Over 3,000 delegates from 86 different countries gathered in Lisbon in May for the European Congress of Endocrinology 2017 (ECE2017) — 4 days of talks and lively debates organized by the European Society for Endocrinology.

David Mangelsdorf from University of Texas Southwestern, USA, gave a fantastic plenary talk discussing his group's research on fibroblast growth factor 21. In another enjoyable plenary session, Hans-Ulrich Häring, University Tübingen, Germany, discussed the role of brain insulin resistance in prediabetic phenotypes.

Matthias Tschöp (Helmholtz Zentrum München, Germany), the Geoffrey Harris Prize Lecture winner, gave one of my favourite talks at the meeting on hormone-based precision medicine. In addition, the IPSEN Foundation Lecture on redefining neuroendocrinology, given by Bruce McEwen (Rockefeller University, USA) was fantastic.

Of the many excellent symposia, the treatment of hypothyroidism session, which included an insightful talk from Wilmar Wiersinga, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands, on T4–T3 combination therapy, was particularly popular. Another session that saw high attendance was the symposium on vitamin D. The brilliant summary of the muscular effects of vitamin D from Roger Bouillon, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium, was a highlight for me.

During the New Scientific Approaches sessions, basic researchers present on a new technique with the aim of providing clinicians with a broader insight into the field. I found the talk given by Frédéric Flamant from the Institute of Functional Genomics of Lyon, France, on CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing particularly interesting.

Overall the meeting was a great success and provided an environment for endocrinologists from a number of disciplines to exchange ideas and form collaborations. We look forward to ECE2018, which will be held in Barcelona, Spain.