EINZ (ECMO in New Zealand) is excited to announce its third international Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) Symposium, set to take place in Queenstown 19th - 21stNovember 2024.
This year’s symposium continues to advance the mission of providing world-class training opportunities and increasing equitable access to top-tier cardiac and respiratory ICU care through ECMO and Mechanical Circulatory Support (MCS).
For the third time, Queenstown will remain the host city for an international gathering of leading ECMO minds from Australia, the US, the UK and Europe in severe heart and lung failure. The symposium has blossomed out of the original idea of being a regional initiative back in 2020, thanks to the collaborative efforts and contributions from the participants and global partners who elevate the value in addressing the pressing challenge of gaining access to this life-saving treatment in New Zealand.
“The EINZ faculty is unmatched by any precedent ECMO meetings that took place in Aotearoa. I am honoured to work with our brilliant line-up of speakers, including Intensivists, Cardiac Surgeons, Emergency Physicians, and Cardiologists from home and more than 10 different ECMO centres around the world. Together we are transforming Critical Care, improving access to treatment for New Zealanders, and ultimately saving lives. To use Sir Isaac Newton’s analogy, it is incredibly humbling to walk among such giants,” Dr. Stefan Wiebe, Symposium Director and ICU consultant highlighted.
During the Symposium, participants will benefit from the three-day programme led by globally recognised ECMO experts, including Prof. Vincent Pellegrino, ECMO Consultant at Alfred Hospital Melbourne and ECMO Lead in Victoria, Australia, and Dr. Nicholas Barrett, President of EuroELSO. “I am delighted to be attending the ECMO Symposium 2024. Global collaborations in extracorporeal support education are making a huge difference for our sickest patients around the world,” Dr Barrett stated.
Other speakers include:
- Prof. Roberto Lorusso, Cardiac Surgeon and ECLS Programme Director at Maastricht University, Netherlands, and former president of EuroELSO
- Philip J. Spencer, M.D., Heart and Lung Transplant Surgeon, Mayo Clinic, USA
- Dr. Sharon McCartney, Director of the Duke Center for Blood Conservation, USA
- Prof. Heinrich V. Groesdonk, CMO Helios Clinic Erfurt, Germany
Their continued participation underscores the symposium's impact and the collaborative spirit it fosters. This includes Mauricio Villavicencio, a world-renowned transplant surgeon from Mayo Clinic, whose involvement in the previous symposium significantly impacted New Zealand’s Ventricular Assist Devices (VAS) programme, leading to an ongoing exchange and collaboration between the Auckland and US services and pushing the limits of what is possible within New Zealand's cardiac care landscape.
