The 6th Anglo Israeli Cardiovascular Symposium took place on the 7-8th December 2016 in the beautiful setting of the Rimmonim Galei Kinneret Hotel, with a view over Lake Tiberias.

The Symposium displayed some of the very best of British and Israeli cardiology. A variety of wonderful speakers and leaders in their fields provided updates on their latest research and there were important take-home messages for clinical practice. Highlights included the talks given by Prof Ulrich Sigwart (University of Geneva, Switzerland) who spoke about alcohol septal ablation in hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy (HOCM); Prof Sanjay Sharma (St George’s Hospital, London) who gave an update on the electrocardiographs (ECG) ) of young athletes: and Prof Michael Glikson (Sheba Hospital, Ramat Gan, Israel) who provided important lessons that could be learned from the comprehensive Israeli implantable cardioverter – defibrillator (ICD) registry.

The symposium provided an excellent opportunity for conversation and relationship building between Israeli and British cardiologists. The Israeli participants included both Jewish and non-Jewish doctors – the conference was opened by Dr. Ofer Amir, Director of Cardiology at Poriya Medical Centre, which was the hosting hospital, and in his talk he explained how Muslim, Christian and Jewish doctors in his department work together seamlessly, provide an example of religious co-existence in Israel. He said that there are Palestinian cardiologists in training at Poriya hospital and then transferring their expertise upon their return to their home hospital.

As an FY1 doctor, embarking upon a career in cardiology, I was honoured and delighted to have been invited to attend the conference. I thoroughly enjoyed both the subject matter, and the opportunity for networking with British and Israeli cardiologists alike. I feel that this opportunity will prove beneficial to me when embarking on specialty training in the UK, and will also allow me to consider future potential collaborative projects with contacts in Israel. These symposia, creating and fostering connections between Israeli and British cardiologists, are a wonderful opportunity and I would be delighted to help organise them in the future.

(Dr) Brett Bernstein

FY1, North Middlesex University Hospital