APPROACH patient council represented at online OAFI “Osteoarthritis patients” pre-congress in October
Dr. Ali Mobasheri, co-leading the work on biomarkers within APPROACH and president of OARSI, talked about the activities of the patient council and the contributions of its members within APPROACH at the pre-congress “Osteoarthritis patients” organized by OAFI in October. Join the world congress which will take place online on the 2nd-6th November 2020.
OAFI
Osteoarthritis Foundation International (OAFI) was founded in 2016 with the aim to combat osteoarthritis by educating, preventing, treating and supporting research in the areas of joint health. OAFI is the first in its creation and the only global foundation dedicated exclusively to improving the lives of people living with osteoarthritis. Globally, osteoarthritis affects over 300 million people. Although it bears a great social impact, the condition is still associate with old age. However, research has revealed that osteoarthritis affects not only the elderly, but is increasingly diagnosed in professional sportsmen, young people and postmenopausal women. Currently, life expectancy is on the rise across continents. This makes osteoarthritis one of the conditions that must be considered as priority concerns. For this reason, OAFI strives to place the patients at the centre of the disease and make their voices heard.
Participation of APPROACH
Dr. Ali Mobasheri, president of The Osteoarthritis Research Society International (OARSI), represented the APPROACH project at the digital pre-congress “Osteoarthritis patients” organized by OAFI in mid-October. Within APPROACH Ali is co-leading the work on biomarkers, focused on proteomics, metabolomics and lipidomics analyses seeking to identify novel and current (validated) markers for validation and qualification. At the OAFI pre-congress, Ali spoke about the patient council activities in APPROACH. Among other topics, Ali introduced the set-up of the patient council and talked about its members, vision and mission in the project, activities so far and current responsibilities and tasks. He explained they way in which the patient council helps with the improvement of the quality and sustainability of the outcomes generated in APPROACH. For instance, the patient council provides expertise on ‘real life’ with osteoarthritis and represents participant perspectives on the clinical trial set-up as to improve recruitment and retention. Moreover, the patient council serves as a peer-resource for trial participants, through the creation and support of newsletters and direct contact offered to participants in the study. The figure below explains the added value of the patient council in the APPROACH project:
OAFI Digital “Osteoarthritis Patients” World Congress, 2nd-6th November 2020
Together with prominent international rheumatological associations, OAFI organises the Forth edition of the world congress “Osteoarthritis patients” to take place on the 2nd-6th November 2020 online. In order to comply with the present COVID-19 regulations and to guarantee the safety and protection of its patients and participants, the congress has been adapted to a virtual environment.
Subscribe to the broadcasting of the event here.
The goal of this event is to promote osteoarthritis scientific research, to showcase innovations in treatments of osteoarthritis, and to empower osteoarthritis patients to improve their quality of life. In this edition of the world congress patients take the role of protagonists. This means that the debates and conferences within this congress are specifically designed by and for patients. Renowned speakers from research, medicine, sports and other fields will talk about ways to improve daily life when living with osteoarthritis and how to prevent and raise awareness of osteoarthritis and other rheumatic diseases.
More information about the event here.
