special sessions

A fireside gathering for early career investigators, students, and emerging researchers — in conversation with the people who built the field, hosted by Jonathan Carapetis.

Special Session Host & MC:  Jonathan Carapetis

Some of the most important moments in a research career happen not in a laboratory or a lecture theatre, but in a conversation — with someone who has been where you are, made the mistakes you are about to make, and found a way through. The RHD research community has always understood this. Across decades and continents, it has been defined as much by its generosity of spirit as by its science: researchers who pick up the phone for a student they met once at a conference, collaborations that began as a question asked over dinner, careers quietly shaped by someone who just said, “yes.”

This session is a deliberate attempt to make that kind of connection available to the next generation. Hosted by Jonathan Carapetis, the fireside chat brings together senior mentors and rising leaders for an open, honest conversation about what it takes to build a research career in RHD. No slides. Just honest reflections — what shaped them, what they got wrong, what they would tell their younger selves — and then the floor opens.

The session ends with time to simply talk, meet people, and begin the kinds of relationships that tend to last long after a congress ends.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND

• Students, residents, and junior doctors considering a research pathway in RHD

• Early career investigators within the first five to seven years of their research career

• Clinicians and health workers looking to move into or deepen research practice

• Anyone hoping to build international connections in the RHD community

WHAT WILL YOU TAKE HOME

• Direct access to some of the most influential researchers in the global RHD community — in an informal setting designed for real conversation

• Honest, experience-based perspectives on building a sustainable research career — including from researchers at different stages of the journey

• New connections with peers and mentors across countries and career stages

• A sense of belonging to a community that has always been defined by collaboration — and an invitation to carry that forward

A hands-on workshop for countries implementing — or planning — early detection programs for rheumatic heart disease

Workshop Leads:  Joselyn Rwebembera, Josh Francis, Bruno Nascimento

Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) is one of the most preventable forms of heart disease in the world — yet millions of people in low- and middle-income countries still reach an advanced stage before ever being diagnosed. That is beginning to change. Handheld echo devices, task-sharing models, and decentralized care pathways are transforming what early detection looks like in places like Uganda, Indonesia, the Philippines, Brazil, and Timor-Leste.  But practical, implementation-level knowledge is rarely shared across borders.

This workshop changes that. Designed for clinicians, program leads, and ministry of health representatives who are actively running or planning RHD screening, this session goes beyond the theory. You will hear directly from country teams about what worked, what did not, and what they would do differently — and you will leave with two tangible outputs: a consensus framework of essential program components and a standardized metrics toolkit you can apply immediately.

Peer learning. Practical tools. Real-world evidence. This is the first workshop of its kind.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND

• Clinical and program leads who are actively implementing or planning to implement RHD screening

• Ministry of Health representatives from high-burden countries

• Researchers working in RHD early detection, health systems, or echo AI

• Philanthropic and private sector partners in global health

WHAT WILL THIS WORKSHOP PRODUCE

• Essential Components Framework — practical checklist: who to screen, where to screen, workforce model, care pathway requirements

• Standardized RHD Screening Metrics — core indicators for coverage, yield, linkage-to-care, and system performance, enabling cross-country comparison

A practical, participatory workshop on translating clinical evidence and lived experience into policy change

Workshop Leads:  Bistra Zheleva, Children's HeartLink | Jeremiah Mwangi, Reach

The evidence for investing in RHD is strong. The policies that could act on it are not keeping pace. In too many countries, clinical and epidemiological data sit in reports that never reach decision-makers — or reach them without the framing, the messengers, or the strategic timing needed to translate into budget lines, national programs, or regulatory change.

This workshop exists to close that gap. Designed for clinicians, researchers, and people living with RHD, it provides a hands-on introduction to the craft of advocacy: how to read a policy landscape, how to build a compelling message that works across audiences, how to identify and engage the right decision-makers, and how to bring lived experience and clinical data together as a unified force for change.

You will work through a real advocacy planning exercise in small groups, drawing on your own country context. You will hear from advocates who have achieved tangible policy wins — from national BPG procurement in the Philippines to the Addis Ababa Communiqué and Australia's END RHD strategy — and you will leave with a ready-to-use toolkit and a plan you can act on when you get home.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND

• Clinicians and researchers who want to translate their work into policy impact

• People living with RHD with experience of or interest in advocacy

• Program managers and NGO leads engaging with governments and health ministries

• Anyone involved in national RHD programs, funding proposals, or policy development

WHAT WILL THIS WORKSHOP PRODUCE

• A completed advocacy plan — each participant leaves with a country-specific goal, mapped stakeholders, and a core message drafted during the workshop.

• Access to the Global ARCH Advocacy Toolkit (Children's HeartLink) — a comprehensive, ready-to-use resource for RHD advocacy planning.

• Three real-world case study blueprints — drawn from the panel, showing what successful RHD advocacy looks like at regional and national level.

• A network of peers — connections across countries and disciplines for ongoing advocacy collaboration beyond the congress.

An immersive, participatory workshop on community engagement, cultural humility, and co-design in RHD prevention

Workshop Leads:  Sarah de Loizaga, Jafes Pulle, Alice Mitchell

The most sophisticated clinical intervention could fail if the community it is meant to serve was not part of designing it. Across the world — from northern Australia to Uganda to New Zealand — the most durable RHD prevention programs share a common thread: authentic, relavent, respectful, and sustained community partnership.

This workshop is part learning experience, part practice session. You will hear from researchers and program leads who have embedded community engagement into their work — from yarning circles and drama-based methods in Australia, to genomic research partnerships in South Africa, to co-design of primary prevention programs in Uganda. Then you will experience participatory methods firsthand through a structured Group Level Assessment (GLA), surfacing the collective knowledge already in the room.

Whether you are just starting to think about community engagement or looking to deepen existing practice, this session offers both inspiration and practical tools to take home.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND

• Clinicians, researchers, and public health professionals in RHD or related fields

• Community health workers and program implementers

• People with lived experience of RHD

• Anyone interested in participatory research methods and co-design

WHAT WILL THIS WORKSHOP PRODUCE

• A white paper synthesizing global evidence on community-based participatory methods in RHD, enriched by themes generated live by congress participants during the workshop's Group Level Assessment.

• Practical exposure to participatory methods you can adapt for your own context.

A practical workshop on case management tools, quality improvement indicators, and building a global RHD QI network

Workshop Lead: Andrea Beaton, Liz Kennedy, Jafes Pulle  

Registries have long been the backbone of RHD research — but their greatest untapped potential may lie in what they can do for patients right now. When linked to case management tools and quality improvement frameworks, RHD data systems can alert clinicians to gaps in care, help health systems set benchmarks, and hold programs accountable for outcomes that matter.

This workshop brings together country teams, clinicians, and health systems experts to answer two urgent questions: How can existing registries better identify gaps in RHD care delivery? And what quality improvement tools can help close those gaps at scale?

You will hear real-world experiences from Uganda, Pakistan, and Western Australia. You will debate and agree on a core set of QI indicators mapped to the full RHD care continuum. And you will lay the groundwork for a Global RHD Quality Improvement Network — so the learning that starts in Perth continues long after the congress ends.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND

• Country teams who are using or who want to implement case management tools for RHD

• Clinicians and health system leads focused on quality of care

• Researchers in RHD registries, data systems, or health informatics

• Policymakers and program managers from high-burden countries

WHAT WILL THIS WORKSHOP PRODUCE

• Consensus QI Indicators — a core set of quality improvement metrics mapped to the RHD care continuum, for use as global benchmarks

• RHD Data Systems Catalogue — a curated directory of RHD data collection and registry systems, hosted on the Reach website

• Foundation for a Global RHD Quality Improvement Network — with shared data, tools, and lessons beyond the congress

A fast-paced, photo-based mini-workshop on pattern recognition, clinical diagnosis, and practical resources for Strep A skin infections

Workshop Lead:  Asha Bowen  

You already have everything you need to diagnose a Strep A skin infection. No lab, no swab, no specialist referral — just your eyes, your hands, and the pattern recognition you can build right now.

Streptococcal skin infections are among the most common and most under-recognized drivers of rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease, particularly in high-burden communities.

This hands-on mini workshop builds exactly that confidence. A focused introductory talk sets the clinical and epidemiological context, then an interactive photo-based quiz — drawn from over a decade of field photography — puts your pattern recognition to the test. You will leave knowing what to look for, how to treat it, and where to point patients, families, and colleagues for reliable resources: from clinical guidelines to apps, fact sheets, and community-developed tools including music videos that have reached communities across the world.

Community members with lived experience are involved in this workshop — both as a reminder of who this knowledge is ultimately for, and because they often see and notice things clinicians miss.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND

• Clinicians, nurses, and allied health workers in RHD-endemic settings

• Community health workers and primary care providers

• People living with RHD

• Medical educators and trainers looking for ready-to-use teaching tools

• Anyone who wants to sharpen their clinical eye for skin infections

WHAT WILL THIS WORKSHOP PRODUCE

• Sharpened pattern recognition for common Strep A skin presentations

• A curated set of ready-to-use resources: guidelines, apps, fact sheets, and community tools

• Awareness of how community-developed materials can extend clinical reach

Get behind a handheld echo device and experience RHD screening from the inside — supervised by expert sonographer trainers

Workshop Lead: Craig Sable, James Marangou 

Task-sharing echocardiography is one of the most promising advances in RHD early detection — but understanding it from a slide deck and understanding it from behind a probe are two very different things. This session gives you the latter.

In 90 minutes, you will move from a crisp overview of how task-sharing screening programs work in the field, to hands-on practice acquiring echo views yourself using handheld devices, to observing confirmatory studies performed on high-end machines — all supervised by experienced sonographer trainers. For those waiting their turn at a scanning station, rotating case discussions with expert facilitators will keep the learning going throughout.

Whether you are a clinician curious about what screening involves, a program planner evaluating feasibility, or someone ready to start training non-specialist screeners in your own setting, this session will give you a grounded, practical understanding that no lecture alone can provide. Devices and equipment are provided in-kind by industry partners.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND

• Clinicians and program leads evaluating or planning RHD screening programs

• Health workers interested in training as non-specialist echocardiographers

• Researchers in echo AI, task-sharing models, or RHD early detection

• Medical educators developing screening training curricula

WHAT WILL THIS WORKSHOP PRODUCE

• First-hand experience acquiring echo views using handheld screening devices

• Practical understanding of the full screening-to-confirmation workflow

• Exposure to the task-sharing model from a trainer's perspective — relevant for program design and workforce planning

• Direct access to expert sonographers and screening program leads for questions