Overseeing the world’s largest medical-themed trade shows, MEDICA, and launching new ones, including Medical World Americas, Messe Duesseldorf recently made a few announcements regarding its medical events portfolio.

The company’s Duesseldorf-based MEDICA 2013, International Trade Fair with Congress – World Forum for Medicine has decided to changes its conference program’s name to MEDICA Conferences & Forums.

“The MEDICA conference, which regularly attracts several thousand participants, has until now only been well-known in Germany. But now over half of the visitors at MEDICA come from outside of Germany,” said Joachim Schäfer, managing director of Messe Duesseldorf.

He added, “This continuous increase in international interest does justice to the program, which has been professionally reviewed and fine-tuned with the help of renowned experts.”

There will continue to be general medical topics and practical courses on equipment, which are CME-certified for continuing medical professional development, as well as seminars on subjects covering different sectors relevant to specialists of different fields, such as emergency medicine and gender-specific medicine.

Other elements of the MEDICA Conferences & Forums program will include forums on leading trends held as part of the trade fair. These will consist of the MEDICA HEALTH IT FORUM (IT trends, telemedicine/ Hall 15) and the MEDICA TECH FORUM (developments in the field of high-tech medicine) with presentations in English, the MEDICA PHYSIO FORUM (physiotherapy procedures/ Hall 4) and the MEDICA ECON FORUM, successfully launched in 2012 by Messe Düsseldorf and the Techniker Krankenkasse (TK).

In 2012, MEDICA was the world's largest medical trade fair with 4,554 exhibitors from over 60 countries and 130,600 specialist visitors. Based on current exhibitor registrations, participation in this year's event promises to be just as strong.

In the U.S., Messe Duesseldorf is busy making plans for the launch of its Medical World Americas event April 28-30 at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston.

Robert C. Robbins, M.D., president and CEO of Texas Medical Center, will has been named chair of the show’s Executive Advisory Committee.

Dr. Robbins is an internationally renowned cardiac surgeon, lecturer, author and researcher with focused efforts in acquired cardiac diseases.

The former professor and chairman of the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at the prestigious Stanford University School of Medicine joined Texas Medical Center in November.

As chair, Robbins will combine his insights as a leading clinician, esteemed administrator and sought-after speaker to assemble a committee of specialists to develop a conference program for peers and healthcare professionals across the country, according to event officials.

 “Medical World Americas gives Houston a powerful platform to tell the story about the Texas Medical Center and our community,” Robbins said. “When people across the globe think of health, we want them to immediately think of Houston.”

The Texas Medical Center is home to the largest concentration of life sciences experts anywhere in the world with 54 member institutions that lead the highest standards of patient care, research and education. 

"I am truly honored that Dr. Robbins has agreed to participate with Medical World Americas as Chairman of the Executive Advisory Committee,” said Greg Ortale, president and CEO of the Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau.

He added, “Having a leader of his stature in Houston provides us with tremendous resources.”

Medical World Americas is a unique collaboration between Messe Duesseldorf North America with investment from the Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau.