On behalf of the Programme Committee of the British Cardiovascular Society, I am delighted to be building the programme again for the BCS Annual Conference, 5-7 June 2017 in Manchester.

This flagship conference has attracted progressively increasing numbers of delegates over the last few years, and I plan to continue this trend by improving on this successful model with innovative educational formats.

There is little doubt that there is an increasing - rather than decreasing - need for today's cardiologists to have a broad understanding of all the major subspecialist areas. The BCS Annual Conference is uniquely positioned to facilitate this in one meeting.

The 2017 programme will once again feature an array of informative, entertaining and interactive sessions, debates, panel discussions, workshops and addresses from international leaders in the field. The already close collaboration with the British Heart Foundation continues in 2017.