"We bring the world together to encourage developers, industry leaders, and inventors to create the products and devices of tomorrow that are truly needed today." -- Cheryl B. Gartley, President and Founder of The Simon Foundation for Continence
Chicago, Illinois (PRWEB) October 13, 2016
On April 19-21, 2017, The Simon Foundation for Continence will hosts its 6th international conference, Innovating for Continence: The Engineering Challenge. The biennial conference is held in Chicago and attracts speakers from a wide range of disciplines. The conference is designed to heighten innovation and increase development of creative and efficacious products for the management of incontinence by bringing together a unique group of stakeholders. Delegates come from around the world and include biomedical engineers and other engineering disciplines, physicians, nurses, people with incontinence and their caregivers, academics, industry executives, venture capitalists, and entrepreneurs.
"Due to the unrelenting stigma surrounding this medical condition, incontinence continues to be under-reported, under-served, and product options for individuals who cannot be cured are still limited," stated Cheryle Gartley, President and Founder of The Simon Foundation for Continence. "We bring the world together to encourage developers, industry leaders, and inventors to create the products and devices of tomorrow that are truly needed today."
The concept of the conference series is to feature an unusual mix of engaging speakers to provide fresh thinking on the topic, including experts in areas of technology that have yet to be applied to incontinence product development. Among the many unique aspects of the Innovating for Continence conference series is the role that the incontinence industry plays in this meeting. Unlike many meetings, industry’s engineers and scientists are welcome to participate in both the Plenary Sessions and the Poster Session.
Alan Cottenden, Professor of Incontinence Technology at University College London in England is the ongoing Chair of the conference series. He has been involved in continence product technology for over 30 years, working on clinical and basic science aspects as well as product development. “People with incontinence would like to be cured, but when complete cure is not achievable – as is often the case – delivering the best quality of life possible through effective management is a goal just as worthy of our strenuous efforts,” states Professor Cottenden in describing the motivation behind the Innovating for Continence conference series.
The Foundation is proud to announce that its Honorary President for the 2017 conference is Diane K. Newman, DNP, ANP-BC, FAAN. Dr. Newman is Adjunct Professor of Urology in Surgery and Research Investigator Senior at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania. She also serves as Co-Director of the Penn Center for Continence and Pelvic Health, Division of Urology at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center. Dr. Newman has over 30 years’ experience practicing as a urology nurse practitioner and since 2000, in the Division of Urology at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Her current practice involves the evaluation, treatment, and management of urinary incontinence and related problems including the use of catheters and other devices in the management of bladder dysfunction.
Registration for Innovating for Continence 2017 is now open and submission of abstracts for the conference Poster Session are currently being accepted for review. Up-to-date information about the conference can be located on the conference website at http://www.innovatingforcontinence.org.
About the Simon Foundation for Continence
The Simon Foundation for Continence (http://www.simonfoundation.org), located in Chicago, Illinois, USA, is a 501(c)(3) corporation whose mission is: to bring the topic of incontinence into the open; remove the stigma associated with incontinence; and provide help and hope to individuals with incontinence, their families, and the professionals who provide their care. The Simon Foundation for Continence is the world’s oldest patient-led organization devoted exclusively to incontinence, having been founded in 1982. The Foundation’s mission is supported by an Advisory Board of professionals, many of whom have dedicated their careers to improving the clinical treatment of incontinence and advancing medical science through bladder and bowel research.
