🟠 CHNC 2023 Conference Wrap Up with Anthony Piazza and Kris Reber

Ready to get a glimpse behind the curtain of the 2023 CHNC symposium? We're going to take you on a journey, recapping the magic that took place at this year's CHNC conference with  Anthony Piazza and Kris Reber. Join us as we unpack the successes and challenges, reflecting on the energetic attendees, diverse disciplines, and the invaluable results of integrating trainees early in focus groups. We'll delve into the exponential growth of CHNC, illuminating how the symposium has been instrumental in building a network where everyone's contributions and insights are valued. Finally we take a quick look at what is to come for 2024!

Transcript

Speaker 1 1:19

Kelly is taking pictures as we are doing the the wrap up. Hello everybody, welcome back to the podcast. We are wrapping up the 2023 CHNC symposium and we are joined by Anthony Piazza and Chris Reber. Guys, welcome back.

Speaker 2 1:36

Thank you, thank you.

Speaker 1 1:38

How do you feel?

Speaker 3 1:41

Ready for a drink?

Speaker 2 1:42

Yeah.

Speaker 3 1:43

Ready for a weekend off.

Speaker 2 1:44

Yeah, a little relief, but but also excited. It was a fun conference and we feel like it was a success.

Speaker 1 1:51

I think so too. I mean the, the, the people that were here are truly exceptional. We saw that both from the speakers and the attendees. I was thinking about this as we were doing the interviews. We should maybe say who's a speaker, who's an attendee, because they were all exceptional and you know, sometimes you say like, clearly, this is the keynote speaker. He knows so much, but it was not the case. Everybody that came to the booth attendee and speaker were all exceptional, so I think that says a lot about the people you have here.

Speaker 4 2:18

Yeah, you know, we were saying every conference has a kind of a vibe or personality, but there's like a lot of energy here and people who are really committed to the work, you know, and to and to moving the field forward. And so we agree, we were impressed by not just how excited people were, but how knowledgeable they were. You know, how many times do people join a focus group? And and you just, you know, trying to be a passive learner of what's going on, but people are really engaged.

Speaker 3 2:48

Yeah, I it's. I would say one of the challenges of the conference is that there are so many different disciplines. In trying to trying to address all the different people that are here and looking at levels of education, their discipline, trying to bring in the trainees and in really trying to manage everybody's expectation is a challenge, but we always try to rise to that challenge and hopefully reach the audience. The trainees that were here are quite, quite bright yes we were very fortunate in our specialty.

Speaker 2 3:28

We have very bright trainees and and I think I mentioned this the other day you know we started as a small group and really value the opportunity to collaborate and pull in our trainees and our other disciplines and make sure that they feel engaged and I think we continue to accomplish that, even though we are growing every year. So that's been great and I we love working with our trainees and having them here in our junior faculty and and I think they feel like they're part of the group. They're not just here giving a presentation, they're part of the group and they're part of what we're trying to do.

Speaker 1 3:59

To jump on this point, it almost feels like two that they are growing professionally with the CHNC, which is quite amazing to see that they start as fellows and then they continue on as faculty and I think I forget which fellow it was. But saying that even the choice of job after fellowship is going to be impacted by work, and I continue my work with the CHNC, I mean.

Speaker 3 4:20

I mean that's one of the benefits of getting the trainees involved early in the focus groups or just in networking they they can build relationships pretty early in their career that will last even if they don't go to that place where they're getting mentored and they'll always have that connection and take that forward.

Speaker 4 4:42

Yeah, and I'm struck by what you said. You know you started as a small, intimate group and somehow with this like scaffolding of these focus groups, but with like a lot of support from your data coordinators. You know you've created this like network, but one where I think everybody feels heard and valuable. I mean, was that intentional or how has that changed over the years?

Speaker 2 5:07

I think it was very intentional and we recognize that we had a little bit of a niche within even neonatology that wasn't quite captured in terms of data and collaboration, and also recognize that some of our larger meetings it's really hard to network and to connect and so we knew from the beginning this was an opportunity for us to one, capture information about those niche patients that we are capturing in some of the other databases and then continue this collaboration and making sure that people feel connected.

Highlights of a Medical Symposium

Speaker 3 5:41

I'll go back to the programming a little bit again. Really, when we look at the program, we want current scientific updates and knowledge, but we also want to hear from the focus groups and hear what they're doing and highlighting their work. I know you all interviewed some of the data coordinators and it is so important to them to see their work being shown and the efforts and the outcomes that they're doing, so again, it's like trying to touch all these people and to have a good time.

Speaker 1 6:20

They were talking about the ownership that they have in the work that they're doing and how does that translate into that publication and then change in practices and how. I think one of the corner was saying, well, maybe one day my daughter will be benefiting from the data that we've been publishing and that's just fascinating to even think about it in that perspective.

Speaker 4 6:38

Yeah, and I mean I think similarly, I mean for us being here at this symposium like you said, getting the updates, so like what's coming down the pipeline, is really exciting, especially for those first or primarily bedside clinicians. You know to say like, ok, that's something we can look forward to, or have we thought about that in our patients, and even if we don't have all the data yet, what do we have to look forward to? And I found that incredibly valuable. My only regret is that we couldn't see everything that you guys had. I mean, you had extensive programming, serial workshops. It was like a mini-PAS, but on a way more personal scale. We find some of the bigger conferences really overwhelming, a little bit intimidating, and this is like the opposite of that.

Speaker 2 7:33

That's good, that's the feel. We go for it, we're going for it, and so that's good to hear and we appreciate that.

Speaker 3 7:38

Yeah, this is one of the biggest ones we've had as far as the number of attendance, and we are striving to try to keep that intimacy. And again, I'll go back to our trainees a little bit. I think this is like the perfect venue for them to learn how to present in a very kind of comfortable setting. It can either be on the big stage, like we've seen a couple of our trainees.

Speaker 1 8:03

Yeah, we already do. Trainees get the opportunity to be on the big stage. I thought that was quite cool that you guys did that.

Speaker 3 8:08

And even on the smaller group symposium post-re symposiums.

Speaker 4 8:14

it allows them the opportunity to be comfortable and show work yeah, and to feel like a part of whatever the area of interest is, but to feel like a part of that community. My experience as a trainee is like yeah. I'm doing my little piece of work, but I don't feel like part of the community that's doing the bigger work, and I think that's why we lose researchers when we can't really develop them in the community.

Speaker 3 8:41

So I think you missed yeah.

Speaker 2 8:44

Well, and I think the other piece. I think I said this the other day neonatology is a really cool field.

Speaker 1 8:51

Yes.

Speaker 2 8:52

And it's a relatively small group of people. But you don't have those opportunities to network and spend time together like you do at this meeting, I think. I think this is a great meeting to allow our trainees to network and our junior faculty to network and to see their colleagues and to learn from each other, and for me, it's exhilarating, right, yeah, it's just it highlights how incredible our field is and what we can do together.

Speaker 4 9:18

What was your sorry?

Speaker 1 9:19

I was going to ask the same question. How do you know a question I was going to?

Speaker 4 9:22

ask what was your favorite part of this meeting?

Speaker 1 9:27

That was the question, no way.

Speaker 4 9:29

That's a very daft no question.

Speaker 3 9:34

A couple of things. One is having you all attend.

Speaker 1 9:36

Oh, thank you, that's been great, it's been fantastic.

Speaker 3 9:40

I think people have really responded to that. Two is seeing all the fellows, particularly the couple of fellows that presented here. I think they did a fantastic job. Yeah, I'm just super proud of them. In the first three we introduced some new programming and got some good feedback, so I'm kind of happy about that.

Speaker 4 10:01

Which of the programs were new?

Speaker 3 10:03

The poster symposium breakout session.

Speaker 1 10:05

I like that a lot A little smaller intimate and topic-specific. So that was basically for people who are listening, who didn't get a chance to be here Basically topic-specific rooms where there were posters around the room. But also the poster were presented orally by the investigator, which is sometimes, like you saw on the Twitter live sometimes it's hard to see a poster that's very popular and you cannot really get in and get the investigator to talk to you about it. So I think that was great.

Speaker 4 10:34

So if you missed. Hey, or you say I'm interested in this topic and did I see all the posters?

Speaker 1 10:39

on that topic Exactly.

Speaker 4 10:40

I think it was really innovative.

Speaker 2 10:42

Yeah, I think it was very popular.

Speaker 1 10:44

Yeah, my favorite, that was standing room only yeah.

Speaker 4 10:47

In every room.

Speaker 1 10:48

Every room yeah.

Speaker 2 10:52

I agree with what Anthony said, but also just the seeing our colleagues being here with our colleagues for these few days has been fantastic and talking about all the things we're talking about, we're all dealing with the same issues and have the same concerns and it's a great opportunity for us to connect.

Speaker 1 11:07

Even more so after COVID. I feel like.

Speaker 3 11:09

I was just about to say we were impacted by COVID and we skipped a year and did a virtual year.

Speaker 1 11:16

That energy, that following year coming back, was just so great seeing our friends that human connection is underestimated. I think we knew that human connection.

New Focus Groups and Showing Appreciation

Speaker 3 11:28

And saying that in a lot of the focus groups or Zoom meetings, people all over the country so getting together as a group that have been working together again just kind of Super impactful, say everybody and has that contact.

Speaker 4 11:43

What are our hopes for next year's symposium?

Speaker 2 11:47

I think we continue to grow. We're happy with the size we are, but I think growing indicates to us that we're getting out there and we're providing a forum for people who really want to attend, and so we want to make sure that it's meaningful to everyone.

Speaker 1 12:04

And a lot of results were shared, I think, on the stage. I think that's impressive. As we've highlighted on many of the open mics and the interviews that we did over the last three days, you guys have a lot of data and so, as people are saying, oh, I'm curious about what the outcome for this, for that, can be. Well, we discussed a lot of very tangible numbers that could help us understand pathologies and maybe new treatments as well. I agree.

Speaker 3 12:27

I haven't talked directly to Chris about it, but some of the things that we've been hoping to do for a couple of years is a dialysis workshop especially the level fours are looking forward to that and specifically hands-on stuff, like we've done with BVECMO and Pocas.

Speaker 3 12:49

So I think hopefully we'll try to work on that. Some of the newer focus groups, their topics, I think we can highlight and get some kind of more energy behind them. Like ROP, I was really impressed that was one of our new ones and the maternal mood disorder, the PMAD. I think those topics deserve more attention and to support those focus groups. So maybe those will be the topics.

Speaker 1 13:20

And it will be next year October 25th to 28th 28th to 30th.

Speaker 3 13:25

28th to 30th.

Speaker 1 13:25

Sorry, so close In.

Speaker 3 13:27

Denver, colorado, so close.

Speaker 1 13:29

Yes.

Speaker 2 13:29

That was the 28th to 30th.

Speaker 1 13:31

If you were here on 28th. That was great.

Speaker 2 13:37

We have absolutely loved having you both here. This is fantastic.

Speaker 1 13:40

It was great, it was a great honor and again such a fascinating group of people.

Speaker 3 13:45

Your poster walk on.

Speaker 2 13:47

Twitter Live was fun, it was great. It was entertaining and educational.

Speaker 4 13:52

As long as you didn't get seasick.

Speaker 1 13:56

We did have a tripod, but definitely said no, no, we're going to go for it.

Speaker 3 14:00

It was great.

Speaker 1 14:02

And then you, Chris. Thank you so much for making the time and congratulations on a successful conference.

Speaker 2 14:06

Thank you, thank you, thank you both, alright.