Overview

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We are delighted to announce that the next Mt. Hood Conference will be held in Padua, Italy, from 2-4 October 2026, bringing together the international community of health economists, disease modellers, clinicians, policy analysts, and public-health researchers for a premier scientific meeting dedicated to simulation modelling and health economic evaluation. There will be a new optional workshop on health economic evaluation and simulation modelling in diabetes on the 2 October, as well as a dinner and other social events.

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The Mt. Hood Diabetes Challenge Network has a long-standing tradition of hosting regular scientific conferences to advance the use of simulation models in health economic research on diabetes and its complications, fostering collaboration, transparency, and methodological innovation.

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Padua has the second-oldest University in Italy, and is close to Venice (15-30 mins by train). The nearest international airport is Venice Marco Polo (VCE). The Mt Hood conference will immediately follow the 62nd Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes, held in Milan (around 2 hours by train).

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Since the 2025 Conference, the Mt Hood network has expanded its focus to consider health economic simulation modelling of other diseases. Mt Hood 2026 will continue this tradition while broadening the scope to new domains of disease modelling and including the modelling of multimorbidity. We will also be working with the REDDIE partnership on a challenge relating to the use of synthetic data for simulation models.

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Conference Highlights

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​​•Challenge sessions in which participant teams independently apply their models to standardised simulation scenarios, compare outputs, and explore differences in structure, assumptions, and predictive performance.

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•Focus on innovative simulation approaches across chronic diseases — including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity, dementia and emerging disease areas.

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•Opportunities to showcase the latest research findings through submitted oral presentations and potentially poster sessions.

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•A new pre-conference short course on how to build how to analyze cost, survival and quality of life data and build diabetes models.

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​​​​​​Conference details

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The conference will be held at the Palazzo della Salute, a modern academic venue located in the heart of Padua. Conveniently situated close to the historic city centre, the venue also offers easy access to Padua’s cultural landmarks and transport connections and many nearby hotels.

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The conference dinner will be held on the 3rd of Oct in the Cafe Pedrocchi  the oldest and most famous historical café in the city of Padua. ​​​

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Abstracts & challenges  

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​Participants are invited to submit abstracts and take part in modelling challenges. Abstracts present original research or methods and will be peer reviewed for selection as oral presentations. The conference also features collaborative challenges, a hallmark of the Mt Hood Conferences, bringing teams together to compare modelling approaches and promote best practice.​​

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Short course - Economic Evaluation and Simulation Modelling in Diabetes (2nd Oct) 

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A one-day entirely new pre-conference short course will be held on Friday 2 Oct, providing an overview of key methods in the economic evaluation of diabetes interventions including: survival analysis, regression methods for cost and quality-of-life data, the development of event-based simulation models (e.g. with detailed overview of construction of the UKPDS Outcomes Model). Teaching will combine conceptual presentations with live demonstrations in Stata and R, offering participants practical insight into modelling approaches and their application in health economic evaluation.​

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Mt Hood 2026 Conference (3rd-4th Oct)  

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Registration fees for the Mt Hood Conference 2026 include attendance at all sessions, the conference dinner, and are inclusive of Italian VAT (22%). Payments will be via credit cards, but invoices can be arranged on request. 

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Key dates 

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End of May - Finalise Challenge Instructions

Wednesday 10 June - Deadline for submission of abstracts

Monday 6 July - Early-bird registration closes

Early Sept - Late breaking abstracts

Late September - Submission of Challenge results by modelling teams

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We look forward to welcoming you for an exciting and collaborative scientific meeting that advances the frontiers of disease modelling and health economic research. If you would like to receive notifications, you can sign up here.