Join us this May to hear from 80 speakers from 26 countries covering more than 90 topics!
The expert speakers who will be taking part in the WFH 2023 Comprehensive Care Summit—many of whom are key opinion leaders for their specialties—will share their insights into the important developments taking place in our field. Today, we are profiling six noteworthy key opinion leaders who will be delivering engaging talks this May. To find out more about our speakers, have a look at our interactive program here.
Medical track highlights
The medical track will feature cutting edge research and the latest developments in the treatment of hemophilia and other bleeding disorders.
| Meet Angela C. Weyand, MD Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, U.S.A. |
Angela C. Weyand, MD, attended medical school at the University of Michigan, U.S.A, and completed her pediatrics residency at the University of Washington/Seattle Children’s Hospital. She then returned to the University of Michigan for pediatric hematology and oncology fellowship, and subsequently stayed on as faculty. Clinically, she is interested in von Willebrand disease (VWD) and young women and girls with bleeding or clotting disorders. She is co-director of a combined hematology/gynecology program and co-chair of an NHF working group that is developing a national research blueprint to address the needs people with VWD. Her research interests are in women and girls with bleeding disorders, hormone provoked thrombosis, and VWD. She also was a member of the management panel for the latest ASH ISTH NHF WFH Clinical Practice Guidelines on von Willebrand Disease.
Hear more from Angela C. Weyand, MD
VWD
May 11, 11:30 to 12:30 Argentina Time (ART)
In this session, Weyand will discuss the indications for VWD factor concentrate prophylaxis, products available for prophylaxis, and prophylaxis regimens. She will review evidence supporting the use of prophylaxis in target populations as well as the evidence used to inform the ASH ISTH NHF WFH Clinical Practice Guidelines on von Willebrand Disease. She will also be joined by two other experts, who will look at the application of the VWD guidelines in low-income settings, as well as aging and angiodysplasia in patients with VWD.
Management of WGBD
May 11, 14:00 to 15:00 Argentina Time (ART)
Weyand will also chair a panel of three experts who will cover the management of gynecological bleeding and pregnancy in women with bleeding disorders. They will also explore thrombosis in women and girls with bleeding disorders (WGBD) and what to do when clotting issues arise.
| Meet Frank W. Leebeek, MD, PhD Head of Department, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, Netherlands |
Frank Leebeek, MD, PhD, obtained his medical degree and PhD degree at Erasmus University in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, in 1990. He subsequently worked as a post-doctoral fellow for two years at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, U.S.A. He was trained as a hematologist at the Erasmus University Medical Center, where he became a staff member and was appointed full professor in 2009. He has chaired the Department of Hematology there since 2017. He is coordinating a research team on hemostasis and thrombosis with several research topics, mainly inherited bleeding disorders, including VWD and hemophilia. Leebeek has been co-chair of the Scientific and Standardization Committee on VWD Factor of the International Society on Thrombosis and Hemostasis (ISTH).
Hear more from Frank W. Leebeek, MD, PhD
Management of WGBD
May 11, 14:00 to 15:00 Argentina Time (ART)
In this session, Leebeek will cover the multidisciplinary approach to the management of pregnancy. This session will also cover the management of gynecological bleeding, thrombosis in women and girls with bleeding disorders (WGBD), and what to do when clotting issues arise.
Multidisciplinary track highlights
Multidisciplinary sessions will provide educational content from a multidisciplinary perspective, including the psychosocial specialist, dentist, nurse, physician, physiotherapist, community member, and patient points of view.
| Meet William McKeown, MD Access and Service Improvement Ambassador, UK Hemophilia Society, U.K. |
William McKeown, MD, is a patient with severe hemophilia A from Bangor, Northern Ireland. McKeown is an active patient advocate with several groups including Hemophilia NI, the Haemophilia Society (U.K.), and the European Haemophilia Consortium (EHC). He graduated from Queen’s University Belfast in 2014 and obtained membership to the Royal College of Physicians in 2017. Currently, McKeown works as a physician specializing in stroke and care of the elderly medicine and is based at Antrim Area Hospital, Belfast, U.K. McKeown has a particular interest in successful ageing in bleeding disorders.
Hear more from William McKeown, MD
Comprehensive Care of Aging (panel discussion)
May 10, 10:00 to 11:00 Argentina Time (ART)
In this session, McKeown will be joined by a panel of six experts as they identify and discuss the challenges of aging with a bleeding disorder, including an in-depth look at health promotion strategies, providing support, encouraging potential people with bleeding disorders (PWBDs) to access screening programs, and managing key aging conditions in the context of the specialist bleeding disorder care.
| Meet Valerie-Anne Chantrain PhD candidate, University of Antwerp, Belgium |
Valérie-Anne Chantrain, PT, MSc., has worked as physiotherapist at the sleep laboratory of the Cliniques universitaires Saint-Luc, Brussels, Belgium. After acquiring extensive clinical experience, she began working on a research project entitled “Gaining insight into the complexity of pain in people with hemophilia”. She is currently enrolled as PhD candidate at the University of Antwerp and UCLouvain, Belgium. Her doctoral research is the result of a close collaboration between pain scientists, hematologists and physiotherapists aiming to better understand the associations between pain, joint damage, and psychological factors in people with hemophilia. Her expertise in sleep medicine led her to focus on the interplay between sleep and pain in people with hemophilia.
Hear more from Valerie-Anne Chantrain
Pain Management
May 11, 15:30 to 16:30 Argentina Time (ART)
In this session, Chantrain will discuss sleep as part of pain management. She will be joined in this session by three other experts who will explore the use of medication to manage pain, the overuse of opioids in cases of chronic pain, myths about pain and what to do when suffering in pain, and the psychological aspects to be considered for the assessment of patients with pain.
Musculoskeletal track highlights
These sessions will be devoted to the latest musculoskeletal trends and emerging techniques, and will appeal to MSK specialists, healthcare professionals, patients, and families.
| Meet Horacio Caviglia, MD Professor of Orthopedic Surgery, Buenos Aires University, Argentina |
Horacio Caviglia, MD, is Professor of Orthopedic Surgery at Buenos Aires University, Buenos Aires, Argentina. He is also Chief of the Division Orthopedics and Traumatology at the Juan A. Fernández General Hospital, Chief of the Division Orthopedics and Traumatology at the Haemophilia Foundation of Argentina, and past President of the WFH Musculoskeletal Committee. Caviglia has published several articles in journals such as Hemophilia and Clinical Orthopedics and Related Research.
Hear more from Horacio Caviglia, MD
Plenary Overview: The art of treating synovitis
May 11, 10:00 to 11:00 Argentina Time (ART)
In this session, Caviglia will cover the uses of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) for the treatment of synovitis. Participants will learn more about when to use PRP and for what bone condition, and its mechanism of action. He will be joined by three more experts who will assess other approaches to treatment, including an assessment of chemical versus radioactive approaches, a risk/benefit analysis of surgical interventions for synovitis, and the effectiveness and long-term effects of hyaluronic acid.
Regional focus – South America
May 11, 14:00 to 15:00 Argentina Time (ART)
Caviglia will also chair our regional session focusing on South America, where participants will hear about the experiences of specialists working at treatment centres in Brazil, Uruguay, Chile, and Argentina.
| Meet Rubén Cuesta-Barriuso, Sr. Lecturer, University of Oviedo, Oviedo, Spain |
Rubén Cuesta-Barriuso, Sr. has a PhD in physiotherapy from the University of Murcia, Spain. He has been a lecturer at several universities and is the author of more than 50 articles in international journals on the evaluation and treatment of patients with hemophilia. Twenty of these articles have dealt with the study of the safety and efficacy of different manual techniques such as joint traction, fascia approach, myofascial self-release, and virtual reality through immersive videos. He is the principal investigator in ten research projects focused on the approach to patients with hemophilia and has directed five doctoral theses on hemophilia. Cuesta-Barriuso has also been a volunteer for the Spanish Hemophilia Federation for more than 20 years.
Hear more from Rubén Cuesta-Barriuso, Sr.
Multiple joint arthropathies
May 11, 16:45 to 17:45 Argentina Time (ART)
Cuesta-Barriuso will cover the role of manual therapies in the management of multiple joint arthropathies in this session. He will also look at whether manual therapy is possible without or with low factor coverage, and will share his knowledge about assistive devices and tools, and the necessary frequency of therapy sessions to obtain an acceptable outcome. Cuesta-Barriuso will be joined by two other experts who will provide an orthopedic perspective on the issue by considering the feasibility of surgery, and looking at the factors to consider before and after surgery.
Join us in Buenos Aires to learn from these experts and more! Visit our event page to consult the complete list of WFH Comprehensive Care Summit speakers. Click here to read our interactive program.
The WFH Comprehensive Care Summit: New Developments in Bleeding Disorders & MSK will be co-hosted by the Fundación de la Hemofilia (The Hemophilia Foundation of Argentina). This global summit is open to all members of the international bleeding disorders community and will take place in-person from May 10 to 12, 2023. Simultaneous interpretation will be available in Spanish and Portuguese for the multidisciplinary track, plenary sessions and the WFH sunrise session. To find out more about the Summit, click here or contact the WFH at [email protected].
