The 2017 BASS meeting is taking place on 15–17 March 2017 at the Lowry Theatre, set in a magnificent waterside location at the heart of the redeveloped Salford Quays, Media City
The local hosts for the conference are based at Salford Royal, the flagship hospital for the NHS with its education building named after Dr Mayo, one of Salford’s most famous and illustrious sons William Worrall Mayo. He was born in 1819 in Eccles, Salford, just around the corner from Salford Royal Hospital. He helped establish St Mary’s Hospital in 1889 which paved the way for The Mayo Clinic, which was founded in 1919 at Rochester Minnesota.
The Salford Royal hospital hosts the regional Neurosciences Unit for a 3.2 million population catchment. The Spinal Unit in Salford was founded in 2001 and is part of the Neurosciences department.
Salford Neuroscience Department has eleven spinal surgeons, four dedicated complex neurosurgical spinal surgeons, eighteen neurosurgeons and four specialty doctors. The department has close links with Salford University, helping to run the Orthopaedic MSc. Manchester University Department of Mechanics have helped build a finite element model of the spine with PhD supervision from the Spinal Unit. This has influenced the spinal surgical practice, particularly in Adult Degenerative practice and Revision Surgery.
The hospital has a satellite Christie Hospital on site. The Christie Hospital is the leading expert in cancer care, research and education, and is a constant source of referral to the Spinal Unit with metastatic spine disease.
The BASS meeting will take the usual format of three days of scientific content, and in addition to the main conference we shall be running two pre-conference sessions on Tuesday 14 March; A masterclass which will take place at the Lowry and a cadaveric workshop at the Manchester Surgical Skills and Simulation Centre (part of Manchester University). There will be several keynote talks with some great guest speakers, an anaesthetist meeting on Wednesday 17 March and a specialised AHP day on Thursday 16 March. We have also introduced the President’s debate, which will ask: “Can we agree on a single registry and unified spinal surgical society?”
It is hoped that BASS 2017 will be a memorable experience for all attendees both for the quality of the meeting, which will have a diverse and inclusive appeal for those associated with spinal surgery and the warmth and experience of the city.
The setting for BASS at the Lowry is expected to give a modern but also a historic touch for BASS attendees. It is named after the early 20th century painter, LS Lowry, known for his paintings of industrial scenes in North West England.
We look forward to welcoming you to Manchester in 2017.
For more information please visit
www.spinesurgeons.ac.uk/bass-2017
