Dr. Rudy G. Danzinger This is Me

Education

 Web References

1. 1. Info Spec 1997 Issue - Meeting theme well suited to the city

   www.mednet.ca/InfoSpec1997p1.h - [Cached]

   Published on: 1/1/1997   Last Visited: 8/23/2006

   R. G. Danzinger, MD, FRCSC Chairman, Annual Meeting Committee
   ...
   In choosing the theme, annual meeting Chair, Dr. Rudy Danzinger, FRCSC, Professor of Surgery, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, noted that it's important the committee pick an area that is of interest and where interesting, new state-of-the-art presentations can be used to bring everybody up to scratch on how their particular specialty fits into the overall thematic picture.
   
   "Many of us get very narrow in our daily interests and this approach of selecting a theme gives us an opportunity to expand our knowledge and interests and to better understand how a topic like this affects medicine in general and us as individual specialists," said Dr. Danzinger in an earlier interview.
   
   Noting that a lot has been happening in the field of health promotion and disease prevention in the past five years, "we were able to get together a large, diverse group of presentations that would bring new knowledge to a very diverse group of attendees." The flagship symposium organized around the theme is a good example of the variety of ways different specialists can promote health. Delegates will be taken through topics as diverse as how to motivate behavioral changes, the role of the internist and the surgeon in preventive medicine and the use of mammography as a screening tool. "We finally have a number of good studies which clearly demonstrate that lifestyle is a very important component of disease prevention," said Dr. Danzinger.
   
   Among these studies is the irrefutable link between tobacco smoking and various cancers. "Ten years ago, the thought of suing tobacco companies for endangering smokers' health would never have been considered," he noted. Not only has this now been considered, it has been done and is having important effects, he added. "And what this shows is that not only are we intuitively guessing that lifestyle is important in health, we are finally gathering evidence good enough to bring lawsuits against the likes of the tobacco industry."
   
   Dr. Danzinger also reminded delegates that a major shift is occurring between the pharmaceutical industry who used to focus on making and selling products, and physicians who were encouraged to prescribe them. As is well demonstrated by the Learning Centre, industry has now joined forces with physicians in a collective attempt to bring state-of-the-art educational opportunities to the diverse group of specialists represented at the annual meeting. Located in the Exhibit area, the Learning Centre represents a significant effort on the part of both industry and medical educators to offer a hands-on learning experience to interested physicians.
   
   "Both physicians and the industry have needs and people with skills, and the whole concept of the Learning Centre is that if we worked together, we could develop very good educational packages for Royal College attendees, which delegates will be able to see when they attend the centre," indicated Dr. Danzinger.
   
   Dr. Danzinger also noted that the College is continuing to examine the annual meeting itself to better assess if the meeting is truly addressing the needs of its fellows. "It's an impossible task to be everything to everybody and to be something good to everybody at the same time, and we want members of the Royal College to be aware that we have a task force looking into this issue so that we can design our meeting to the best advantage of our fellows," said Dr. Danzinger, adding, that while the annual meeting can be so diverse that the bits pull members apart, "the whole idea of the theme is to bring those bits back together and allow people to put themselves into the whole context of specialist medical care in Canada."