Please note we are accepting late abstracts. To submit a late abstract please send it to program@icms.com.au

Following the highly successful BakerIDI Heart and Diabetes Institute Heart and Mind conferences of 2008 and 2010, an encore is to be held, once more in the delightful town of Prato, Italy, in September, 2012.

At the earlier meetings the organizers were pleased to host an international roll call of delegates, from Canada, England, Ireland, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, USA and Australia. The 2012 meeting I am sure will also be a stimulating and enlightening international event, surpassing even the previous meetings.

The BakerIDI Heart and Diabetes Institute is Australia's highest profile and most productive cardiovascular research institute. The commitment of the Institute to the mental stress - cardiovascular disease concept is evident in our 25 years of research and public advocacy in this field.

The conference will have as its centrepoint the link between psychological medicine and cardiovascular disease, aiming to delineate the relationship between stress, mental illnesses and the development and course of heart disease and hypertension. It will showcase the crucial epidemiology, the mediating neural and other mechanisms, and the pharmaceutical, social and psychological measures applicable to prevention and treatment.

The program promises to provide an instructive and exciting blend of research and patient care elements. The direct participation of internationally renowned scientists and practitioners from the fields of psychology, psychiatry and cardiovascular medicine will ensure this.

The 2012 conference coincides with an historical religious celebration and colorful parade through the city streets on 8th September, with medieval costumes, flag throwers, and the display of the holy relic, the Sacred Belt of the Virgin Mary, at the Cathedral. This Prato medieval tradition has been carried out for centuries and is a spectacular festival to experience.

Conference Themes:

  • Occupational stress links to coronary heart disease and hypertension
  • Personal and National Disasters:
  • - Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy
  • - Triggered Heart Attacks
  • - Sudden Death
  • Depressive Illness and heart disease in indigenous populations
  • Psychosocial risk and heart disease
  • The mediating biology of psychogenic heart disease
  • Stress and Metabolic Syndrome
  • Psychogenic immune mechanisms in heart disease
  • Genetic and epigenetic contributions to the brain/heart disease nexus
  • Stress, gender and heart disease
  • Stress origins of hypertension
  • Mind-heart interactions in therapy:
  • - Cardiac devices causing anxiety disorders
  • - Cardiac risk from psychotropic drugs
  • Psychosocial measures for secondary prevention of heart disease
  • Cardiovascular disease accompanying psychiatric illnesses:
  • - Depressive illness
  • - Panic disorder
  • - Schizophrenia
  • Clinical pathways for management of mental illness in cardiovascular disease
  • Cardiology for psychiatrists, psychologists and social scientists
  • Psychiatry for medical internists


Professor Murray Esler AM, FRACP, PhD
Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science
Senior Director, BakerIDI Heart and Diabetes Institute
Professor of Medicine, Monash University