2015 Conferences and Events > 21st Annual Conference of the British HIV Association (Brighton 2015) >

21st Annual Conference of BHIVA - Detailed post-conference report

This year's BHIVA Annual Conference was held at The Brighton Centre, Brighton, UK.

The conference was considered a great success and has received very positive feedback from delegates.

There were 737 delegates registered for the conference and this number included 31 BHIVA Scholarship winners and 48 Community Registration places.

Events

As customary, a number of social events were held at the conference. These events were well attended and enjoyed by all.

Welcome Reception

The Welcome Reception was held on Wednesday 22 April and began with a few speeches in the lecture theatre. Dr Chloe Orkin (Conference Subcommittee Chair) began the speeches by welcoming delegates to Brighton this was followed by speeches from Dr David Asboe (Chair of the British HIV Association) and Caroline Lucas from the Green Party. Following speeches, guests were invited to the Exhibition Hall for some light refreshments and were provided with an opportunity to network with colleagues.

Left to right: Dr Adrian Palfreeman (BHIVA Hon Secretary), Dr Chloe Orkin (Chair, BHIVA Conferences Subcommittee),
Caroline Lucas (Green Party), Dr Annemiek de Ruiter (BHIVA Hon Secretary),
Dr Duncan Churchill (BHIVA Hon Treasurer and Local Host), Dr David Asboe (BHIVA Chair)

Gala Dinner

This year's Gala Dinner was held at The Grand Brighton Hotel, an iconic building which stands proudly on the East Sussex city's seafront. The traditional Victorian hotel is one of the most memorable and familiar of the many hotels lining Brighton's sea-facing King's Road. Grand by name, grand by nature; there is an air of elegance and longevity that graces this popular grande dame.

The event started with a drinks reception, which was followed by dinner. We were honoured that The Right Worshipful the Mayor of The City of Brighton and Hove, Councillor Brian Fitch, kindly agreed to speak as part of the Gala Dinner. Speeches were then made by Dr David Asboe (BHIVA Chair) and Professor Brian Gazzard (Founding BHIVA Chair) to reflect on the significant progress made by the British HIV Association since its first annual conference 21 years ago. Both also made moving tributes to Professor Martin Fisher who had sadly passed away on the evening before the start of the conference. Martin Fisher was a towering, internationally renowned figure in the field of HIV medicine and sexual health – one of those few individuals who had truly made a lasting impact equally in both fields. Martin was also a key figure within BHIVA right from the beginning. He served on the BHIVA Executive Committee for over 10 years and was Honorary Secretary but it will be his leadership on different guidelines that really stands out. We shall all miss him greatly.

Gala Dinner at The Grand Brighton Hotel
Left to right: Dr Adrian Palfreeman (BHIVA Hon Secretary), Dr David Asboe
(BHIVA Chair), The Right Worshipful Mayoress and Mayor of The City of
Brighton and Hove, Professor Brian Gazzard (BHIVA Founding Chair), 
Dr Annemiek de Ruiter (BHIVA Hon Secretary), Dr Duncan Churchill
(BHIVA Hon Treasurer and Local Host)

The Right Worshipful Mayor and Mayoress of The City of Brighton and Hove
The Right Worshipful Mayor and Mayoress of
The City of Brighton and Hove
Gala Dinner at The Grand Brighton Hotel
Gala Dinner at The Grand Brighton Hotel
Professor Brian Gazzard
Professor Brian Gazzard

Prizes and Awards

Research excellence was again reflected by the breadth and depth of oral and poster research presentations at this year's conference. Of those abstracts submitted, 232 were selected for presentation – 30 as oral presentations and 202 as poster presentations. All selected abstracts are published in HIV Medicine (2015, Volume 16 Supplement 2), and available to download here.

Click here to view the full list of this year's prize winners. Pictured below are some of the winners.

 

BHIVA/AbbVie/SSAT (BASS) Exchange Scholarships

AbbVie in collaboration with the British HIV Association (BHIVA) and the St Stephen's AIDS Trust (SSAT) have set up an exchange scholarship for UK-based Specialist Registrars (SpRs) and Specialty Registrars (StRs) who are training in the field of HIV medicine and who are also BHIVA members. The exchange scholarship will enable winning applicants to travel to a developing or transition country to take part in a placement at an HIV unit for up to 2 weeks. It is anticipated that the programme will provide a unique opportunity to increase understanding of the treatment and management of HIV in the developing world and for scholars to disseminate this information and experience when they return to the UK.

In exchange, an overseas scholar from a developing or transition country will travel to the UK to take part in a placement at an HIV centre or hospital. The winners of the award this year were as follows:

  • Dr Clifford George Banda, Malawi Liverpool Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Programme

  • Dr Megan Keira Crofts, Bristol Sexual Health Clinic

  • Dr Lakshmi Jain, Central and North West London Hospitals NHS Trust

  • Dr Tafara Moga, Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, Zimbabwe

BHIVA/AbbVie/SSAT (BASS) Exchange Scholarships

Left to Right: Dr David Asboe, Dr Megan Keira Crofts, Dr Lakshmi Jain, Dr Clifford George Banda, Dr Tafara Moga,
Ms Melinda Bertwistle (AbbVie representative), Dr Adrian Palfreeman

MSD International Travel Bursaries in collaboration with BHIVA (CROI 2015)

MSD Ltd in collaboration with the British HIV Association made provision for 8 scholarship awards to be made available to assist healthcare professionals (BHIVA Members only) to attend the 22nd Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) held in Seattle, Washington USA on 23-26 February 2015. The winners of the award this year were as follows:

  • Dr Joanne Baxter, North Manchester General Hospital

  • Dr Emilie Elliot, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, London

  • Dr Stuart Flanagan, The Royal London Hospital

  • Dr Anna Goodman, Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, London

  • Dr Goli Haidari, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, London

  • Dr Jennifer Leighton, Central Manchester University Hospital NHS Foundation

  • Ms Nadia Naous, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, London

  • Dr Jonathan Underwood, Imperial College, London

MSD International Travel Bursaries in collaboration with BHIVA (CROI 2015)

Left to Right: Dr David Asboe, Dr Goli Haidari, Dr Jonathan Underwood, Ms Nadia Naous, Dr Stuart Flanagan, Dr Emilie Elliot, Dr Jennifer Leighton, Mr James Suares (MSD representative), Dr Adrian Palfreeman

Mediscript Awards in collaboration with BHIVA

Owing to its long association with BHIVA, two prizes were awarded by Mediscript for the best oral or poster research presentation during the conference in the field of social sciences and community-based work.

Mediscript Awards in collaboration with BHIVA

Winner:

O4: 'Patient information leaflets (PILs) currently require graduate-level reading skills equivalent to The Guardian or The Telegraph'

Mr Simon Collins, HIV iBase

Mediscript Awards in collaboration with BHIVA

Winner:

P158: 'Peer Navigators - can patient-led support contribute to clinical and well-being outcomes?'

Mr Allan Anderson, Positively UK

BHIVA Best Case Presentations

Dr Sian Warren

Clinico-pathological Case Presentations

Winner:
'Is diarrhoea always due to protease inhibitors?'

Dr Sian Warren, Cardiff Royal Infirmary

Dr Nadia Ahmed

Difficult Pharmacology Case Presentations

Winner:
'A real QT'

Dr Nadia Ahmed, Central and Northwest London NHS Foundation Trust

Dr Alex Stockdale

Pregnancy and Breastfeeding Case Presentations

Winner:
'Elite control in pregnancy'

Dr Alex Stockdale, Royal Liverpool University Hospital

The Ian Williams Best Poster Presentation Award

This prize was awarded to the presenter of the best poster research presentation during the conference. Poster research presentations were judged by a BHIVA-appointed poster research judging panel, and to be eligible for this prize the presenter had to be of junior grade (sub-consultant or equivalent).

Dr Goli Haidari

Winner:

P35: 'Acute HIV infection after initiation of post-exposure prophylaxis following sexual exposure: Reasons, challenges and suggested management'

Dr Goli Haidari, Imperial College London

The Margaret Johnson Best Oral Presentation Award

This prize was awarded to the presenter of the best oral research presentation during the conference. All oral research presentations were judged by a BHIVA-appointed oral research judging panel, and to be eligible for this prize the presenter must be of junior grade (sub-consultant or equivalent).

Miss Amie Patel

Winner:

O26: 'To determine the prevalence of HIV seroreversion across 5 collaborating paediatric HIV centres in the UK'

Miss Amie Patel, Brighton and Sussex Medical School