Speakers finalised for Osteology Sydney 2020

Registrations are now open for Osteology Sydney, June 19-21, 2020. The National Symposium is being jointly chaired by international chair Prof. Istvan Urban from Hungary and National chair, Prof. Lisa Heitz-Mayfield. We caught up with Prof. Heitz-Mayfield at the recent International Osteology Symposium in Barcelona.

ADP: Prof. Heitz-Mayfield, it's great news that we are again seeing an Osteology National Symposium in Australia?

LHM: Yes, it's very exciting to have the opportunity to have a second Osteology Conference in Australia. We expect to have a lot of delegates from Australia and New Zealand and also, being in Sydney, I think it will be attractive to overseas visitors. So hopefully we'll see delegates from other countries in Asia and also Europe participating.

ADP: As well as being the National Chairman for the event, I believe you're also only the second lady to be on the Board of Osteology?

LHM: Yes I am. I'm going to be on the board from June this year and I'm really very pleased to be part of the Osteology Foundation. It's a wonderful opportunity and I'm looking forward to working together with my colleagues on the many projects the organisation is involved in.

ADP: Is one of those projects addressing the lack of female speakers on the world stage?

LHM: Not directly, but I think there are some very good young speakers, both male and female, coming forward and we've seen that at this Osteology meeting here in Barcelona. I think that with more women in dentistry and implant dentistry now, we're going to see more women on the stage. It's just a matter of time and of course, the quality is very important. That's what we're seeing through initiatives from the Osteology Foundation to encourage young researchers and young clinicians to present. I think the next generation is going to be very exciting.

ADP: And were you involved in the first Osteology National Symposium in Melbourne in 2017?

LHM: I was a speaker in Melbourne and that was a very well-organised and successful congress. I think the organising committee did a great job and of course it was very well supported by the industry. The hands-on sessions were a particular highlight and I conducted one of those at that congress and the feedback overall was very positive.

In Sydney, we're going to have some really exciting hands-on workshops again as well as a terrific program overall. The international speakers are top class; we have Istvan Urban, Matteo Chiapasco and we also have Rino Burkhardt, plus we're looking forward to welcoming Rony Jung and Jung Chul-Park. We have a very broad range of speakers. We also have some terrific national speakers from Australia and New Zealand.

It's going to be a comprehensive program with something for everyone from general dentists to maxillofacial surgeons, periodontists to prosthodontists. Everybody should be excited about attending this congress and no matter what your level of dentistry, there'll be something for you.

Australian practitioners are very up-to-date and many of them are right at the cutting edge and leading the way. We should be very proud of our standard in Australia and that's one of the terrific things about Osteology. It's very international and you have the opportunity to exchange ideas and to learn from people from all over the world. Osteology, really, has a great vision for the future.

We're also doing something a little different this time too. We're going to have a team day. The whole practice team is welcome to come to Osteology Sydney 2020. We're going to have a special morning where dental hygienists and dental assistants together with the practitioners they work with can come and listen to a broad range of speakers looking at everything from infection control to oral medicine and how to look after the cancer patient. We're going to have a really good program for everybody. I really encourage everyone to block off these dates, which are June 19th to the 21st, 2020.