Sarcoidosis Educational Event Set for Saturday at University of Cincinnati

Marisa Wexler, MS avatar

by Marisa Wexler, MS |

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An educational conference for people with sarcoidosis and those close to them will be held at the University of Cincinnati this Saturday, featuring doctors with expertise in this disease, presentations, and a question-and-answer session.

The Aug. 24 event at the Ohio university’s Kresge Auditorium runs from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

The conference is being hosted by the Foundation for Sarcoidosis Research (FSR), in conjunction with physicians with expertise in sarcoidosis. The FSR is a nonprofit foundation dedicated to finding better treatments and improving care for sarcoidosis patients. In the past two decades, the FSR has helped to support more than $4 million in sarcoidosis-specific research efforts.

The Sarcoidosis Education Conference will consist of presentations, from both FSR experts and physicians, that will cover a range of topics, including discussions of quality of life and treatment considerations in dealing with the disease, as well as specific information on sarcoidosis and how it can affect the eyes, heart, and brain as well as the lungs. There will also be a session where audience members can ask questions to a panel of sarcoidosis experts.

This is one of nine conference events that FSR is hosting this year. The goal of each is to provide more information to sarcoidosis patients so they can play a more active role in decisions regarding their treatment plan. It also aims to increase disease awareness as sarcoidosis is often poorly understood, even among physicians, which can lead to misdiagnoses and patients going without treatment, possibly for years.

In addition to the chance to learn from doctors and researchers, the conference also offers the opportunity for patients and caregivers to meet and connect with others who know what it is like to live with sarcoidosis on a day-to-day basis — both in terms of dealing with the disease, and with potential side effects of treatment.

“Until today, I never met another sarcoidosis patient,” one attendee of a previous conference said in a press release from FSR. “My family and friends can’t understand what I’m going through, [but] talking to the lady next to me, I finally felt like somebody understood me, and doesn’t think I’m crazy! I hope my family can now see how terrible this disease is.”

More information on this event, including registration details, is available here.