dotMD to expand for 2019

dotMD, the award winning Festival of Medical Curiosity, is expanding in 2019 to meet demand.

The dotMD conference, often described as the ‘Electric Picnic’ of Medical Conferences, will be moving to the Bailey Allen Hall, NUI Galway and will take place over two days, on Friday 13th and Saturday 14th September 2019.

Those interested in attending are asked to sign up for the meeting announcements on the conference website.

The meeting previously took place in Dublin’s Smock Alley Theatre as an annual one day event. This meeting is in its seventh year.

“Whereas we loved having the meeting in Smock Alley, the demand for tickets has simply outstripped the capacity of the venue.” according to Dr Ronan Kavanagh, conference director. “The 2018 meeting sold out in hours leaving many more disappointed that they couldn’t get tickets. There’s clearly a hunger and demand for what the meeting provides.”

The organisers also believe that Galway is a natural home for dotMD. “The city is home to Druid Theatre, Macnas, the Galway International Arts Festival and is also the European Capital of Culture in 2020, so is the perfect location for a meeting exploring the relationship between the arts, culture, and medicine.”, according to Dr. Kavanagh.

Dr. Muiris Houston, co-organiser of the meeting also believes that there is more to dotMD than its diverse and eclectic educational programme;

“One of the things that makes delegates come back to dotMD year after year is the relaxed, retreat like atmosphere of the meeting, and the people that they meet – so we were keen to build on that. Galway is the perfect size as a city to gather people together for couple of days and allow them to relax and interact with one another at the meeting, but also at social events across the city. Galway is also the perfect launching spot for delegates travelling from abroad who want to explore Connemara and the Wild Atlantic Way”

The preliminary programme for the meeting will be announced and tickets will go on sale in early 2019. dotMD is intended for medical professionals but is also open to allied health care professionals.

All previous meetings have qualified for CME.

dotMD – A Festival of Medical Curiosity

dotMD, a winner of The Irish Health Awards Best Education Event, explores the interface between medicine, the humanities and culture – and in doing so, shines a light on the art, heart, and future of medicine.

Topics previously explored include literature, art, photography, poetry, rap, comedy, story telling, technology, burnout, Buddhism and undertaking.

Previous speakers have included Samuel Shem, author of The House of God (Shem describes dotMD as the best meeting he has taken part in), medical writers Danielle Ofri, Suzanne O’Sullivan and Rachel Clarke, Rapping doctor ZDoggMD, Irish writers Kevin Barry and Sinéad Gleeson, and Undertaker and essayist Thomas Lynch.

The meeting is organised by three Galway based doctors, Dr. Ronan Kavanagh, Dr. Muiris Houston and Dr. Alan Coss and sells out every year. The organisers also run a successful annual medical story telling evening called Bedside Stories.

Date 13th-14thSeptember 2019

Venue: Bailey Allen Hall, National University of Ireland, Galway

www.dotmd.ie

Twitter @dotmdconf

All media enquiries via Niamh@stillwater.ie

All sponsorship enquiries via Kerry O’Sullivan at Go West Kerry@gowest.ie