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 at the Cardiff Marriott hotel.
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 Â鶹Çø 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
Â鶹Çø Update in medicine conferences are held across the UK and are delivered by the Â鶹Çø 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 Â鶹Çø’s will be hosting a special resident doctor breakfast meeting on the morning of the conference.
Join us from 7.45am for a discussion around training, recruitment, and community by design in Wales and the opportunity to network with senior Â鶹Çø representatives.
This session is free, but registration is required to confirm your attendance.
Register 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 Â鶹Çø 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 Â鶹Çø 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.
Venue: Cardiff Marriott Hotel, Mill Lane, Cardiff, CF10 1EZ.
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 Â鶹Çø.
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.
Dr Nicky Leopold
Dr Nicky Leopold is a consultant in geriatric medicine and acute care at Morriston Hospital, Swansea, after becoming qualified in medicine in Cardiff in 2003.
Nicky is deputy programme director for geriatric medicine. She has a particular interest in medical education and training.
Dr Leopold is also the Welsh chair of the British Geriatrics Society, where her priority is advocating for what matters most to older people in Wales.
Dr Gemma Lewis-Williams
Dr Gemma Lewis-Williams is a consultant in palliative medicine working across acute and community palliative care in north west Wales.
Gemma has worked in hospice and specialist palliative care for over a decade. She is currently associate medical director for mortality at Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board after previously working as clinical lead for specialist palliative care.
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.
Dr Rhodri Stacey
Dr Rhodri Stacey is a consultant gastroenterologist and clinical director of medical specialties at Morriston Hospital, Swansea.
Rhodri graduated from St George’s Hospital Medical School and completed his gastroenterology training in Wales, including a fellowship in the late gastrointestinal effects of radiotherapy in Cardiff.
He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Welsh Association of Gastroenterology and Endoscopy and serves as clinical director for gastroenterology at Swansea Bay. He has a particular interest in the development and delivery of high-quality emergency endoscopy services across Wales.
Dr Amit Benjamin
Dr Amit Benjamin graduated from the University of Wales College of Medicine in 1998 and was appointed consultant chest physician at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital in 2008.
Amit has co-authored the all-Wales guidance for sleep-disordered breathing in 2009 and has held clinical leadership roles in acute oncology, tuberculosis, pleural disease, sleep medicine, non-invasive ventilation (NIV) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) throughout his consultant career. He has contributed to the development and delivery of respiratory services across the trust, with particular interests in sleep and respiratory medicine.
Dr Bazga Ali
Dr Bazga Ali is a consultant in infectious diseases and microbiology at University Hospital Wales. Bazga is the infectious hepatitis lead for Cardiff and Vale and training programme director for infection training in Wales. She supports the health inclusion service from an infection perspective, working closely with people seeking asylum and those experiencing homelessness.
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.
2 December 2026
Â鶹Çø subscribing members and fellows (consultant / SAS) : £125
Standard non-member rate (consultant / SAS) : £285
Â鶹Çø subscribing members – resident doctors IMT/STR : £75
Â鶹Çø subscribing members – FY doctors / med students : £75
Â鶹Çø subscribing retired fellows and members : £75
Standard non-member rate resident doctors (incl med students, FY, IMT, STR) : £185
Refugee doctor : £75
Standard non-member rate (allied health professionals) : £285
Standard non-member rate (allied health professionals) (1) : £285