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TOFS Seminar 2024

16th November, 2024 , 12:30 pm – 5:00 pm

The Engine Rooms, Birchwood Park, Warrington, WA3 6YN

About the seminar

Join us in Warrington to hear from some leading experts and specialists from a variety of healthcare professions, who work with OA/TOF patients. It is also a great chance to chat with other members; meet the TOFS volunteers and staff team and meet other charities/associations representing other medical anomalies. All adults and children (over age 13 years) born with OA/TOF, parents, relatives, and healthcare professional’s welcome!

For more information and to book tickets, please visit: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/tofs/1284924

Schedule

12.30  

 

Registration opens 

13:00  

 

Welcome 

Chair, Drew Bailey 

 

13:05  

 

Diane Stephens, TOFS Chief Executive Officer  

TOFS Introductory Presentation 

 

13:15  

 

Natalie Durkin 
Progress on tissue engineered oesophagus 

13:40  

 

Rebecca Thursfield 
Current clinical practice around ongoing respiratory management for those born with OA/TOF 

14:05  

 

Refreshments & chat 

 

15:00  

 

Chantal Ten Kate  

Progress in adult care for OA/TOF patients in the Netherlands 

 

15:25 

 

Nick Lansdale

Ongoing Gastrointestinal issues/ complications of those born with OA/TOF 

15:50  

 

Informal discussion session  

Facilitated by Chair, Drew Bailey  

16:20 

 

Final remarks 

Drew Bailey 

 

16:30 

Event closes 

 

Meet the speakers

Natalie Durkin

Natalie Durkin

Natalie is a senior surgical trainee currently working at Evelina Children’s Hospital, London. She spent 4 years working at GOSH ICH on developing a tissue engineered oesophagus as a possible future treatment for long gap oesophageal atresia under the mentorship of Professors Paolo de Coppi and Simon Eaton.

Natalie is passionate about improving care for OA patients and has also been involved in European (ERNICA) projects looking at quality of life, follow up and transition in OA.

Rebecca Thursfield

Rebecca Thursfield - Paediatric Respiratory Consultant - Alder He

Dr Rebecca Thursfield is the Paediatric Respiratory Consultant / Associate Research Director at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, Liverpool. She manages children with a range of respiratory conditions including cough, wheeze, recurrent infections, immunodeficiency and cystic fibrosis. Rebecca is passionate about ensuring that children have their health conditions managed to allow them to lead as normal a life as possible, including participating in regular exercise which is so important for respiratory health.

She has also led the joint tracheoesophageal clinic with her surgical, dietetic and physiotherapy colleagues for almost 10 years. The joint clinic allows the team to work in partnership and provides an opportunity for greater understanding of the multi factorial condition and helped to resolve some of the overlapping anatomical, functional, surgical, feeding and respiratory issues.

Chantal Ten Kate

Chantal Ten Kate

After obtaining her medical degree in 2017, Chantal started as a PhD candidate at the Department of Pediatric Surgery at the Sophia Children’s Hospital in Rotterdam. She combined her research with her clinical work as a resident, not in training. 

Her research focused on optimising health care for patients born with oesophageal atresia and was in collaboration with the Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, and the Departments of Clinical Genetics at the Erasmus MC in Rotterdam. After defending her PhD cum laude in 2022, Chantal started her surgical residency training in Rotterdam. 

Chantal is also the author of “It Doesn’t End With Closure”, a book on the subject of optimising health care throughout life after oesophageal atresia (OA) repair.

Nick Lansdale

Nick Lansdale

Nick is the Paediatric and Neonatal Consultant Surgeon at Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital. His clinical interests include Paediatric Upper Gastrointestinal and Thoracic surgery, with the majority of this work being carried out using laparoscopy or thoracoscopy (‘keyhole’ surgery). He is one of the three surgeons who perform oesophageal atresia surgery at Manchester and is part of the Manchester Access Group in Children (MAGiC) vascular access team. He is currently the departmental lead for neonatal surgery.

Nick has published widely and carries out peer-review activities for a number of journals and funding bodies. He is an honorary Senior Lecturer at The University of Manchester and member of the British Association of Paediatric Surgeons Research Committee.

Videos

Videos of presentations from the seminar will be shown here after the event.

Directions to the event   

The seminar will be held at The Engine Rooms at Birchwood Park, Warrington, WA3 6YN.  

Some of you may recognise the space as this was the brilliant venue which hosted our TOFS conference in 2019, at which we had 140 members attend! 

This is very close to the M6/M62 junction. There are good train services to Warrington from (amongst others) Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, London, and Glasgow. The nearest airport to the venue is Manchester.

Please click here to see the information from the venue on how to visit by public transport or by car. 

Accommodation & food

The B&B Hotel (formerly the Penta Hotel), also located in the Birchwood Park, is only a 10-minute walk from the venue. 

The hotel is open to non-residents for food but we recommend giving them a call prior to arrival.

Find out more at:

B&B Hotel, Warrington 

If you wanted to venture a bit further, Culcheth is only 2.5 miles away from the venue, by car or taxi, where there are a number of lovely pubs, bars and restaurant’s