News

2009 World Congress on Huntington Disease a Huge Success

CMMT NEWS RELEASE

October 16th, 2009

With over 700 attendees from 33 countries across the globe, the 2009 World Congress on Huntington Disease (September 12- 15, 2009), was the largest annual international gathering on HD globally. This event, hosted by Drs. Michael Hayden and Blair Leavitt, both scientists at the Centre for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics, brought some of the most prominent HD researchers, clinicians and members of the HD community from around the world to Vancouver, BC.

One of the highlights of the event was the Nightly News, anchored by Charles Sabine, a 25-year NBC news veteran, who is also a carrier of the HD gene mutation. The News, presented at the end of each day, provided a review of the day's proceedings in a manner understandable to the different audience groups. By all accounts, The Nightly News was wildly successful with participants hustling back to the presentation room at 5pm each evening, beckoned by the Nightly News theme song.

Science and Care Reporters, Jeffery Carroll, from Vancouver, Canada, and Dr. Ed Wild from London, England reviewed the key content of every talk in the concurrent Care and Science sessions. Jargon was kept to a minimum with Charles ringing a bell to prompt simplification any time Jeff's or Ed's language became too technical. Each night the News ended on a light note with Vancouver Reporter, Stefanie Butland, highlighting the weather, Congress social events, and informing participants on "Three things you didn't know about Vancouver", "One thing we've learned about our hosts ...", and a photo montage by Austin Hill of the previous day's events set to music. Proceedings were produced and directed by Michael Hockertz.

The Nightly News videos provide a great opportunity to learn what participants learned at the World Congress on HD 2009 ... but with each day encapsulated in less than 30 minutes in language that is accessible to all.

Two other popular popular sessions were the Plenary Session 1: Living at Risk for HD, and Jeff Carroll's talk about his experiences as a scientist, HD family member, and HD mutation carrier at the WCHD 2009 Session on Care: The Role of Families in HD Research.

Videos of these sessions are below: