Overview

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We are delighted to announce that the next Mt. Hood Conference will be held in Padua, Italy, from 3 to 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. In keeping with past conferences, there will be an optional workshop on diabetes simulation modelling on the afternoon of 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 multi-morbidity. 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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•Keynote and plenary sessions on health economic modelling and decision science.

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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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Who Should Attend?

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This conference is designed for:

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•Health economists and analysts

•Disease simulation model developers

•Public health and diabetes researchers with an interest in health economics

•Healthcare policymakers and stakeholders engaged in decision-modelling applications

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Registration and Abstracts

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Further details regarding the call for abstracts, registration, venue information, and program updates will be announced in the coming months. Prospective participants are encouraged to begin preparing submissions that highlight advances in simulation model development, validation, cross-model comparison, and applications to health policy. We anticipate the following timetable.

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Mid February - Proposals for Mt Hood Simulation Modelling Challenges finalised

End of May - Finalise Challenge Instructions

Early June - Deadline for submission of abstracts

July - Early-bird registration closes

Late September - Submission of Challenge results by modelling teams

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Save the date for Mt. Hood Conference 2026 — Padua, Italy. 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.