Another Take on NACFC

Our Chief Executive, Ed Owen, isn't the only person from the Cystic Fibrosis Trust out in Utah at the North American Cystic Fibrosis Conference. Along with Janet Allen, Director of Research, Elaine Gunn, UK CF Registry Manager has also made the 15 hour, 6,000 mile journey to Salt Lake City. Here's her take so far

The weather here is clear and crisp from being surrounded by mountains, which is great after the soggy weather in the UK.

On Wednesday I attended the US Registry Coordinators Meeting with all my US Registry Colleagues. This meeting is always a highlight of the conference as not only do I meet with my colleagues, but the US Registry team presents its CF Registry data and any changes it has made. This year was different in that there was a ‘live’ poll going on throughout the meeting where we had to text comments and you could see the results live on the screens.  It really kept us focused and caused some amusement as some of the questions were frivolous. The US CF Registry reports will be available on the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation website next week.

Today the full conference starts in earnest and I will be attending several really exciting sessions, including the plenary which is always an engaging one. There are lots of my UK colleagues here and I am engaged in conversation at almost every corner. As Ed said, 6,000 miles is no barrier!

I too walked to the Mormon Temple yesterday and it is an amazing feat of architecture.  As a musician though, I was particularly interested in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, which I had heard of since my childhood. Tonight I am going to their open rehearsal in the Tabernacle, so a great day ahead, with excellent sessions, and some music in the evening.

The plenary session mentioned by Elaine is being live streamed, starting for UK viewers at 11:20pm. You can view it over at http://www.prolibraries.com/cff/events/2013annual