Julie-Anne Houlihan

I attended FIS/HIS international conference 2024 in Liverpool, the largest UK-hosted, international infection conference. The event encompassed a wide range of poster on topics including infection prevention and control, antimicrobial resistance, clinical cases in microbiology and infectious diseases, the environment and sustainability in infection prevention. The talks ranged from new antimicrobial agents in Gram-negative infections, fungal infections including on Candida auris, genomics and the future for microbiology, update on M-pox, talks on paediatric infection and non-tuberculous mycobacteria. There were workshops focused on how to be a leader for new consultants and an exam focused talk for trainees. Delegates included microbiologists, infectious disease doctors, epidemiologist, specialists in genito-urinary medicine, antimicrobial pharmacists and infection, prevention and control nurses.

My goals from attending the conference were to learn the most up to date information on infectious diseases from experts from the UK and abroad, to attend workshops on the latest antimicrobial agents coming into clinical practice and to integrate with the infectious disease and microbiology community.

I learned a lot about newer agents for the treatment of Gram-negative resistance, how to effectively manage an outbreak and there were some great case presentations of infectious disease at the grand rounds which I found particularly useful for learning. The HIS travel grant benefitted me immensely as it enabled me to attend the entire conference over three days, maximising learning,  and to stay very close to the venue .

The idiots quiz was a great way to meet new people and relax after the conference. The workshops faciliated smaller group discussions and opportunities to network. I stayed near the dock area of the city and in the evenings I walked around and sampled some of the local restaurants with colleagues but the conference was so full of amazing content that it did not leave much time for other recreational activities!