International Conference
on Disaster and Military Medicine

Changing Times – Time for a Chance!

30 September – 1 October 2025  |  Rhein-Mosel-Halle, Koblenz – Germany

30 September – 1 October 2025  |  Rhein-Mosel-Halle, Koblenz – Germany

Welcome

The good news is that planning is well underway for the 12th DiMiMED International Conference which is scheduled for 11th and 12th November 2024 in Duesseldorf.  It is the aim of the Scientific Committee to ensure that DiMiMED is a conference “which keeps on giving” year after year!  This year’s theme of “Changing Times – Time for a Change” fall easily off the tongue, but don’t be misled by the simplicity of the wording! Changes are afoot in every dimension of life, not least in the worlds of disaster and military medicine, and these changes require an appropriate response.  The key to success in today’s world is to identify the change that is taking place, and to determine whether, in particular with regard to conflict medicine and medicine in poorly resourced or austere environments, the current response remains optimal.

The structure of the DiMiMED International Conference is not immune to change either as we seek to respond optimally to the prompts of our audience in the feedback received after the 11th DiMiMED. We hope to introduce a Panel Discussion with panellists from both the military and humanitarian domains, and provide attendees with a mechanism to pose questions to the panel. Consideration is also being given to include a tour of MEDICA, one of the largest medical trade fairs in the world, in order to view innovation in medical products of potential relevance to the military medical, humanitarian, and austere medical worlds.

In addition, and in line with tradition, we hope to have specific modules in Combat Medical Care, Disaster Medicine and the Humanitarian Perspective, Mental Health, Moving Points in Disaster and Military Medicine, and this year we will introduce a section on Force Fitness. And of course, there will be the usual Poster Presentation Competition.

So, mark up your diaries now – See you there!

Dr. Gerald M. Kerr Colonel (ret);
Former Surgeon General & Director Medical Corps Irish Defence Forces

Dr. Erwin Dhondt Brigadier General (ret);
Former Director General Health & Well-being of the Belgian Defence Forces

Sessions 2024

Combat Medical Care
Lt. Col. Dr. Florent Josse (GER)

Mental Health
Col. (ret.) Prof. Dr. Eric Vermetten (NLD)

Force Fitness
Dr. BioMed. Sc. Kaat Goorts, PhD (BEL)

Disaster Medicine and the Humanitarian Perspective
Dr. John Quinn (USA) 

Moving Points in Disaster and Military Medicine
Col. (ret) Dr. Gerald M. Kerr (IRL) 
& Brig. Gen. (ret) Dr. Erwin Dhondt (BEL)

Industry Partners

DiMiMED Location:

CCD South
Stockumer Kirchstr. 61
40474 Düsseldorf

Room 2 | conference room
Room 3 | exhibition and break area

INDUSTRIAL PARTNERS – SPONSORING PACKAGES
Get together with cpm GmbH and leave unique footprints on the conference which is your chance to be an essential part of an exclusive and extraordinary event. If you have any questions, please send an email to [email protected].


Friend: 490,00€ (excl. VAT)
= Industrial Representative

  • 1 ticket
  • Poster size: A0
  • Send a digital version until 31 October 2024
    to [email protected]
  • Print your poster  and hang it on the walls in the coffee break area (room 3)
  • Prepare a short presentation about your poster –
    5 minutes for the winner of the poster award

>> You have the chance to win 1.000€ !!

We have reserved a room contingent in the following hotel:

Select Hotel Handelshof
Am Hauptbahnhof 2
45127 Essen – Germany

+49 201 246 85 300
[email protected]
keyword: beta-publishing

  • Price 165,00€ / night (incl. breakfast)
    Deadline: 11 October 2024


Train connection to the trade fair (60 minutes):

  • Essen central station – RE 2
    to Düsseldorf central station
  • Düsseldorf central station – Bus line 772
    to Düsseldorf, Messe-Center… use google maps or the Deutsche Bahn App for the best connections on site.

 


The Accommodation for speakers will be booked by cpm GmbH (Mercure Hotel Plaza Essen)

 

MEDICA
11 – 14 November 2024

The DiMiMED is a part of the MEDICA! 

Those who would like to experience must not miss this opportunity. The healthcare market is growing. The medical industry is making great strides towards the future. Fortunately, there is a place that allows you to move along with it. It is here that concentrated competence meets. And where you can keep up-to-date with the entire range of medical high-tech products and current know-how. MEDICA in Düsseldorf – in terms of innovation, a decisive heartbeat ahead of the rest.  https://www.medica-tradefair.com/

The 11th DiMiMED International Conference on Disaster and Military Medicine took place on November 13 and 14, 2023 in Düsseldorf, Germany, as a unique side event of the MEDICA Fair, the world’s largest gathering of the medical industrial sector. This scientific meeting brought together about 200 participants from 33 different countries worldwide and was also attended by 22 partners and sponsors from the medical industry, under the expert leadership of the professional congress organizer ‘BETA Publishing and Marketing Company’.

After an encouraging Welcome Address by Michael Degen, Executive Director of the Messe Düsseldorf GmbH, Major General (Air) Bernard PHALEG, the newly appointed Chief Strategy Officer of the Belgian Defense, set the scene whilst delivering the Official Opening Speech on concepts such as ‘Total Defense’, societal resilience, civil-military cooperation and the establishment of an operational reserve, followed by an inspiring Keynote by Dutch Colonel Dr. Wynand Korterink (NLD Army), the Surgeon General of the 1 (German/Netherlands) Corps. He explained how the society’s health and healthcare systems are impacted by warfighting or other disruptive shocks and how to respond thereto.

Each of the two conference days started with general insights into evolving Disaster and Military Medicine brought together every morning in an exciting session on ‘Moving Points’, chaired by both scientific hosts and co-chairmen, Colonel (ret.) Gerald Kerr (IRL) and Brigadier General (ret.) Dr. Erwin Dhondt (BEL).

Traditionally, 4 consecutive panels were skillfully led by an equal number of moderators, who largely also guaranteed their composition.

On Day 1 of the conference, the ‘CBRN Medical Management’ session, compiled and directed by US Army Lieutenant Colonel Tommy Rezentes, from the Office of the US Army Surgeon General and also serving as the chair of the NATO COMEDS CBRN Medical Training Panel.

The late-afternoon module was on ‘Combat Medical Care’, moderated by Lieutenant Colonel Dr. Florent Josse, an operational anesthetist from the Deutsche Bundeswehr Health Service, working in the Military Hospital of Ulm.

The first module on Day 2 was about ‘Mental Health’, moderated, for several years now, by a loyal ally of DiMiMED, retired Dutch Army Colonel Professor Dr. Eric Vermetten, teaching at the Leiden University Medical Center in The Netherlands.

A session entitled ‘Disaster Medicine and the Humanitarian Perspective’ concluded the 2nd day’s program. That had been designed and was chaired by Dr. John Quinn, an academic research fellow at the First Faculty of Medicine at Charles University in Prague, in the Czech Republic.

As such, very specific, although complementary subjects passed through the parade: from military and humanitarian disaster considerations in far forward medicine, also when in such settings, health care might be in danger, to recognizing sentinel signs of radiation exposure, autonomous battlefield care & disaster evacuation, prolonged field care in conflict and disasters and rehabilitation thereafter, but also talking about protecting the health of responders and humanitarian workers, or about moral injury in military veterans and civilians or even fostering mental resilience in the context of climate-related disasters.

Unfortunately, also this year, the war in Ukraine created a considerable need for discussion and coordination across countries, urging us again to address issues of evolving casualty care on the ‘modern’ battlefield.

The clinical presentations were interspersed by additional industrial contributions. Attendees were encouraged to feed Q&A sessions but also to approach and interact with the speakers and the ‘on-site’ exhibitors during the various – meanwhile extended – coffee and lunch breaks.

The positive feedback that we have already received from our participants, thanks to our survey, encourages us to continue with the same momentum for next year’s edition, but also to think about an additional track such as perhaps on force health protection or occupational military health, about original topics of disaster medical management, and why not about a ‘round table panel discussion’ with international opinion leaders and decision makers with even more room for networking and exchanges of ideas.

So, save of the date for 2024! You’re coming too, right!

Join us at the 12th DiMiMed International Conference alongside the MEDICA Trade Fair at ‘Messe’ Düsseldorf: 11 – 12 November 2024.


AUTHOR:
Brigadier General (ret.) Erwin Dhondt, MD, MSc, MHA, SFS
Co-Chairman DiMiMED

REGISTRATION CLOSED

Your ticket includes entrance to MEDICA Trade Fair

Bildquelle: stock.adobe.com

Impressions

Fotograf: Barbara Frommann

11th DiMiMED Conference 2023 – programme
10th DiMiMED Conference 2022 – programme
9th DiMiMED Conference 2021 – programme

Organisation

Contact for
Stand Booking

CHRISTIAN LAUTERER

Sales Director

cpm GmbH
Carl-Zeiss-Straße 5
53340 Meckenheim
Tel.: +49 (0)22 25 / 88 89-130
[email protected]
www.cpm-verlag.de

Contact for
Organisation and Exhibition

JULIA EHLEN

Project Leader Events

cpm GmbH
Carl-Zeiss-Straße 5
53340 Meckenheim
Tel.: +49 (0)22 25 / 88 89-122
[email protected]
www.cpm-verlag.de

Contact for
Organisation and Exhibition

ERJONA ELSHANI

Trainee Marketing & Events

cpm GmbH
Carl-Zeiss-Straße 5
53340 Meckenheim
Tel.: +49 (0)22 25 / 88 89-221
[email protected]
www.cpm-verlag.de