Finalist
IMPROVE 2023: International Meeting on Pathway-Related Obesity: Vision & Evidence
by Aurora for Rhythm Pharmaceuticals
Summary of work
Genetic variants in the hypothalamic melanocortin-4 receptor (MC4R) pathway can impair hunger regulation, food intake, satiety, and energy expenditure. Rare MC4R pathway diseases lead to hyperphagia (uncontrollable eating) and early-onset severe obesity, devastating patients and caregivers, who face extreme ill health, early death and crippling stigma from early childhood.
IMPROVE 2023: International Meeting on Pathway-Related Obesity: Vision & Evidence was the second iteration of the only scientific exchange focused solely on managing rare diseases of the MC4R pathway.
Working with all the global experts in the field, over 170 hand-picked and invited delegates from eighteen different countries came to Paris to hear the latest scientific thinking and research.
100% of delegates rated the relevance of the content presented as excellent/good, and 100% rated the insights they gathered as excellent/good. Over 50 academic posters were submitted, covering various topics, including genetic obesity variants, genetic testing, and case studies.
The meeting is now a fixture in the calendar, and all global experts are again set to be involved in 2024. The 2024 meeting will focus on rising stars to grow the community and help manage the ever-growing number of newly diagnosed patients.
Judges’ comments
IMPROVE 2023 was able to get a collective in a very disparate group, which is laudable. The momentum between 2022 and 2023 was impressive, with clear project planning to five rising stars visibility and exposure to current experts. It was great to see that they achieved more than double of their goal of posters submitted, which shows brilliant engagement.
