WONCA 2023 in Sydney will be the conference of your career

Professor Mark Morgan, Conference Scientific Committee Chair

After 50 years of coming together as the World Organization of Family Doctors and after 2 years of being locked in by COVID-19, WONCA 2023 in Sydney will be special.

My vision for the conference is that each participant will come away changed. I would like us all to feel a sense of excitement about the future and feel a part of a global community with both unique and shared experiences. One of the problems with being family doctors spread across communities is the risk of isolation. We spend much of the day seeing patients from our community working solo or in small teams. WONCA 2023 will be a chance to come together, and the program will ensure opportunities to meet and talk. There is so much to learn from just having a conversation. 

The world is just waking up to the importance of primary care research. How primary care is organised, funded, chosen, delivered and improved makes a profound difference in the lives of our populations. There are new tools that can help us make sense of the complexity of primary care with the analysis of routinely collected data at scale. There is also an ever-greater awareness of the need to consider our patients as people with multiple interacting biopsychosocial and environmental needs. I am excited to learn more about the research being done all over the world to shape the future of primary care. 

The program my committee is assembling will bring together some of the deepest thinking and influential keynote presenters who will provide insights and connections. Keep an eye on the presenter page on the conference website to find out more.

As Conference Scientific Committee chair, I welcome you to submit a presentation for WONCA 2023.  The program we have designed allows for a wide variety of ways to share your knowledge and expertise. 

• Posters will be presented in electronic format, often a single PowerPoint slide. 
• Rapid Impact sessions encourage presenters to distil their key messages and findings into just 3 minutes followed by some question time. They are a great way to trigger conversations and collaborations. 
• Longer sessions will vary from 15 minutes to 90 minutes. The committee encourages innovation in some of our longer presentation types whether the intent is to educate, share, discuss, challenge, or inform. For example, a Professional Forum presentation might include debating or narration with poetry. 

A full list of presentation styles can be found on the call for submissions page on the conference website. Learning new skills and improving existing skills are some of the joys in the life of professionals. Medicine is changing at an ever-increasing rate, so it is a fundamental necessity for all of us to continuously learn. The program will be packed with opportunities to join interactive educational sessions.

WONCA 2023 is less than a year away. I am looking forward to working with my committee to make it the most exciting and transformative conference in your career.