Hello everyone,
We are venturing into our first virtual meetup hosted from the U.S. Please take the poll so we can decide what time and date we will be having the Virtual Meetup based on U.S. time for February.
Just a note that this is an informal virtual meetup on Zoom where we can chit chat, ask general questions about each other’s experiences, share about our own battles and victories and maybe ask more official science/medical questions IF we have medical/scientific experts show up.
Hopefully our @HealthExperts can check the poll and see if they could possibly donate their time or message me and see if they can volunteer once a time and date is chosen.
For those that have not created a Doodle Poll account, it will behoove you to create one. We use the Doodle Poll each time to decide when to have these virtual meetups based on member’s availability. Also, once you have created an account, you can go into your account and choose your own time zone, so that you don’t get mixed up by the different time zones based on the host of the meetup.
Hope to see previous and new members to Hepbcommunity. For new members, don’t be afraid, this is a very laid-back informal chance to meet virtually, discuss or just listen; whatever you are comfortable with.
Last note: Please use the user account name that you have on hepbcommunity, for the Doodle poll. I will not be able to invite you to the meetup through Zoom, if I am not able to match your name on the Doodle poll to your user account on hepbcommunity, so I can send you that invite via your email that is on hepbcommunity. Thanks!
https://doodle.com/poll/mqbrckd885q2z9a7?utm_source=poll&utm_medium=link
3 Likes
Sorry but the time zone selected is not very convenient for EU experts
Regards
PL
Prof. Pietro Lampertico, MD, PhD
Full Professor of Gastroenterology
Head of Gastroenterology and Hepatology Division
Fondazione IRCCS Ca’ Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico
University of Milan
Via Francesco Sforza 35
20122- Milan
Italy
Phone +390255035432
Fax +390250320410
Email pietro.lampertico@unimi.it
Yes, this is one of the difficulties with a global community, Pietro. We try to hold these virtual meet-ups in alternating time-zones so hope you might be available for one in the future 
Thomas
Thanks, I will be available
Prof. Pietro Lampertico, MD, PhD
Full Professor of Gastroenterology
Head of Gastroenterology and Hepatology Division
Fondazione IRCCS Ca’ Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico
University of Milan
Via Francesco Sforza 35
20122- Milan
Italy
Phone +390255035432
Fax +390250320410
Email pietro.lampertico@unimi.it
1 Like
There were 3 times that were tied. We are going to go with Sunday February 13th from 4p-5:30p PST (U.S.)
If anyone wants to join this virtual meetup and hasn’t already voted in the Doodle poll for this particular time slot, then please private message me your email address so I can send you an invite via Zoom for this virtual meet-up.
We are hopefully having both Chari Cohen and Thomas Tu available as professionals participating. Someday we are going to get Joan Block in on one of these when we can get our schedules to match.
Hope to see as many people join and participate as possible.
-Paul
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Hi everyone,
Just a reminder about this virtual meet-up. If you would like to participate, please send me a message with your email address so I can send you the invite for the Zoom meeting. You should not need to have the Zoom app installed. I know that clicking on the invite link within the email will send you to the browser version of Zoom if you don’t have the actual app installed.
I am not certain which browsers have Zoom plug-in capability other than Chrome. I know that Zoom can run as a plug-in on Chrome (which is the most widely used browser anyhow).
It’s only a few days away so I want to make sure that no one misses the opportunity to participate if they want to.
-Paul
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Thanks for organising this @PuallyHBV. Hope to see you and the others tomorrow.
Cheers,
Thomas
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Did I miss this meet up?
Edit: just checked my email and it was in there. Really bummed that I keep on missing these meets. It be really to cool to talk to someone who also have hep b.
Sucks. 
2 Likes
Hey Johnny,
I was hoping you would be able to make it… I was thinking, “Wwwwwhhhhheeeeerrrrreeeee’sssss Johnny?!”
Well, it’s a new year and I think we will be pushing to try to have one at least every month, depending on the region. I will at least try to do once every other month for the U.S. This depends on other factors that need to be reviewed by the leadership. Like, is it going to be monthly based on region or an every other month thing. Also, what if new regions are able to have them, will we rotate from region to region every month or will we eventually be trying to have each region each month.
I think it partly has to do with demand. As important as these meet-ups are and as much as I believe it is really helpful for those who participate. The demand doesn’t seem near as high as I would expect. So, the more members that show up to these will show necessity for expansion of this feature of hepbcommunity.
I personally not only enjoy meeting up with members I already know but also meeting new people and hearing their stories or just feeling a little more connected. I think it is really helpful to have a qualified professional in attendance to field questions so thank you Thomas for making it to this one that you weren’t even hosting. However, even without a qualified expert, we can at least still feel that comradery and connection just from our own unique and shared experiences.
P.S. I do need to mention that I totally forgot about the superbowl when I scheduled this meet-up and it was right smack dab in the middle of the superbowl. When the meet-up was over, it wasn’t long before I found out that the L.A. Rams won by 3 points. I haven’t really been into football much since the heyday of the Raiders. So sorry for setting this up based on the U.S. region when such an event was on for the U.S.
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Hey Paul,
I am so bummed that I missed it. My default email app on my phone was connected to my gmail but not my yahoo account. Duh!!! And totally forgot to check my yahoo app.
Thanks for setting it up! And sorry for missing it. The Rams look good in the super bowl. Hopefully sooner than later another meet will happen. It’s the second meet I missed. SMH.
J
3 Likes
So sorry to miss! Thanks for organizing and hope to make the next one! I wonder @ThomasTu if there’s a way where one can be alerted to events, even if you don’t check in to the website during that time? Like for apps, you can turn on notifications on your phone and while they are sometimes obtrusive, sometimes its really helpful for being reminded.
I see us going big one day- like an app or creating chat rooms in Clubhouse or Twitter! (:
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Hrrm… Good idea, but unsure how to implement it. I’ll look around and see.
TT
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