The series of meetings on Drugs Affecting Lipid Metabolism (DALM) first began in 1960 in Milan and was chaired by Professor Rodolfo Paoletti. It has continued to be held every three years and has been co-chaired first by Dr. David Kritchevsky and later by Dr. Antonio M. Gotto, Jr. The symposia have historically alternated between the United States and Italy. For the first time since the symposia began, DALM 2011 will be held in Doha, Qatar, in order to address the emerging pandemic of diabetes, obesity, and the metabolic syndrome within the Middle East.

The participation at the now well-established symposia has increased from the original 200 in 1960 to some 2,000 participants from 6 continents. The registrants at the most recent symposium, held in New York in 2007, hailed from 80 countries (37% were from North America [34% from the USA and 4% from Canada], 48% were from Europe, 8% from Asia and the Pacific Rim, 4% from Latin America, and the remaining 3% from Africa and the Middle East). Of those registering on-line, 50% identified themselves as practitioners, 6% as students, fellows, residents, or nurses; 10% from academia; and 28% from industry.

Past DALM Symposia

I International Symposium Milan, Italy, 1960	II International Symposium Philadelphia, PA, USA, 1964
III International Symposium Milan, Italy, 1968	IV International Symposium Philadelphia, PA, USA, 1971
V International Symposium Milan, Italy, 1974	VI International Symposium Philadelphia, PA, USA, 1977
VII International Symposium Milan, Italy, 1980	VIII International Symposium Philadelphia, PA, USA, 1983
IX International Symposium Florence, Italy, 1986	X International Symposium Houston, TX, USA, 1989
XI International Symposium Florence, Italy, 1992	XII International Symposium Houston, TX, USA, 1995
XIII International Symposium Florence, Italy, 1998	XIV International Symposium New York, NY, USA, 2001
XV International Symposium Venice, Italy, 2004	XVI International Symposium New York, NY, 2007