Update in medicine – Cardiff 2026

We look forward to welcoming delegates to this one-day Update in medicine conference taking place on Wednesday 2 December 2026.

This is a full-day conference. Refreshments and lunch are provided. Please note we require a minimum of 48 hours' notice to cater for specific dietary requirements.

Topics will include:

• managing symptoms in advanced chronic diseases
• the physician's role as an advocate and educator
• respiratory failure
• acute porphyria
• stroke mimics

As well as hearing from leading physicians across the medical specialties, you can participate in Q&A sessions and enjoy the opportunity to network with senior RCP officers and with your peers.

Please note, this is a face-to-face event. We do not provide online access for this series of events.

Download the programme

'It was my first time being involved with the planning [of the Update] and it was fabulous. You could hear everyone chatting in the breaks about the talks and feeling inspired about care which is what it's about and why we get out of bed!!’

Update in medicine – Cardiff 2025 delegate

RCP Update in medicine conferences are held across the UK and are delivered by the RCP regional team. These events are designed to provide high-quality education and allow attendees to stay abreast of clinical advancements in medicine, develop professional skills and network with colleagues.

Please note, this is a face-to-face event. We do not provide online access for this series of events.

Representatives from the RCP’s Resident Doctor Committee will be hosting a special resident doctor networking session for registered attendees, starting at 7:30am on the morning of the conference.

Resident doctors from across the region are encouraged to join us for a discussion around training and the opportunity to network with senior RCP representatives.

Come along to this informal meeting to hear about the work of the committee and to share your thoughts about training, and discuss any regional issues.

This session is free, but registration is required to confirm your attendance.

Physicians and allied health professionals at all levels and across all medical specialties are welcome and encouraged to attend.

You do not have to be an RCP subscribing member to attend this event, but you may wish to consider becoming a member and benefiting from discounted registration fees. Become a member today and join our community of over 40,000 physicians around the world.

Discounts are available for those working less than full time or on maternity/paternity/adoption leave. Please contact the regional services team for more information and to apply: regionalservicesteam@rcp.ac.uk

Doctors in non-resident doctor posts (equivalent to FY, IMT or STR) who are RCP subscribing members can benefit from the resident doctor rate for this event, however this discount may not automatically apply during your booking. Please contact us for support.

The Cardiff Marriott Hotel is conveniently located in the city centre and Cardiff Central train station is only a 5 minute walk away.

Parking is available on site for a discounted rate, providing delegates show their ticket to reception to validate (follow navigation to Mill Lane or postcode CF10 1FL).

Alternatively there is ample parking in the adjacent John Lewis car park (follow postcode to CF10 1EG) or St David's II car park (follow postcode to CF10 2EN).

Registered delegates will have access to the presentations we are given permission to share. Please log in and click on the 'attendee info' tab to view them.

Dr Barny Hole

Dr Barny Hole is a kidney doctor and researcher. He is interested in how health systems can get the right balance between preventative treatment, management of disease, and care focused on people’s quality of life. His clinical practice focuses on decisional support and integration of palliative care for people with kidney failure. Barny’s research highlights the need for health services that offer greater individualisation and choice, prioritise independence and minimise intrusion from treatment. His current project is exploring similarities in decision-making about treatment of life-limiting disease across kidney failure and other health conditions commonly experienced in older age.

Dr Aaron Wong

Dr Aaron Wong is a consultant cardiologist and general physician at Princess of Wales Hospital, Wales, as well as the local heart failure lead. He graduated from the University of Glasgow and completed specialist training in cardiology and general internal medicine in Wales. He was awarded a Doctorate in Medicine by the University of Dundee for his research on insulin resistance and chronic heart failure and is a fellow of the RCP. Aaron is the principal investigator for several international multicentre heart failure clinical trials and has authored and co-authored publications in heart failure and cardiorenal metabolic disease. He is an honorary lecturer at Cardiff University, received the Clinical Teacher of the Year Award in 2019, and is committed to training the next generation of healthcare professionals.

FRCP

Dr Nicky Leopold

Bio TBC

Professor Sir Michael Marmot

Sir Michael Marmot has been professor of epidemiology at UCL since 1985 and is director of the UCL Institute of Health Equity. He is the author of The Health Gap: the challenge of an unequal world (Bloomsbury: 2015), and Status syndrome (Bloomsbury: 2004). Sir Michael has led research groups on health inequalities for nearly 50 years. He chaired the WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health, several WHO Regional Commissions, and reviews on tackling health inequality for governments in the UK. He served as president of the British Medical Association (BMA) in 2010–11, and as president of the World Medical Association in 2015. He was a member of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution for 6 years, and in 2000 he was knighted for services to epidemiology and the understanding of health inequalities. Sir Michael was appointed a Companion of Honour for services to public health in the King’s 2023 New Year Honours.

FRCP

Dr Rhodri Stacey

Bio TBC

Dr Shruthi Konda

Dr Shruthi Konda is a consultant respiratory and sleep physician based in London. She practises at the Royal Brompton Hospital, one of the UK’s leading centres for respiratory medicine. Shruthi is an honorary clinical senior lecturer at the National Heart and Lung Institute, part of Imperial College London.

She is currently the Linacre fellow at the Royal College of Physicians and has previously held the role of education lead for the British Sleep Society. Her clinical and academic work focuses on respiratory failure, sleep disorders and improving patient outcomes through education and innovation.

FRCP

Dr Bazga Ali

Bio TBC

Dr Danja Schulenburg-Brand

Dr Danja Schulenburg-Brand qualified as a chemical pathologist in 2009 in South Africa and has been a consultant in the Department of Metabolic Medicine, University Hospital of Wales (UHW) since 2016.

She was appointed as clinical lead for the Cardiff Porphyria Service in 2021, managing patients with acute and cutaneous porphyria across Wales, Scotland and England as well as leading the Cardiff Specialist Porphyrin Laboratory based at UHW. The Cardiff Porphyria Service has been endorsed as an International Porphyria Network (IPNET) Expert Clinical Centre for both acute and cutaneous porphyria since 2021, one of 16 centres globally.

Danja is currently chair of the British and Irish Porphyria Network and a member of two IPNET Working Groups. She is on the Expert Panel for Cutaneous Porphyria International Guidelines Group and the porphyrin advisor for the Welsh External Quality Assessment Scheme for laboratories’ Steering Committee.

Dr Tom Hughes

Dr Tom Hughes trained in medicine in the Royal London Hospital and in neurology and stroke in London, Edinburgh and Cardiff. He is clinical lead for stroke in UHW in Cardiff and shares work of the acute stroke ward with Dr Hamsaraj Shetty. Tom is the principal investigator for the IIH Intervention trial and is also helping to recruit to the ASPIRING, and TICH-3 clinical trials.