Dear Colleagues,

On behalf of the Organizing and the Scientific Committee it is our pleasure to cordially invite you to take part in the International Conference HEART FAILURE IN DIABETIC PATIENTS: STATE OF THE ART IN DIAGNOSIS AND MANAGEMENT 2009. This interdisciplinary meeting will be held in Vršac, Serbia, on March 13-14, 2009 under the auspices of the Heart Failure Association of the European Society of Cardiology - ESC (Committee on Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction), Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease Study Group of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD), The Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (Board on Cardiovascular Pathology), Cardiology Society of Serbia, and Endocrinology section of the Serbian Medical Society.

The Conference will be held in the recently constructed, superb Millennium Conference Centre in the beautiful town Vrsac in Serbia (Vojvodina). The main idea is to have a clinically oriented comprehensive scientific meeting covering state of the art research on both endocrinology and cardiology aspects of heart failure with a focus on heart failure with preserved ejection fraction. Our intention is to have a dynamic and interactive meeting interesting both for endocrinologists and cardiologists, but also for internists, general practitioners, postgraduate students, and basic scientists. We have prepared various types of scientific sessions including educational seminars, “Meet the Experts” sessions, “From Bench to Bedside” sessions, “How-to” video seminar, “Case-based Presentations of Complex Clinical Scenarios”, and interactive debates.

The Conference will also include HEMOFARM YOUNG INVESTIGATORS AWARD SESSION with six best abstracts dedicated to heart failure and/or cardiovascular complications in diabetes of authors less than 40 years of age. Deadline for abstract submission (up to 250 words) is February 25, 2009. Abstracts should be sent as e-mail attachments to seferovic@med.bg.ac.yu. Two best contributions will be awarded by Hemofarm company with a diploma and completely covered travel and registration expenses at the next Congress of the Heart Failure Association of the ESC or Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease Study Group of the EASD.

The meeting was prepared in close cooperation and truly made possible by Hemofarm pharmaceutical company, which is a part of Stada system and we would like to express our most sincere gratitude for their extensive efforts, kind and most instrumental assistance. An exiting social program is also enthusiastically organized by the HemofarmcardioLogica Team.

We are looking forward to cordially welcoming you in Vršac, one of the most rapidly developing areas in Serbia, famous for its warm hospitality, unforgettable landscapes and excellent vine, hoping that we will have a very interesting and successful Conference.

Prof. Petar M. Seferović, MD, PhD, FESC, FACC
Director of the Organizing Committee

Prof. Nebojša M. Lalić, MD, PhD, SASA c. member
Director of the Scientific Committee

Academician Prof. Vladimir Kanjuh, MD, PhD
Conference Director and Chairman of the YIA Committee