About hearts (part 2)

I promised yesterday to overwhelm you with photos. Get your scrolling finger ready, because here we go!

I arrived yesterday at the ACC.10 conference in time to meet up with Lori and Kirk, get coffee, meet Ed Susman (formerly of the National Inquirer and now a medical journalist/editor - how cool is that?) and attend a late-breaking clinical trials press conference packed with reporters.

The first few photos are from the press conference:

 Dr. Ralph Brindis moderating. I also got to sit in on one of his sessions later.

Where's Kirk?

 Dr. Van Gelder. She spoke about individualizing care for high heart rates to the individual patients. "We should treat the patients and not the heart rate," she said. "...Being comfortable having a patient with a higher resting heart rate is huge. We have permission not to be that aggressive." I'm sure the drug companies cringed.

 In line at the mic.

Kirk and Lori, waiting to ask questions after the press conference.

With their game faces on.

The Expo. The EXPO. They had a sign about no cameras, so I tried to comply. Mostly.

At the poster sessions. It was lunchtime, so the place was abandoned. We learned then that those scheduled times for the poster sessions actually meant something - that that was when a person would be there to talk about his/her research.

I was hoping to talk to this invisible guy. Then I checked my printout again and realized he left at 10:30. It was noon.

Lori and I got to play doctor for about two minutes. And then the media police busted us. This particular drug company was making posters for doctors who stopped by. I guess this is a new type of gimmick since they can no longer give them pens, cups and clocks (my dad, a pharmacist, brought home the coolest stuff when I was a kid). We were happy, and then we were sad. Life smacked us in the face.

Last moments as a doctor...

To recover, we headed back to the press room, where the free food was yummy. On the way, we passed a TV broadcast - being shown on the conference's closed circuit system. TV for cardiologists. I'm guessing they were also streaming the interviews online.

In case you were wondering, I did not use a flash.

Pat talking to Ed Susman back in the press food room. The work room was next door.

Contemplating our next moves.

Deciding was hard.

The AWESOME press room. Most of the spots were claimed by stressed, sleepy-eyed journalists clacking away at their computers. It was INTENSE in there.

The crowd flow was pretty smooth.

Random guy posing. I think I startled him.

The Murphy Ballroom. Empty. That should have been a sign. We sat down anyway.

Kirk getting ready to write.

Dr. Jack Lewin looks like a certain TV personality. I think it's his mustache.

My handy-dandy audio recorder. It also doubles as a tazer - and a space ship.

Me and a sea of empty chairs.

They had carpets made for the event. I am still in amazement of how the other side lives and the money poured into it (can't you tell?). On the same note, medical writing seems to also be a lucrative profession. Interesting how they work hand-in-hand, right?

At the afternoon poster session. People were there. The posters I ended up hanging around had to do with vitamin D deficiencies. According to Ed, it's a hot topic. I like hot topics. I can usually understand them a little better because the researchers have, by now, learned to translate their work a little more smoothly for the general public, of which I am a part.

I like this photo. It's not completely in focus, like my eyes at the end of the day. The lady in the white jacket is a reporter talking to Dr. Joseph Muhlestein. She had some great questions.

And now, congratulations! You've reached the end of my very long photo post on my first day at a medical conference. Oh, what fun!