04 May 2023
#BSR23 was a jammed packed three days of insightful sessions, keynote speakers and poster presentations. We caught up with President Dr Sanjeev Patel and the incoming Vice President for allied health professionals, Will Gregory who shared some of their highlights.
In his last conference as BSR President, Dr Patel said: “The collaboration between different teams and the discussions that I’m having with delegates is great. The breadth and depth of what we have discussed is fantastic. All the delegates have praised the programme, where we are and how we’ve grown as a society and the way we come together as a community to network, and I've really enjoyed it.
“My favourite session was the steroid debate, with Christopher Edwards and Maarten Boers. We heard different perspectives on the pros and cons of using steroids in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. It’s invaluable to hear the views and how everyone contributes to the discussion as we try and identify best practices. Lastly, it was really encouraging to see so many of our paediatric and adolescent community enjoying the day of dedicated paediatric content”
Will Gregory, consultant physiotherapist, will shortly take on the Vice Presidency for our health professional members and said: “I think as ever, the ability to meet other people who share the same passions as you and to be in a room full of people who do hold similar roles is exciting.”
“The Droitwich lecture is usually my favourite, and it certainly didn’t disappoint this year. Listening to other people’s career journeys is always really inspiring. And within that session, my colleague, Dr Carole McCrum delivered an oral abstract where she really sold her journey to delegates. She explained how she accidentally stumbled into writing a paper and went on to do so much more.
“For me, conference is a reminder that inadvertently doing things for the good of our patients and the rheumatology community, because you think it's a good idea and no one else is doing it, breaks the mould and changes everything.”
There were over 70 sessions in which 200+ speakers delivered talks to delegates in-person and online. If you missed the event or missed any session while you were there, you can catch up on-demand and watch any, or all, of the sessions. Simply head to the conference page to buy an on-demand pass – existing delegates can already access the talks through the BSR event app as part of their original registration.