Page 10 - IDF Journal 2023

IDF News – Spring 2023 COMMITTEE ARTICLES
Education Committee’s Report
Dr Susan Alexander
Chair, IDF Education Committee
Education lies at the heart
of our ongoing commitment to clinical excellence.
The IDF has a rich tradition of providing an extensive
and varied programme of educational activities that updates members on the latest developments and facilitates networking with like-minded colleagues.
It was with this ethos in
mind that I took over from
Dr Phil Batty as Chair of the Education Committee. I am joined by an active Education Committee that includes
Dr Jack Edmonds, Dr Paul Myers, Dr Anjali Mahto,
Dr Elisa Astorri, Mrs Anne Mitchener, Dr Catrin Bevan, Dr Giuseppe Spoto and
Mr Nick Morris.
The blend of academic and clinical talks demonstrated the success of translating basic science into everyday clinical practice and were well received.
With the support of the IDF team, Phil had launched an outstanding program of online webinars in response to the challenges presented due to COVID which prevented face-to-face meetings. These online webinars proved to be very popular and, in response to membership feedback, we have continued to provide regular webinars. We are indebted to those members who have given up their time to contribute their knowledge. We are also very grateful to our corporate members who have delivered 10 webinars in the past year.
2022 saw a gradual transition back to ‘normality’, but the rules on large group gatherings and foreign travel were uncertain so we took the decision to
host two conferences in the UK. The Spring Symposium; ‘Autoimmunity: Benchside to Bedside’, was held at the private members club, Home House.
The day included talks from world leaders in the field of autoimmunity. The speakers who were invited are at the forefront of scientific breakthroughs in the understanding of autoimmune disease processes. They are also developing innovations that are revolutionising the treatment of autoimmune conditions. We also had talks from our IDF members who are involved in clinical research and trials to do with autoimmune diseases. The blend of academic and clinical talks demonstrated the success of translating basic science into everyday clinical practice and were well received.
The IDF Study weekend has been the flagship event for the IDF for several years and has traditionally been held in exotic locations across Europe. It was therefore a bit of a risk to hold the event in Stratford upon Avon, but we felt it was appropriate to celebrate all things British in honour of our dear Queen reaching the monumental achievement of seventy years on throne. As it turned out, the Queen sadly passed away the week before the study weekend was due to be held in September. It
did not feel right to have a celebratory weekend whilst the nation was in mourning, so we quickly changed our plans. It is a testament to the skills of our IDF team, which includes Gwen Laryea, Mercedes Elliott, Alex Harkins and
Emily Stephens, that they were able to cancel, postpone, and rearrange the events of the weekend so quickly and smoothly to a new date in November. There were a few minor hitches that were beyond our control, such as the Royal Shakespeare Company play
being changed from ‘Richard III’ to ‘A Christmas Carol’, but Adrian Edmondson gave an electrifying performance as Scrooge which was captivating to watch. The meeting itself was based on a Shakespeare theme and was full of fun, laughter, and learning. The feedback
was excellent, and the sentiment of
the conference was summed up by
one delegate who said “we came as colleagues but left as friends”. Overall, despite the hiccups, it was a great success and to quote Shakespeare “All’s well that ends well!”
And so, to 2023. We will continue the webinar series and I would like to thank our members for submitting topics for presentation. This year we are planning
a late Spring Symposium in a fabulous venue in London on 10th June based on the topic of ‘Managing the Midlife Crisis’. And the foreign trip is back! We are
going to Estoril in Portugal for our Study Weekend in September for a celebration of all things ‘James Bond’. We are looking to introduce some new events this year including a ‘Meet the New Members’ evening and two symposiums for junior consultants on how to set up in private practice and medicolegal practice.
Finally, we simply cannot do this without the support of our members, and I wish to thank everyone who has supported education last year by either presenting or attending one of our events. I would humbly ask if all of you could try and attend at least one event a year and extend an invitation, as your guest, to colleagues who may not yet be members so that we can expand our membership and keep the IDF thriving.
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