Experts’ Convergence for Health Outcomes (ECHO) Summit with the theme “Pearls and Pitfalls in the Diagnosis and Management of Silent, Degenerative Diseases.”
“ECHO Summit is an expert multi-specialty conference usually targeted for internists. Aside from the topics of neurology, cardiology, endocrinology and women’s health, which were started last year, this year’s ECHO Summit will focus more on degenerative conditions,” said Dr. Caridad Purugganan, BioFemme Medical Director and part of the 2017 ECHO Summit organizing committee.
“ECHO is an advocacy that doctors will continue to seek out and rely on for new concepts on various management options. ECHO is an avenue where Filipino medical practitioners could look forward to getting expert opinion from global experts, the best in their fields,” Dr. Purugganan added.
The 2017 ECHO Summit featured four specialists in hypertension, endocrinology, obstetrics and gynecology, psychiatry and psychotherapy, with focus on addressing degenerative diseases.
Degenerative diseases are results of changes in the human body, particularly deterioration of tissues and organs, due to normal bodily wear or bad lifestyle choices.
“It’s inevitable, even machines do wear and tear, so us humans cannot be that much efficient as we grow older. But we can certainly do something to avoid being subjected to stresses and maintain our health and wellness,” Dr. Purugganan pointed out.
“We Filipinos are living longer, but the question is what’s our quality of life? It’s the quality that is very relevant. People may not be aware that they can do something to address degenerative diseases, which is a way of improving the quality of life,” Dr. Purugganan added.
Among the medical experts that Unilab brought in for the 2017 ECHO Summit was Dr. Rod Baber, clinical professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Sydney Medical School. He discussed the importance of proper lifestyle and diet management in preventing the early onset of osteoporosis, particularly in women in the menopausal years.
Dr. Baber’s discussion revolved around the importance of building up one’s bone mass, which defines the healthiness of a person’s bones, to prevent early brittleness of bone structure leading to osteoporosis. Dr. Baber will also highlight the effects of menopause in speeding the fragility of bones due to hormonal changes in a woman’s body.
In 2013, Dr. Baber received The Distinguished Service Medal from The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetrician and Gynaecologists for his contribution to the field of obstetrics and gynecology.
Meanwhile, Dr. Reuven Zimlichman discussed one of the most common degenerative diseases known to man: arterial aging. Arterial aging includes the series of functional and structural changes in the blood vessels that occur with age.
One’s physical age may not be the same as his or her arterial age, says Dr. Purugganan. If one’s arteries are getting older at an unprecedented speed or time at a young age, he or she could suffer from cardiovascular diseases like hypertension, myocardial infarction, stroke, renal failure, among others.
Most of the factors that catalyze arterial aging include genetics, smoking, alcohol drinking, lack of physical activities, mental stress and unhealthy diet.
“The message of Dr. Zimlichman’s talk was, if you opt for wellness and a healthy lifestyle as early as possible, then you would prevent the onset of degenerative diseases much better,” Dr. Purugganan explained.
Dr. Zimlichman is the current chairman of the Department of Medicine and head of the Department of Hypertension at the E. Wolfson Medical Center. He is also serving as the Director of The Brunner Cardiovascular Research Institute at Tel-Aviv University.
Dr. Paresh Dandona, M.D., PhD, a distinguished professor at the University of Buffalo and Founder of the Diabetes-Endocrinology Center of Western New York, meanwhile, will lecture on the latest breakthroughs on the effects of testosterone replacement treatment in relation to people diagnosed with diabetes.