At the beginning of October, Riga will host the fourth international Precision Medicine Networking Forum (PMNET), which has become one of the leading platforms in Northern Europe in this field. Over two days, more than 300 participants – healthcare professionals, scientists, entrepreneurs, and policymakers – will meet to share knowledge, discuss current trends and jointly seek solutions that will promote both Latvia's economic growth and the development of its healthcare system.
The forum traditionally attracts internationally recognized experts from the United States, Western Europe, Scandinavia, and the Baltic states. This year, cooperation with the United States will be particularly significant – Dr. Lu Vanga, Medical Director of Molecular Pathology and Associate Researcher at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital (Memphis, USA), representing one of the world's leading pediatric oncology institutions. Expanding cooperation with leading European research centers – Princess Máxima Center in the Netherlands and Hopp Children’s Cancer Center Heidelberg (KiTZ) in Germany – will also be important. The paediatrics session will be led by Dr. Žanna Kovaļova (Latvia) and Dr. Miriam Blatner Johnson (Germany), who works in the prestigious INFORM precision medicine programme and actively collaborates with Latvian universities and hospitals.
Special attention will also be paid to the development and legislation of biobanks, as the Biobank Law is scheduled to be approved by the Saeima in the fall. The forum will feature an annual Biobank session on this topic, led by Vita Rovīte, Director of the Latvian National Biobank, together with Jens K. Haberman, Director General of the European Biobank Research Infrastructure BBMRI-ERIC. This session will highlight Latvia's importance and potential in the development of biobanks in the European context, as well as raise issues related to data protection and patient rights.
The PMNET Forum is organized thanks to an extensive network of cooperation – it is implemented by the Children's Hospital Foundation, the Children's Clinical University Hospital, Riga Stradins University, the Latvian Children's Oncology Foundation, the Ministry of Economics and Health, the Latvian Investment and Development Agency, as well as several patient organizations. The forum's partners include the Latvian Biomedical Research and Study Centre, the American Chamber of Commerce in Latvia, the University of Latvia, Riga Technical University, Riga East University Hospital and Pauls Stradins Clinical University Hospital.
The event will be held in English with some sessions in Latvian. Anyone interested is invited to register for free at pmnetforum.com/registration. More information about the program and speakers is available on the official website www.pmnetforum.com.
More information about the forum program and speakers is available at www.pmnetforum.com.
The event is supported by the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia (LIAA). The project “Development and continuous operation of a comprehensive innovation system management model” is financed by the European Union Recovery Fund. The views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the European Union or the European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the European Commission is responsible for them.