The University of Medicine and Pharmacy invites you, on 4-7 April 2024, to the third edition of the Craiova Connects Congress. The official opening will take place on Thursday 4 April at 13.00 in the Aula Magna (Bdv. 1 Mai, No. 66) and will include a series of plenary lectures, focusing on interdisciplinarity, as well as on novelties in the integrative therapeutic approach in gastroenterology, oncology, obesity, in a context where specialist publications announce an increase of almost 80% in the incidence of digestive cancers in the population under 50 (Hamilton AC, Coleman HG, BMJ Oncology 2023).

Thus, during the four days of the congress, the following will be presented and discussed: new imaging techniques in gastroenterology for the diagnosis of cancers, drugs that will appear in 2024 for Romanian patients with inflammatory bowel disease (another pathology with an accelerated increase in incidence in Romania in recent years), new generation oncological drugs resulting from clinical trials - a hope for cancer patients, genetic mechanisms involved in the development of cancers. There will be studies and presentations demonstrating the major role of proper nutrition in the prevention of digestive, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, coupled with extremely worrying statistics on obesity-related mortality.

On this occasion, the rectors of all medical universities in Romania will meet in Craiova, in a symposium dedicated to the World Health Day and whose main objective is to identify new strategies to increase the medical educational level of the population.

Among the conferences that will open the congress we mention the conference "Connections Gastroenterology - Oncology - Genetics" held by Prof. PhD Dan Gheonea, Prof. PhD Michael Schenker, Prof. PhD Florin Burada, the conference "The genetic origins of Romanians through the fog of the times" held by the renowned geneticist Prof. PhD Mihai Netea (Radboud University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands), the conference "Not only cancer kills... also Obesity" held by Prof. PhD Cătălina Poiană, Prof. PhD Bogdan Timar, as well as the conference "Pipeline drugs in oncology", held by pharm. Răzvan Prisanda (President of the Romanian National Agency for Medicines and Medical Devices) and Prof. PhD Michael Schenker (UMF Craiova, President of the Oncology Commission of the Ministry of Health). 

Launched in 2022, on World Health Day, the "Craiova Connects" concept has so far brought together leading specialists in gastroenterology, rheumatology, dermatology, gynaecology, diabetes and nutrition. Year after year, around 500 on-site participants enjoyed meetings of dozens of keynote speakers, interacted and connected to the most innovative medical concepts and procedures.

The full programme of 2024 Craiova Connects can be found here:

https://craiovaconnects.org.