Welcome to Chicago! The 3rd International Ketogenic Diet Conference

Epilepsy News From: Sunday, April 15, 2012

After the successes of the first two meetings in Phoenix (2008) and Edinburgh (2010), this September 19-22 will see the third international symposium on dietary therapies. Again the meeting will cross the Atlantic and this time will be back in the United States outside Chicago at the Chicago Hilton Indian Lakes resort.

The general idea of this meeting, as I can say as one of the organizers, is to be "different" than the prior two. There will be a focus on bringing speakers to the meeting who are well-recognized in the fields of metabolism…but perhaps not yet known to the ketogenic diet community. We hope that this meeting will allow for meaningful discussions and connections for future research between all these new and current ketogenic diet scientists and clinicians. The meeting will start off in an exciting way on Wednesday September 19th with a Keynote lecture by Gary Taubes, the author of Good Calories, Bad Calories.

Thursday September 20 will continue that concept of "new ideas", with the morning session devoted to the use of diets for conditions other than epilepsy, including Alzheimer's, autism, brain tumors, and diabetic nephropathy to name a few. This topic has been covered in a previous Keto News but is now ready for "prime-time". The afternoon will include 3 breakout sessions, including one session on adults and diets.

Following these sessions will be an evening poster symposium.

Friday September 21 will wrap up the conference, with more lectures on epilepsy topics followed by an exhibit area and author book signing. As the scientific session comes to an end and some clinicians and scientists leave, we expect parents will start to arrive, hopefully in time for a Charlie Foundation fundraiser currently in the final stages of planning. This cocktail reception will be separate from the formal meeting and will have scenes from the movie First Do No Harm screened along with a special visit by Oscar award winner Meryl Streep!

Saturday September 22 will be for parents, caregivers and patients with epilepsy to come and learn about ketogenic diets. Some speakers from the scientific meeting (including myself) will stick around, but also some new speakers will run roundtables in the afternoon and some patients will be there to share their stories. Exhibits and cooking demonstrations will also be held. This was highly successful when coordinated in the same way at the 2010 Edinburgh meeting.

We hope to see as many child neurologists, dietitians, nurses, parents, and patients with an interest in the ketogenic diet in Chicago this September. This shapes up to be a spectacular meeting with something for everyone. If you have further questions, feel free to email me or Ms. Beth Zupec-Kania from the Charlie Foundation

Authored by

Eric Kossoff MD

Reviewed Date

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

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