This year's BHIVA Autumn Conference was once again held at the QEII Centre in the heart of London. The conference was considered extremely successful and received very positive feedback from delegates. The Autumn Conference was preceded by the Hepatology Highlights for the Healthcare Specialist in collaboration with BVHG.
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. Almost 500 delegates attended the conference including 50 community/voluntary sector complimentary registration places.
'The new double screen set up in the lecture theatre was fantastic'
'The BHIVA Conferences App worked really well'
'Bowl food worked very well this year'
'Really well structured and time ran well'
'Thank you BHIVA as always for sharing and showcasing great presentations'
Conference Programme
The conference programme covered a wide range of topics relevant to HIV including updated BHIVA Standards of Care and Audit sessions. Other topics that were covered included premature ageing, anti-inflammatory agents, point of care diagnostics, PrEP, HIV and neglected tropical diseases, TB, and the effects of ageing on the HIV population. The conference also contained lectures on best practice management, interactive clinical conundrums and Clinico-pathological and pregnancy and breastfeeding case presentations, which were presented during the very popular BHIVA lunchtime workshops. The BHIVA Foundation Lecture covered 'How to survive a sexual health tender: the HIV clinic perspective'.
Our international speakers included Dr Keri Althoff (pictured) from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA. Dr Nathan Ford from the World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland spoke at the Hepatology Highlights for the Healthcare Specialist session which was held on Wednesday 15 November 2017.
Events
As usual, a drinks reception was held on the Thursday evening 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.
Originally launched in 2006, the BHIVA Research Awards are open, through competitive application, to all BHIVA members for research projects that impact on the improvement of clinical care and management of people living with HIV in the UK. A minimum of £30,000 per annum is available, to be distributed amongst the successful applicants according to the quality of the submitted proposals, with a maximum of £10,000 award per application. The awards panel is chaired by an independent chair. Applications for grants or funding for research or other projects made directly to the Association are reviewed by the BHIVA Executive Committee at its meetings and considered based on merit and their relevance to the objectives of BHIVA.
BHIVA received sixteen good quality applications from large and small centres in 2017, requesting a total of £198,272. BHIVA is proud to announce seven successful applicants being awarded £56,735.92. The winners of the BHIVA Research Awards 2017 are:
Dr Kate Childs, Kings College London
Mr Mathew Jones, University of Oxford
Dr Fiona Lampe and Dr Colette Smith, University College London
Dr Julianne Lwanga, Guy’s & St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust
Dr Larissa Mulka, University of Sussex
Dr Shema Tariq, University College London
Dr John Thornhill, Imperial College London
Left to Right: Professor Caroline Sabin, Dr Dr Kate Childs, Mr Mathew Jones, Dr Fiona Lampe, Dr Julianne Lwanga, Dr Larissa Mulka, Dr Shema Tariq and Dr John Thornhill
The lectureship was set up by BHIVA in honour of its Founding Chair, Professor Brian Gazzard, and is now in its 13th 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 Dr Richard Harding, King's College London, for his presentation 'Palliative care and HIV'.
Left to Right: Professor Brian Gazzard and Dr Richard Harding
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' unerring support of the British HIV Association.
This annual prize was awarded to Mr Matthew Jones for his presentation 'Interrogating the transcriptome to identify strategies for HIV cure'.
Left to Right: Professor Caroline Sabin presented Dr Mathew Jones with a commemorative engraved trophy bowl in recognition of his Research Award
Two awards available from presentations made during the case presentation lunchtime workshops held on Thursday and Friday. Overall the standard was extremely high and it was difficult to select one winner from each session.
Winner
Left to Right: Professor Caroline Sabin and Dr William Hurt |
Winner
Left to Right: Dr Yvonne Gilleece, Mrs Jessica Clements, Dr Amanda Williams, Dr Hermione Lyall |
BHIVA ran a successful twitter campaign in March 2017 to celebrate International Women's Day and highlight important issues for women living with HIV in the UK. Following this, the BHIVA External Relations Subcommittee invited BHIVA members to submit an entry to run a new twitter campaign for World AIDS Day 2017.
The winning campaign was submitted by Dr Seán Cassidy, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, London and Dr Muge Cevik, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh.
Left to Right: Professor Chloe Orkin presents the award to Dr Sean Cassidy and Dr Muge Cevik
Acknowledgements
During the conference a formal thank you was made by the Chair of the British HIV Association to the full BHIVA Conferences Subcommittee. In addition the following Committee Members were presented with gifts of appreciation:
Dr Duncan Churchill (for his term as BHIVA Honorary Treasurer)
Dr Iain Reeves (Conference Local Host)
Professor Caroline Sabin (for her term as Chair of the BHIVA Education and Scientific Subcommittee)
Dr Laura Waters (Chair of the BHIVA Conferences Subcommittee)
Professor Chloe Orkin and Dr Duncan Churchill |
Professor Chloe Orkin and Dr Iain Reeves |
Professor Chloe Orkin and Professor Caroline Sabin |
Professor Chloe Orkin and Dr Laura Waters |