2022 – The fifth Okanagan Cardiovascular and Respiratory Symposium

A decision for the 2022 symposium to go ahead was a difficult one as public health restrictions for the COVID-19 pandemic were still ongoing in British Columbia and at the time a decision had to be made, group gatherings were restricted to 100 people. To make sure we had a back-up plan if the pandemic took a turn for the worse, a hybrid event was developed with those who could not join us in person attending online. As a key element of the symposium is to allow students to interact with speakers, and as a number of international travel bans were still in place, a decision was also made to only invite speakers from North America to try and allow as many speakers as possible to attend in person. The hybrid approach was a relative success and we had 120 attendees attend the symposium. As in previous years, the three keynotes were of an exceptional quality and included: Dr. Aaron Baggish from Harvard Medical School (Exercise-induced cardiac remodelling – past, present and future); Dr. Kerrie Moreau from the University of Colorado (Birds and the bees of vascular aging) and Dr. Erik Swenson from the University of Washington (Bleeding ponies, bloated cattle and breathless mountaineers: Hearts and lungs under duress with exercise and altitude).

2020 – The fourth Okanagan Cardiovascular and Respiratory Symposium

The 2020 symposium had 141 national and international attendees registered for the event.  Many of the International keynote speakers, symposium leads and attendees were already in Kelowna when, after considerable deliberation, we decided to cancel the symposium on the morning of March 11th, 2020 (the day before the conference was due to start) due to the rising COVID-19 numbers.  Within 24 hours of making this decision the WHO announced COVID-19 a worldwide pandemic and many countries around the world started to limit travel making it very difficult for people who had come to return home. The events that followed obviously confirm that it was the right decision to make, but at the time it was exceptionally hard to cancel a conference with such a great line-up.  Fortunately, many of the speakers from the 2020 conference have agreed to present at the  2022 symposium. However,  we made the tough decision to only invite speakers from North America to try and ensure the symposium can go ahead as planned. This means that a few of our speakers from the 2020 line-up (Dr. Danny Green (University of Western Australia), Dr. Andre La Gerche (Baker Institute, Australia) and Dr. Lee Romer (Brunel University, UK) will not be presenting this time but we hope to invite them back to speak at a future symposium.

2018 – The third Okanagan Cardiovascular and Respiratory Symposium

The 2018 event saw the size of the symposium expand considerably as we had 163 attendees from all around the World including Australia and many countries in Europe come to the event. In an attempt to maintain a similar format that had worked in previous years, a small number of 3-minute presentations were introduced to each scientific session and a poster session was introduced during the Friday lunch break.  The three keynotes were again recognized world leaders in their respective field and included: Dr.  Ben Levine from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (Hypoxia and the heart: friend or foe?), Dr. Michael Joyner from the Mayo Clinic (Exploring sex-differences and blood pressure) and Dr. Susan Hopkins from the University of California, San Diego (Pulmonary gas exchange: How and why athletes outperform their lungs during exercise). This was also the first year we did a community event the night before the conference, where Dr. Joyner gave a talk to >200 people at the Sandhills winery in Kelowna entitled: The scientific basis of running a marathon in under two hours.

2016 – The second Okanagan Cardiovascular and Respiratory Symposium

The 2016 event was still relatively small with 93 attendees but many came from further afield as we had a lot more international attendees and speakers and an additional symposium was introduced to allow a greater number of speakers to present. The keynotes at the 2016 event were of the highest caliber and included:  Dr. Jerry Dempsey from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (The respiratory system under environmental stress: A comparative perspective); Dr. John Floras from the University of Toronto (Cardiovascular regulation in health and disease) and Dr. Peter Wagner from the University of California, San Diego (Understanding the limitations to maximal VO2).

2014 – The first Okanagan Cardiovascular and Respiratory Symposium

The inaugural event was held in 2014 with three keynote speakers and six scientific sessions. While we had some excellent speakers from across North America and the UK, the 91 attendees were primarily from Western Canada and the Northwestern US and many were collaborators and friends of individuals within the Centre for Heart, Lung and Vascular Health. It was a well-received event and there was a lot of support for holding a second symposium in 2016.  We were fortunate to have three outstanding keynote speakers who agreed to come including: Dr. Bill Milsom from UBC (Adaptations for high altitude flight in the bar headed goose); Dr. Peter Raven from the North Texas Health Sciences Centre (Arterial and cardiopulmonary baroreflexes during exercise) and Dr. Frank Dinneno from Colorado State University (Integrative control of skeletal muscle blood flow during exercise and hypoxia in humans).