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Menopause, obesity, and diabetes will top the clinical agenda at the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting, ENDO 2015, with a focus on personalized and precision approaches to disease management.

Endocrine-disrupting chemicals will also take the stage at the meeting, which runs from Thursday, March 5, through Sunday, March 8, in San Diego, California. New research to be presented includes an examination of the economic costs of exposure to these chemicals and their potential teratogenic effects.

Other topics on the agenda are the effects of male obesity on a couple’s fertility, a nasal spray that could cut calorie consumption, and a renewed look at the long-term safety of menopausal hormone therapy.

“The Endocrine Society is really known for cutting-edge research,” society president Richard J Santen, MD, from the University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville, told Medscape Medical News.

“For many of us in the field, it’s the premier meeting for both science and clinical reviews and new science presentations and networking,” added steering committee chair Matthew Ringel, MD, from Wexner Medical Center, Ohio State University, Columbus. “We’re excited about trying to increase the clinical-science part of the meeting and what would be relevant to clinical, basic, and translational-research attendees.”

As always, the meeting will feature bench science, bedside medicine, and the translation from one to the other, including plenary talks on both precision and personalized approaches to menopause, new genetic discoveries in obesity that could point to novel treatment targets, the link between antihyperglycemic therapy and cardiovascular disease, and fresh insights into the mechanisms of polycystic ovary syndrome.

The meeting begins the morning of Thursday, March 5, with two presidential plenary talks: “Genomics, Pharmacogenomics, and Functional Genomics in Menopausal Women: Implications for Precision Medicine,” by oncologist James N Ingle, MD, from the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, and “Personalized Menopause Management: Clinical and Biomarker Data That Inform Decision Making,” by JoAnn E Manson, MD, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.

“This issue of precision medicine has been such a hot topic, but people don’t really understand it. So the fact that we’re going to feature it in the very first talk is of interest,” Dr Santen said.

While this talk will offer a glimpse of the future, individualized approaches to menopause treatment are already here and will be featured in the session immediately following the plenary, when “Treatment of Symptoms of Menopause: An Endocrine Society Clinical-Practice Guideline” will be presented.

Wide Range of Endocrine Topics Will Be Addressed

Two other clinical-practice guidelines, on management of primary adrenal insufficiency and treatment of Cushing’s syndrome, will also be revealed during the meeting, on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.

And in a special scientific session on Friday, Janet Woodcock, MD, director of the US Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, will speak on “Safety and Efficacy of Diabetes Drugs: Steering Between Scylla and Charybdis.”

Meanwhile, clinically focused “Meet the Professor” sessions will address obesity and diabetes, along with a wide range of other endocrine topics, including flushing and sweating disorders, vitamin D, thyroid, gynecomastia, endocrine tumors, testosterone therapy, and genetic counseling for endocrine patients. .

The meeting’s move — from June in previous years to March — means that it is no longer back-to-back with the annual scientific sessions of the American Diabetes Association (ADA).

“We’ve moved the meeting to March, which allows us some separation from the ADA to give us an opportunity to pull in some top diabetes topics and speakers. We’ve always done that over the years, but it allows a little more focus on that area,” Dr Ringel noted.

And, he hopes, more clinicians will be able to attend both meetings going forward. “Years ago, people tried to go to both, one after the other….It’s especially hard for clinicians to be away for that length of time,” he said.

There’s another new feature for ENDO 2015 that is likely to prove popular: “Endocrine Science Social” events will take place at 6:00 pm following the afternoon symposia each day, so attendees can discuss the topics over drinks.

“The philosophy is there’s synergy between scientists and clinicians,” Dr Santen explained.

“With more than 8000 attendees expected, the meeting overall is too big for networking, so we’re going to have a social gathering after the sessions each afternoon.”

Filed under: adrenal, Cushing's, Meetings and Conferences, pituitary, Rare Diseases | Tagged: Cushing's, Cushing's Syndrome, diabetes, ENDO 2015, menopause, obesity |