This year's BHIVA Autumn Conference was once again held at the Queen Elizabeth II Centre in the heart of London. The conference was considered extremely successful and received very positive feedback from delegates. As customary the autumn conference included parallel sessions with the Children's HIV Association.

Delegate feedback from the autumn conference reported that the programme contained many interesting and thought provoking presentations and that these were highly relevant to the professional and educational needs of the audience. 550 delegates attended the conference and this number included 10 BHIVA scholarship winners and over 50 community/voluntary sector registration places.

'This 2 day conference was superbly organised, administered and was relevant to my professional needs.'

'Very interesting from a medical student perspective. Everyone was very friendly and approachable. Really enjoyed the 2 days. Thank you for having us.'

'In terms of the content, this conference was excellent!'

Dr David Asboe, Chair, BHIVA

Dr Chloe Orkin, Chair, Conferences Subcommittee

Conference Programme

The conference programme covered a wide range of topics relevant to HIV including BHIVA's guidelines for 'Treatment of HIV-1-positive adults with antiretroviral therapy' and ' Monitoring guidelines'. Other topics that were covered included HIV prevention, START Study, Stigma Index, the genetics of HIV in humans, disclosure, new drugs and hepatitis coinfection, to name but a few. The conference also contained lectures on best practice management for patients living with HIV and an Interactive Clinical Conundrums session focusing on the ethics of disclosure and case presentations with ethical considerations. The BHIVA Foundation Lecture covered 'HIV and ageing – A review of the evidence.'

We were delighted that Professor Roy Gulick from Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, USA was able to join us and share his research on new drugs and novel strategies.

Acknowledgements and Thank You's

During the conference a formal thank you was made by the Chair of the British HIV Association to the full BHIVA Conference Subcommittee. In addition the following Committee Members were presented with gifts of appreciation:

• Dr Chloe Orkin, Chair of the Conferences Subcommittee

• Dr Melinda Tenant-Flowers, Conference Local Host

Dr David Asboe with Dr Chloe Orkin

Dr David Asboe with Dr Melinda Tenant-Flowers

Events

As usual, a drinks reception was held on the Thursday evening of conference and this event was well attended and enjoyed by all.

Prizes and Awards

There were a number of awards presented at this year's Autumn Conference; the Janssen Travel Bursary Scholarships in collaboration with BHIVA, the Brian Gazzard Lectureship in HIV Medicine, the BHIVA Best Clinico-Pathological Case Presentation, BHIVA Research Awards and the BHIVA Don Jeffries Research Award.

Janssen Travel Bursary Scholarships in collaboration with BHIVA

Janssen in collaboration with BHIVA awarded 7 scholarships to assist healthcare professionals to attend the International AIDS Society conference which was held in Vancouver, Canada on 19-22 July 2015.

Winning scholars
Dr Laura Byrne, UCL Institute of Child Health
Dr Sarah Cavilla, Royal Sussex County Hospital
Dr Lisa Hamzah, King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Dr Dushyant Mital, Milton Keynes General Hospital
Dr Borja Mora Peris, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust
Dr Chloe Orkin, Barts Health NHS Trust
Dr Shema Tariq, Mortimer Market Centre Central North West London

Left to Right: Dr Borja Mora Peris, Dr Dushyant Mital, Dr Sarah Cavilla, Lord Norman Fowler, Dr Lisa Hamzah, Dr Laura Byrne, Dr Shema Tariq, Janssen representative Lisa McDougall and Dr David Asboe.

BHIVA Best Case Presentation Award

One award available from presentations made during the Clinico-pathological case presentation lunchtime workshop held on Thursday. Overall the standard was extremely high and it was difficult to select one winner from each session.

Winner:
Dr Sarah Cavilla, Royal Sussex County Hospital, Brighton

BHIVA Research Awards Winners 2015

BHIVA received 17 research award applications from its members in 2015, the standards of which were extremely high. BHIVA provided research awards to 5 UK-based applicant members and awarded a total of £55k. The BHIVA Research Awards 2015 are part-funded by BMS, Gilead Sciences and ViiV Healthcare. BHIVA is also grateful for donations from BHIVA members.

The winners of this scholarship are noted below:
Dr James Brown, Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust
Professor Anna Maria Geretti, University of Liverpool
Dr Katherine Sutherland, University College London
Dr John Thornhill, Imperial College London
Dr Nina Vora, Mortimer Market Centre, London

Left to Right: Lord Norman Fowler, Dr James Brown, Professor Anna Maria Geretti, Dr John Thornhill, Dr Nina Vora and Dr David Asboe.

Brian Gazzard Lectureship in HIV Medicine

The lectureship was set up by BHIVA in honour of its Founding Chair, Professor Brian Gazzard, and is now in its 10th year. The lecture is selected to be presented from a short list of proposed topics and eminent speakers put forward for consideration by the BHIVA Conferences Subcommittee.

This annual prize was awarded to Professor Paul Kellam, Professor of Evolutionary Genetics at the University of Edinburgh for his presentation 'Phylogenetics and transmission networks'.

David Asboe and Lord Norman Fowler presents Professor Paul Kellam with a commemorative trophy bowl and engraved pen in recognition of his Lectureship Award.

The BHIVA Don Jeffries Research Award

In 2012, as a memorial to Professor Donald Jeffries OBE, the BHIVA Education and Scientific Subcommittee instituted an award for the top-scoring project in the BHIVA Research Awards applications. This award has been set up in perpetuity, to honour Professor Jeffries' immense support and dedication to the British HIV Association.

This annual prize was awarded to Dr John Thornhill from Imperial College London for his research on 'HIV-1 Reservoir in Gut-Associated Lymphoid Tissue (GALT) in Primary HIV Infection'.

Lord Fowler and David Asboe presented Dr John Thornhill with a commemorative engraved trophy bowl in recognition of his Research Award.