The participants were welcomed by General Director of the Almazov Centre Prof. Evgeny Shlyakhto and Deputy Chair of the Healthcare Committee of Saint-Petersburg Administration Tatyana Zasukhina.
The scientific programme of the symposium was as follows:
E. Shlyakhto, Introduction & Welcome Remarks
R. Ferrari, Progression of atheroschlerosis and apoptosis: a question of life and death of the endothelium
A. Kostareva, Current view on genetic origin of cardiovascular diseases
R. Ferrari, Ferrara, a city of prevention
O. Rotar, Saint-Petersburg as a healthy city: current projects and perspectives.
During the symposium, the wide range of scientific and practical issues was discussed — from fundamental problems of cellular life and death and CVD genetic markers to the preventive measures for a society and a city.
In the first part of the symposium, Professor Roberto Ferrari, director of the Cardiovascular Centre of the University of Ferrara, gave a talk on medical therapy to decrease apoptosis and pathological changes in heart and blood vessels which might delay the onset of stroke and myocardial infarction.
Dr. Anna Kostareva, director of the Institute of Molecular Biology and Genetics of the Almazov Center, presented an overview of current understanding of CVD genetic mechanisms. Significant progress in genetic tests and approaches to the results interpretation were demonstrated.
The second part of the symposium covered the topics of prevention methods on city and state levels. Professor Roberto Ferrari showed the results of the information campaign in Ferrara (Italy); Dr. Oxana Rotar, the Head of Epidemiology of Non-communicable Diseases Laboratory presented the current projects and future prospects in Saint-Petersburg within the social campaign “Healthy cities”.
After the symposium, Memorandum of Understanding between the University of Ferrara and the Almazov Centre was signed. The agreement is mainly aimed at effective collaboration in scientific research and medical education.