Conference

The very first thing I learn from the conference at Philadelphia this year is that I, being a doctor with training and special interest in diseases of the kidney, knew very little about renal pathology (which literally means medical sleuthing by peering through a microscope at the kidney tissue samples).

I wish I had attended this fascinating renal pathology course long ago. And that brings me to my story of flying to a top-notch renal pathology course in New York seven years ago. For heaven's sake, I was almost there if not because of my last-minute flight re-schedule to save money, and more importantly, the crashing of the World Trade Centre soon after my airplane took off (on the day of September 11). So, needless to say, my mum was glad that I returned home in one piece after my flight was forced to turn back.

The flip side of the story follows that I didn't get a good chance to learn renal pathology until seven years later. It was a tiny incident in itself, but it gave me a better glimpse than I had had before of attending international medical conference – the merits of which are getting more and more under attack amid the looming global warming, and hence the pressing need to cut our carbon footprint.

I still remember reading an article about foregoing international medical conferences in the British Medical Journal few months ago. And it was a lengthy discussion about the alternatives of videoconferences and assessing posters in virtual networks. Believe it or not, there is nowadays free online networking site for users doing a PhD or postdoctoral research, or the so-called Facebook website equivalent for scientists.

Sure, overseas conference travel might not always be the best for our money, time and the planet. None of this means that international conference never works wonder. The educational renal pathology course that I attended today makes a convincing case for this. Meeting, watching and listening to the real experts matter. Interaction counts. Getting hand-on experience on the microscope, or whatever practical skills, with great teachers around makes sense – which I suppose in many ways it does.