Preventing Overdiagnosis

We are pleased to invite you to submit an abstract for the 2019 Sydney conference. Themes for the conference include:

· Commercial Drivers of Overdiagnosis / Commercial Determinants of Health
· Genomics / Precision Medicine / AI
· Overdiagnosis and the Media
· Addressing Overdiagnosis and Overtreatment in Musculoskeletal Conditions
· Screening and Overdiagnosis in the Asia Pacific Region

You are welcome to submit an abstract relating to one of these themes – or about any topic related to overdiagnosis and its prevention.

Presenter information can be found HERE

Deadline for Abstract Submissions are as follows:

• February 28th 2019 - for review & response by mid-March
• March 31st 2019 - for review & response by mid-April
• April 30th 2019 - final deadline. These abstracts will be reviewed by mid-May.

From North and South America

Barry Kramer – NIH National Cancer Institute
a leading global authority on cancer overdiagnosis and recent Director of the Division of Cancer Prevention, NIH National Cancer Institute, USA.

Ana Rosengurtt – Citizen
Citizen advocate who has led a courageous fight against mandatory breast cancer screening in Uruguay.

Brenda Wilson – Memorial University of Newfoundland
Public health professor at the Memorial University of Newfoundland who is raising concerns about potential downsides of widespread genomic screening.

From Europe

Fiona Godlee – The BMJ
Editor-in-chief of The BMJ, which is leading global scientific debate about the problem of overdiagnosis.

Anna Stavdal – WONCA Europe
President elect of the World Organization of Family Doctors, a peak body for groups representing more than 500 000 family doctors and general practitioners around the world.

Teppo Järvinen – University of Helsinki
Orthopaedic surgeon who is a leader in the scientific debate about overdiagnosis, unnecessary operations and too much medicine, based at the University of Helsinki, Finland.

From Asia

Jin-Ling Tang – University of Hong Kong
University of Hong Kong and Director of Hong Kong branch of the Chinese Cochrane Centre, with an interest in the consequences of expanding disease definitions.

Kota Katanoda – National Cancer Centre Japan
from the National Cancer Centre Japan, who will deliver lessons from Japan’s epidemic of overdiagnosis of neuroblastoma.

From Australia

Adam Elshaug – University of Sydney
Global expert on low-value care, based at the University of Sydney in Australia.

Michael Shirley – Citizen
Citizen advocate, who has been overdiagnosed with prostate cancer, based in Sydney.

Robyn Ward – University of Sydney
A global authority on genomics and cancer, the chair of Australians powerful regulatory body, the Medical Services Advisory Committee, and executive dean, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney.

Rachelle Buchbinder – Monash University
A champion of evidence-informed decision-making and the dangers of overdiagnosis and unnecessary care in the world of musculoskeletal conditions, based at Monash University.

Chris Maher – University of Sydney
University of Sydney expert on overdiagnosis and overtreatment in the world of physiotherapy.

Robin Bell – Monash University
Professor Bell is Deputy Director of the Women's Health Research Program at Monash University and has published over 200 peer-reviewed manuscripts in women's health.

Tessa Copp – PhD candidate
Investigation of the impact of the polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) disease label on psychosocial outcomes and decision making.

Sanchia Aranda – Cancer Council Australia
Regarded as one of the world’s pre-eminent experts in cancer control. Professor Sanchia Aranda is CEO of Cancer Council Australia, the immediate Past President for Union for International Cancer Control and inaugural Board Chair of the Cancer City Challenge Foundation.

Professor Deborah Lupton – University of New South Wales
Professor in the Centre for Social Research in Health and the Social Policy Research Centre and Leader of the Vitalities Lab. She has a background in sociology and media and cultural studies, and her research combines qualitative and innovative social research methods with sociocultural theory.

The following statement was adopted by the participants at the end of the 6th Annual Conference held in Copenhagen on August 20– 22 2018.

On behalf of the Preventing Overdiagnosis Board, Scientific Committee and Local Organising Committee we want to thank you for attending the 6th Annual Conference held in Copenhagen on August 20– 22 2018.

The following statement was adopted by the participants at the end of the conference:

This conference regrets the fact that the draft Astana Declaration on Primary Health Care 2018 (From Alma-Ata towards Universal Health Coverage and the Sustainable Development Goals) makes no reference to the public health and clinical challenges of overdiagnosis and overtreatment. These challenges include direct harms to patients and citizens, misallocation of resources, and, over the longer term, they threaten the sustainability of universal healthcare systems and so undermine global health. Sustainable health systems must explicitly manage the twin problems of underuse and overuse.

http://www.who.int/primary-health/conference-phc/DRAFT-Declaration–9-April-2018.pdf