MHH – The first patient seminar of the Hannover Medical School
Author
Alpha1 Germany eV., as published in Alpha1 Journal 1/2018
As fate would have it, my husband and I arrived early at the international "Research and Patient Congress" in Lisbon in March 2017 and met Sabina Janciauskiene in the lobby, who had also arrived early. Ms. Janciauskiene works and conducts research as a professor of pneumology at Hannover Medical School. We opted for a two-hour city tour – but didn't notice much of the surroundings during the tour, as we quickly got into a conversation about Alpha1 and potential new projects.
This led to the idea for the 1st MHH Patient Seminar, which took place on June 2, 2018, at the Clinical Research Center Hannover. Planning began after Professor Welte agreed to support our idea and also offered to speak on the topic of "Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency and Infections." We brought Dr. Zurawski, Managing Director of BREATH (Biomedical Research in Endstage and Obstructive Lung Disease Hannover), and Ms. Kwapniewska on board to secure funding and coordinate the organization. The event was supported by Chiesi, CSL Behring, Grifols, and Linde.
The German Center for Lung Research (DZL) and the Lung Information Service were also partners who helped promote the event. Approximately 60 participants attended this wonderful event, which will hopefully become a regular occurrence.
Following the highly informative and entertaining presentation by Prof. Tobias Welte, Prof. Sabina Janciauskiene spoke about "New Approaches in Therapy – From Inhalation to Gene Correction," and her colleague Dr. Mark Greer discussed "Lung Transplantation in Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency." We had already brought Dr. Pavel Strnad on board in Lisbon; he spoke about "Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency: A Disease of the Lungs and Liver," but above all, he ensured on-site that participation in the important research project "Nationwide Investigation of Liver Involvement in Patients with Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency" was possible.
The day was framed by presentations from us: after a joint welcome and my introduction of the patient organization Alpha1 Germany, Ms. Gabi Niethammer ended the day with the presentation „Alpha1 and the child“.
Thank you to everyone who made this day possible – a successful event that was worthwhile for us patients. We were even able to welcome three new members during the day.
