3rd Swiss-Kyrgyz High Altitude
Medicine and ResearchSymposium 2024
Sept. 21-25, 2024, Naryn, Kyrgyz Republic
Hotel Khan TengriOrganizers:
Michael Furian, Zurich
Silvia Ulrich, Zurich

Max Gassmann, Zurich & Lima
Talant Sooronbaev, Bishkek

Programme overview
Day 1 – Saturday, September 21, 2024: Arrival of participants in Bishkek
Airport, Visit of National Center of Cardiology and Internal Medicine, Bishkek.
Transfer to Naryn by bus.

Day 2 – Sunday, September 22, 2024: Start of the Symposium in the afternoon
Day 3 – Monday, September 23, 2024: lectures, discussion, poster discussion
Day 4 – Tuesday, September 24, 2024: lectures, discussion, poster discussion
Day 5 – Wednesday, September 25, 2024: Roundtable discussions, visit Narynhospital, afternoon departure to Bishkek or individual travel

Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024
Arrival, scientific meeting and exchange, preparation for travel to Naryn
05:00-11:00

Arrival of international guests in Bishkek airport, transfer to city.

12:00-13:30

Lunch

13:30-15:00

Welcome and guided tour through the National Center of Cardiology
and Internal Medicine and Department of Respiratory Medicine.

15:00-19:30

Travel from Bishkek to meeting site at Naryn. Check-in at Hotel
Khan Tengri

20:30

DinnerSunday, Sept. 22, 2024
Swiss-Kyrgyz continuous medical education seminar, state of the art lectures(simultaneous translation English - Russian)
08:30-08.45

Welcome / Opening Ceremony

08:45-09:15

Erkin Mirrakhimov

Heart disease and the mountains

09:15-09:45

Heart failure update

09:45-10:15

Alessandra
Chiodini
Mona Lichtblau

10:15-10:30

Coffee Break

10:30-11:00

Silvia UlrichYear in review pulmonology

11:00-11:30

Otto SchochUpdate tuberculosis and infectious diseasesin remote areas

11:30-12:00

NN

12:00-13:30

Lunch

Pulmonary hypertension definition,
classification and treatment

Swiss-Kyrgyz high altitude research pioneers Almaz Aldashev and Konrad Bloch
13:30-14:00

NN

14:00-14:30

NN

14:30-15:00

Konrad Bloch

15:00-15:30

Coffee Break

Going to altitude in healthy and patients withrespiratory disease – a personal perspective

Hot topics in high altitude and Hypoxia research
15:30-16:00
16:00-16:30
16:30-17:00

Matthias Hilty
Baktybek
Kojonazarov
Ralph Schermuly

Microcirculation and betablockers at HA
Lung and heart perfusion in experimental
pulmonary hypertension
Hypoxia and the right ventricle – from
pathophysiology to novel therapies

18:30-19:30
Invitees only
19:30

Plenum (Chair: T.
Sooronbaev)
Dinner5-point roadmap for Kyrgyz high altitude
medicine.

Monday, Sept. 23, 2024
Hypoxia: from molecule to physiology
08:30-08:55

Julián Aragonés

Erythropoiesis and lung response to hypoxia

08:55-9:20

Andrea Olschewski

09:20-9:45

Wolfang Kübler

Ion channels in the PA vs. DAB during the firstbreath after birth
Inflammation, pulmonary artery stiffening andhypoxia - is there a link?

09:45-10:15
Coffee break
Living in a hypoxic environment - physiological threats and adaptation
10:15-10:40

Rob RoachAcclimatization to high altitudes

10:40-11:05

Max Gassmann

11:05-11:30

Highlanders worldwide and their hemoglobin
levelsIron and anemia in hypoxia

Martina
MuckenthalerPeter SchmidUpdate on allergies with special impact on
Grendelmeier
mountain areas
Lunch and poster viewing

11:30-11:55
12:00-13:00

Pulmonary vascular diseases at low and high altitude
13:30-14:00

Horst Olschewski

14:00-14:30

Silvia Ulrich

14:30-15:00

Simon Schneider

Pulmonary arterial hypertension, risk
stratification, comorbidities and implication fortherapy
Travelling to and living at high altitude withpulmonary vascular disease
Performance of patients with pulmonary
vascular disease at high altitude

15:00-15:30
Coffee break
Altitude tolerance – current and future research
15:30-16:00

Linda Keyes

16:00-16:30

Alina Häfliger

16:30-17:00

Aijan Taalaibekova

17:00-17:30
Art exhibition
17:30-19:00

Break

19:00-22:00

Gala Dinner

Governor, Naryn
Oblast, Organizers

Highlights from the UIAA Medcom
Recommendations for Women’s Health atHigh Altitude
Sex-specific difference in health-related
altitude-effects and their prevention byacetazolamide
Monitoring sexual hormones in women goingto altitude – results from a pilot study

Welcome address, opening ceremony, art
exhibition

Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024
Oral presentations
08:30-10:00

6-8 presentations

10:00-10:30

Coffee Breakeach 10-15min

Manifestation and prevention of altitude illness
10:30-11:00

NN

11:00-11:30

Konrad Bloch

11:30-12:00

Michael Furian

12:00-13:30

Lunch

Prevention of altitude illness in preexisting
diseaseSelf monitoring in COPD going to altitude andwomen at altitude

Consequences of chronic exposure to occupational and environmental hazards
13:30-14:00

Otto Schoch

Occupational lung diseases: dust exposure

14:00-14:30

Talant Sooronbaev

Health of highlanders – experiences andneeds in Kyrgyzstan

14:30-15:00

Mona Lichtblau

Climate change, in- and outdoor air pollution
and respiratory health

15:00-15:30

Coffee break

Hypoxia research – different systems and future direction
15:30-16:00

Lars Kästner

Regulation of red blood cell numbers in microgravity and after return from prolonged sojournat high altitude

16:00-16:30

BenoitChampigneulle

16.30-17.00

Xiaying Wang

Expedition5300: limits of human adaptationsin the highest city in the world - New findings
and perspectives
Technology and wearables in high altitude
expeditions

17:00-17:30

Break

17:30-18:30

Art exhibition

19:00-22:00

Dinner and special featureWednesday, Sept. 25, 2024
Networking and collaboration event
08:30-09:30

Networking event, connecting for future partner projects

09:30-10:00

Break

10:00-13:00

Director, Naryn
Health Center

13:00-14:00

Symposium End

Visit of Naryn Health Center and discussion
with local stakeholders (nurses, feldshers,family doctors, different health care providers
Wrap-up, then department to Bishkek

Affiliations
Prof. Silvia Ulrich, MD
PD Mona Lichtblau, MD
Prof. Michael Furian, PhD
Simon Schneider, PhD
Prof. Konrad E. Bloch, MD
Alina Häfliger, MD
Department of Pulmonology, University Hospital
Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

Benoit Champigneulle, MD
University of Grenoble, France
Prof. Robert Roach, MD
Department of Medicine, University of Colorado
Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, USA
Prof. Linda E. Keyes, MD
Department of Emergency Medicine, University ofColorado Health Sciences Center, Aurora, USA

Alessandra Chiodini, MD
Department of Cardiology, University Hospital Zurich, Prof. Horst Olschewski, MDZurich, Switzerland
Prof. Andrea Olschewski, MD
Medical University of Graz / Ludwig Boltzmann
Prof. Matthias Hilty, MD
Institute, Graz, Austria
Institute of Intensive Care, University Hospital Zurich,Zurich, Switzerland
Prof. Wolfgang Kübler, MD
Institute of Physiology, Charité – UniversitätsmedizinProf. Peter Schmid-Grendelmeier, MD
Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Department of Dermatology, University HospitalZurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Prof. Lars Kästner, PhD
Medical Faculty, Saarland University, Homburg/Saar,Prof. Max Gassmann, DVM
Germany
Institute of Veterinary Physiology, University of Zurich,Zurich, Switzerland
Xiaying Wang, PhD
Dept. of Information Techonlogy and ElectricalProf. Talant M. Sooronbaev, MD
Engineering, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Prof. Erkin Mirrakhimov, MD
Maamed Mademilov, MPD
Prof. Otto Schoch, MD
National Center for Cardiology and Internal Medicine, Cantonal Hospital St. Gallen, St. Gallen, Switzerland
Bishkek, Kyrgyz RepublicProf. Martina Muckenthaler, PhD
Department of Molecular Medicine, University
Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
Prof. Julián Aragonés López, PhDUniversidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
Prof. Ralph Schermuly, MD
Baktybek Kojonazarov, MD, PhD
University Hospital Giessen, Giessen, Germany
Institute for Lung Health, Giessen, Germany