< PreviousYEARBOOK 2021/2022 SOCIETY8 Jesús Rodríguez Baño Guidelines Officer and Immediate Past President jesus.rodriguez-bano@escmid.org Jesús Rodríguez Baño YEARBOOK 2021/2022 SOCIETY 9 In April 2022, Guidelines Officer and Immediate Past President Jesús Rodríguez Baño will com- plete his term on the ESCMID Executive Committee (EC). We deeply thank Jesús for his inva- luable efforts that shaped ESC- MID during his activity in the EC. His profound dedication will be missed, but we are sure that he will greatly contribute to ESCMID activities in the coming years. Long-term involvement Jesús joined ESCMID as a mem- ber in 2009, rising to organi- zational level in 2012 when he became a member of the EC as Education Officer, where he ser- ved until 2015. He then became President-Elect and Secretary General until 2018, the year in which he started his presidency at ESCMID. During his activity, he had an important role as facili- tator in the development of new ideas and joining together dif- ferent inputs and backgrounds from the EC members, he contri- buted to reorganize the ESCMID Office, strengthened interna- tional collaborations, increased advocacy and communication of clinical microbiology and in- fectious diseases, tremendous- ly helped education and career development of fellow members. Jesús’ other great success was about ESCMID Guidelines, in fact he, with the help of Evelina Tac- conelli, reorganized and reform- atted the way ESCMID prepares guidelines. The counsellor positi- on and Ethics Advisory Commit- tee were also created during his presidency. Jesús will complete his EC term in 2022 as Guideli- nes Officer. Getting members involved As Education Officer, Jesús has considerably expanded ESCMID’s educational offer in terms of scientific topics, access possi- bilities and geographical cover- age of the courses. He further increased the number of techni- cal workshops where hands-on experience could be gained. He oversaw the organization of se- veral extremely successful edu- cational activities throughout Eu- rope, also setting the record for the number of proposals for edu- cational activities, by increasing the participation of Study Groups and foreign institutions. During his time as Education Officer, he constantly posed his attention on the Society to acknowledge the financial difficulties expe- rienced by young colleagues, especially those practising in countries with limited resources, by encouraging them to apply for courses and providing grants to support them. Jesús contributed greatly to increase ESCMID’s glo- bal presence through its educa- tion programme, by selecting se- veral countries as hosts for the educational activities, especially outside Europe. He oversaw the contribution of newly formed study groups to the Education Programme and most import- antly he launched, in 2016, the E-learning portal where mem- bers could engage in interacting learning modules. Eventful times A highlight during Jesús’ term as Education Officer, was the orga- nization of the 100th educational course in ESCMID history, held in Zagreb in 2012. Conference wise, he was the responsible EC mem- ber in the organization of the “An- timicrobial resistance in the 21st century: a global threat” in 2019, as well as he participated in the organization of the “Conference on antimicrobial resistance from bench to practice” in 2018. Je- sús has been a member of the Program Committees for the Interscience Conference on An- timicrobial Agents and Chemot- herapy (ICAAC), and ASM (Ame- rican Society for Microbiology) Microbe. He has been a member of the ECCMID Programme Com- mittee since 2014. A collaborative effort Jesús has generated numerous opportunities for discussion and cooperation between ESCMID and major international stake- holders, including but not limited to ECDC, IDSA, ASM, and ISID, with specific focus on South Ameri- ca and has created numerous links between European projects and the scientific activities of ESCMID. During his presidency, ESCMID implemented the low- income country membership initiative and grants to attend ECCMID. The outreach of ESCMID to middle and low-income count- ries has also been strengthened through the collaboration with the World Health Organisation (WHO) in projects such as Cen- tral Asian and Eastern European Surveillance of Antimicrobial Re- sistance (CAESAR). An ethical legacy Jesús was meticulous about the ethical principles and conflicts of interests. During his presi- dency, the norms were clearly defined for ESCMID members at every level to be implemented for Society business and work. These efforts led to the estab- lishment of the ESCMID Ethics Advisory Committee (EEAC), with the scope of advising the ESCMID EC on specific ethical, regulatory, social and philoso- phical issues related to ESCMID funded-research projects and scientific behaviour of members or appointed persons in matters related to ESCMID activities. This has been a great achievement by Jesús’ presidency, since now ESCMID has an independent body, whose responsibilities includes but are not limited to review and maintaining ESCMID Code of Conduct and guidance regarding conflicts of interest. Jesús always strongly suppor- ted the activities of the Parity Commission to reduce inequali- ty in career development related to gender and country of working and access to all ESCMID Sub- committees and the Faculty of ECCMID. Jesús’ invaluable scientific expertise ranges from multi- drug resistance in bacteria (its molecular basis, clinical impli- cations, therapy and control) to bacteraemia and healthcare-re- lated infections. He contributed substantially to the creation of the ESCMID Group of Bloodstre- am Infections and all related scientific projects and activities, as well as in developing the idea of EUCIC, and he was part of the first steering committee as a re- presentative of Spain. In addition to be a great scientist, he is also a very able communicator. On a personal note, Jesús enjoys classical music and opera, good food and good wine, and he is a follower of Real Betis Balompié. His most important virtues are patience, perseverance, intel- ligence and people skills. He’s been always able to solve poten- tial conflicts with tolerance and dialogue.YEARBOOK 2021/2022 SOCIETY10 Maurizio Sanguinetti Rome, IT Robert L. Skov Copenhagen, DK Jon S. Friedland London, UK Alex W. Friedrich Groningen, NL Annelies Zinkernagel Zurich, CH Emmanuelle Cambau Paris, FR Önder Ergönül Istanbul, TR Annelies Zinkernagel Zurich, CH Jon S. Friedland London, UK Alex W. Friedrich Groningen, NL Emmanuelle Cambau Paris, FR Robert L. Skov Copenhagen, DK Benjamin Schirra Professional Affairs & Event Support Coordinator Executive Office Simone Brüderli Chief Operating Officer Carla Seiler Head of Event Organisation Magdalena Science Manager Krzyzaniak Executive Committee (EC) members Anu Kantele Helsinki, FI Piotr Kardas Science Manager Nicolas Burri Education Coordinator Patrick Kudyba Associate Science Manager General Affairs President ESCMID Council International Affairs Subcommittee Publications & Guidelines, Publications & Communications Officer Publication Subcommittee Guidelines Subcommittee General affairs President-elect & Secretary General Finances Treasurer & Financial Support Officer Science Scientific Affairs Officer Scientific Affairs Subcommittee Study Groups Education Education Officer Education Subcommittee Professional Affairs Professional Affairs Officer Professional Affairs Subcommittee Parity Commission, Trainee Association of Escmid (TAE) José Ramón Paño-Pardo Zaragoza, ES Current members Members as of 25 April 2022 YEARBOOK 2021/2022 SOCIETY 11 Maurizio Sanguinetti Rome, IT Evelina Tacconelli Tübingen, DE Verona, IT Jacob Moran-Gilad Beer Sheva, IL Luigia Scudeller Milano, IT Leonard Leibovici Tel Aviv, IL Christian Giske Stockholm, SE ECCMID Programme Director CMI Editor-in-Chief EUCAST Chairperson EUCIC Chairperson Guidelines Director Jesús Rodríguez Baño Seville, ES Ad hoc EC members Majella Ding Science Programme & Education Coordinator Erik Wennström Event Coordinator Chiara Speziale Sciende & Guidelines Manager Guidelines Subcommittee ECCMID Programme Committee General Affairs Immediate Past President & ECCMID OfficerThe Loom After unwoven the fleecy swab, Heddles rise and fall over the warp, Making the slender braid unreel. Then, a shuttle moving back and forth, Carries the filling yarn across the weft. Double, triple stitch along the woof, Needle, needle, sharp and swift, And the threads once again enlace and tie. The Parcae spin and snap the human thread, They twist the strand of life between their fingers. Shedding, picking, beating-up, Shedding, picking, beating-up, Our days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle. A fabric is embroidered in spiked pattern, The warp stretched for warrior’s fall. At home, the faithful wife can have no rest: Day and night, Penelope weaves, unravels; Odysseus struggling at the battlefront. Until the war is over, the loom weaves, Until the last stitch is bound in the cloth. Carlos Lemos, Portugal The Loom Angel Ros Die, Spain Nocardia.spp Selma Habibovic´, Serbia Where there is love there is life YEARBOOK 2021/2022 ART GALLERY12Gianpiero Tebano, Italy Locked in dreams Loua Aniti, Paris, France Two years on a lineYEARBOOK 2021/2022 SCIENCE14 Rising to the challenges of the pandemic and more These past few years have been challenging as we continue to fight a global pandemic that has forced many to rethink the way they live and work. Science and research are no exceptions to this and with many of our mem- bers being on the frontline of the pandemic, the need to evolve and develop has increased pressure. Despite these difficulties, I am delighted to be able to report on the healthy state of science wit- hin ESCMID which is a great ref- lection on our membership. The ESCMID community has risen to this challenge, making remarka- ble progress in the fields of infec- tious disease, microbiology and infection prevention and control. ESCIMD organized a series of gui- deline publications, educational web symposia and a COVID-19 Vaccine FAQ. ESCMID continues to push the boundaries and stay on the cutting edge of research re- garding SARS-CoV-2 in all aspects. At the same time and very pleasingly, there have been many advances and developments in non-COVID-19 science such as antimicrobial resistance. ESCMID was a proud partner in the World Antimicrobial awareness week for 2021 to help “Spread awaren- ess, stop resistance”. This initia- tive organized by WHO was sup- ported in our community calling everyone to be AMR awareness champions. Next, I would particularly like to flag our Young Investigator Awards which are awarded to the very best emerging infection scientists around the world. We had applications from 6 count- ries, and we want to congratulate Michele Bartoletti from Italy and Timothy Rawson from the United Kingdom who were our awardees this year. I am looking forward to seeing their continued success throughout their careers. Next year, we are making a few chan- ges to the Young Investigator Awards which you will see on the website, but they will include an emphasis on self-nomination rat- her than having to find a mentor “It has been amazing in this last year, to work with the high levels of enthusiasm, endeavour and excel- lence of the diverse ESCMID research community in the face of multiple challen- ges including but by no means limited to coronavirus.” Jon S. Friedland ESCMID Scientific Affairs Officer jon.s.friedland@escmid.org YEARBOOK 2021/2022 SCIENCE 15 and application criteria based on years in infection rather than age. Overall, ESCMID has had a fruitful year in terms of research grants, Study Groups and our fantastic SAS as you will read about below. ESCMID Research Grants: the more the merrier It is important to support the growing ESCMID scientific com- munity and the ground-breaking advances being explored. Start- ing this year, ESCMID has decided to increase the number of grants awarded to better provide for the increasing amount of innovative research that is being conducted around the world. Our Research Grant Programme remains highly popular as evidenced by the over 120 submitted proposals within the theme of Bacterial Infections & Diseases. For the 2022 ESCMID Research Grant call, 28 research grants were awarded. This is 13 more from last year, and is the largest amount given in a single year to date. At this point, I real- ly do want to thank our commit- ted panel of expert reviewers for tackling the immense task that was laid before them. They have all done a terrific job evaluating the large number of proposals despite the difficult situation this year, being flexible and willing to give their free time to support ESCMID. The decision to increase the amount of research funding con- tinued past the individual grants and extended into the Study Group Research funding as well. We received 17 submissions in total coming from 16 different Study Groups either individually or in collaboration with each ot- her. After careful consideration and review from the SAS mem- bers, the Executive Committee decided to make 4 awards this year instead of the usual 3. The awarded SGs were: the ESCMID Study Group for Lyme Borreliosis (ESGBOR) with the ESCMID Study Group for Veterinary Microbiolo- gy (ESGVM), the ESCMID Study Group for Legionella Infections (ESGLI), the ESCMID Study Group for Epidemiological Markers (ESGEM) and the ESCMID Study Group for Clostridioides difficile (ESGCD). This number may rise again in future years and a new type of collaborative Study Group grant will be introduced at EC- CMID 2022. I would like to congratulate all of the many grantees this year and wish them “Good luck!” in their upcoming projects. ESCMID Study groups: growing and evolving The ECMID Study Groups are a central pillar of the Scientific af- fairs portfolio and a source of great innovation and participation amongst ESCMID members. They represent the breadth of ESCMID’s mission in promoting and suppor- ting research, education, training, and good medical practice in the fields of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious diseases. I am happy to introduce the new ESCMID Study Group for Non-traditional Antibac- terial Therapy (ESGNTA). Founded to support new innovative re- search in the fight against antimi- crobial resistant pathogens, they focus on alternative therapies such as the use of bacteriophages and nanotechnologies. I would also like to acknowled- ge the hard work that our Study Groups have done to work through this difficult global pandemic continuing to publish papers, or- ganise virtual events and all of this while many of their members have been on the frontlines of the pandemic helping to ease the con- tinued struggle against COVID-19. The ESCMID Study Groups have continued to evolve during this trying time putting a large emp- hasis on virtual meetings, educa- tional web series, regular news- letters and much more. In the past year, over 15 educational courses were put on by Study Groups entirely online. Others started a series of “lunchtime keynotes” hosting webinars every month for their members. In general, I am happy to see the continued de- velopment of our Study Groups as they all aim to reach critical mass and will enjoy seeing them grow in the years to come. Welcome to the new Scientific Af- fairs Subcommittee! The Scientific Affairs Subcom- mittee (SAS) has the key role of advising the society on strategic matters related to Scientific Af- fairs. Each SAS member takes indi- vidual responsibility for a specific assigned section/theme (see tab- le next column) which is their ex- pertise and, as section/theme lea- der, they will work in that area to facilitate scientific collaborations. Furthermore, the SAS members participate in the evaluation of Study Group research grant appli- cations and carefully analyse the productivity of the ESCMID Study Groups as presented in the annual reports, with the final aim of ma- ximizing their scientific activity. The SAS also contributes to the main ECCMID meeting. I am plea- sed to acknowledge the entire SAS for the excellent work that they have done this year and for their continued support of the Scientific Affairs of ESCMID. In 2021 we successfully used our first open call to join the SAS in the theme of Epidemiology, Vaccinology and Public Health to a recruit a new member (as op- posed to seeking to nominate in- dividuals) and have now opened a second call in 2022 for the the- me of Fungi and Fungal Diseases. With these open calls we are able to attract experts in the field with a great enthusiasm for the society and the desire to learn and lead the scientific mission of ESCMID. In addition, we hope that these calls will be seen by a more diver- se number of people across the infection world who may wish to contribute to science in ESCMID. New members of the SAS since last ECCMID are Joanna Maria Zajkowska, Katharina Last and Bettie Voordouw. Katherina is the first SAS representative from the ESCMID Trainee Association and her enthusiastic involvement is designed to ensure that emerging scientists are have a voice on the SAS. I very warmly welcome all the newly appointed members and am looking forward to working together with the whole SAS in the year ahead! Bacteria & Bacterial Diseases Holger Rohde (Hamburg, Ger- many) Fungi & Fungal Diseases Being recruited Parasites & Parasitic Diseases Zeno Bisoffi (Verona, Italy) Viruses & Viral Diseases Mary Horgan (Cork, Ireland) Pathogenesis & Immunology Silvio Daniel Brugger (Zurich, Switzerland) Epidemiology, Vaccinology & Public Health Bettie Voordouw (Bilthoven, Netherlands) Clinics & Therapeutics Pontus Naucler (Stockholm, Sweden) Diagnostics Joanna Maria Zajkowska (Białystok, Poland) Antimicrobial Resistance & Susceptibility Testing Alvaro Pascual Hernandez (Seville, Spain) TAE representative (Ad hoc) Katharina Last (Homburg, Germany) For more information visit www.escmid.org/science Scientific Affairs SubcommitteeYEARBOOK 2021/2022 SCIENCE16 • Publication “Performance of Existing Definitions and Tests for the Diagnosis of Invasive Fungal Diseases other than Invasi- ve Candidiasis and Invasive Aspergillosis in Critically Ill, Adult Patients: A Systematic Review with Qualitative Evidence Syn- thesis” Giacobbe et al. Journal of Fungi. 2021 • Organization of 3 online postgraduate courses “Crash Course on Invasive Fungal Infections” October - November, “Rare Yeasts – A Growing Threat” July, and “Invasive Fungal Infecti- ons in Critically Ill Patients” November 2021 • Published “Linezolid- and Multidrug-Resistant Enterococci in Raw Commercial Dog Food, Europe, 2019–2020” Freitas et al. Emerging Infectious Diseases 2021 • Published “Diversity of metal and antibiotic resistance genes in Enterococcus spp. from the last century reflects multiple pollution and genetic exchange among phyla from overlap- ping ecosystems” Rebelo et al. Sci Total Environ 2021 • Co-organiser of the „Building up WGS-based surveillance for food-borne pathogens in Europe - a look back and a look for- ward“ online webinar • Publication of the article “From Therapeutic Drug Monitoring to Model-Informed Precision Dosing for Antibiotics”, Wicha et al. Clin Pharm Ther. 2021 • Co-organiser of the online post-graduate course “Infections in the elderly – from bench to (beyond) bed”, October 2021 • Organiser of the online event “New Developments in Anti-In- fective Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics”, Novem ber 2022 Figure legend: Black perithecium covered with long, hair-like dematiaceous setae, and limoniform ascospores (Cre- dit: Malcom Richardson, Manches- ter University) Figure legend: A. Community bacterial analysis of a chicken sample. B. Atypical non-H2S-producing (left) and typical H2S-producing (right) Salmonella (Patrícia Antunes, UCIBIO-FCNAUP/FFUP) Figure legend: In vitro PK/PD model to assess synergistic effects of antibiotic combinations at concentrations mimicking human pharma- cokinetics (by Pernilla Lagerbäck) with PhD student Anna Olsson • Publication of the review “correlation between antibiotic re- sistance and clinical outcome of anaerobic infections”, Du- breuil et al. Anaerobe. 2021 • Ongoing Study - The burden and epidemiology of anaerobic bacteremia: a retrospective multicentre multinational ESGAI cross-sectional study • Ongoing development of AST methods for anaerobic bacteria and revision of EUCAST breakpoints • Examination of carbapenem heteroresistance among clinical B. fragilis strains Figure legend: Antibiotic concentration vs survival ratio plots of Bacteroides fragilis strains (A-C: homogeneous resistance phenotype, D-F: hete- rogeneous resistance phenotype, University of Szeged) YEARBOOK 2021/2022 SCIENCE 17 Here we look back over the many activities performed by our Study Groups in 2021. The following pages show a selection of major achie- vements or ongoing activities of the individual study groups. In ge- neral, the study groups strongly contribute to the ECCMID scientific programme by proposing symposia, educational workshops and meet-the-expert sessions. They organise the majority of courses/ workshops for the ESCMID education programme and publish a num- ber of scientific articles in ESCMID’s name. These Study groups are a • Publication of the article “Indications for medical antibiotic prophylaxis and potential targets for antimicrobial stewards hip intervention: a narrative review” Ioannou P. et al. Clin Mi- crobiol Infect 2021 • Organiser of the online post-graduate course “Antimicrobial stewardship beyond COVID-19 pandemic, a case-based ap- proach”, 26-28 May 2021 • Co-organised a joint WHO Africa -ESGAP Antimicrobial Ste- wardship course with moderation in Tanzania and Nigeria. • Publication of the original article “AMRmap: An Interactive Web Platform for Analysis of Antimicrobial Resistance Sur- veillance Data in Russia” Kuzmenkov A. et al. Frontiers in Microbiology 2021 • Excellent participation in ECCMID 2022 with 8 submitted ses- sion proposals and 4 of them included in the final scientific programme • Organiser of the virtual 2-day event “Slimes Online” with over 400 registrants • Co-organiser of the “Galleria melonella Workshop” that took place online, July 2021 • Ongoing organisation of the upcoming Eurobiofilms 2022 conference to take place in Mallorca 2022. • Exceptional participation in ECCMID 2022 with 5 accepted scientific session proposals Figure legend: ESGAP promotes education and research activities on the topic of antimicrobial stewardship, and aims at sharing knowled- ge and experience in this area Figure legend: Geographical distribution of gram-negative bacteria producing various types of acquired carbapenemases. AMRmap: An Interactive Web Platform for Analysis of Antimicrobial Resistance Sur- veillance Data in Russia, Kuzmenkov et al, Front Microbiol. 2021 Figure legend: P. aeruginosa PAO1 phage-infected biofilm. PAO1 control of phage-free biofilm (A1), and forty-eight-hour phage infected biofilms analysed after exposure to the phage for 5 min (A2) (Azeredo et al.) • Publication of the original article “Defining persistent Staphylo- coccus aureus bacteraemia: secondary analysis of a prospecti- ve cohort study” Kuehl R. et al. Lancet Infect Dis 2020 • Co-organising the online post-graduate course “Cutting edge: improving survival rates of severe skin and soft-tissue infecti- ons”, May 2021 • Supporting the Clinical Practice Guideline publication “Surviving Sepsis Campaign: International Guidelines for Management of Sepsis and Septic Shock: 2021” Evans L. Intensive Care Med 2021 Figure legend: The aim of ESGBIES is improve the diagnosis, treat- ment and prevention of bloodstream infections, Endocarditis and sepsis. Recently, the Surviving Sepsis Campaign guidelines were updated in a joint effort with numerous societies around the globe major part of ESCMID’s continue mission in promoting and suppor- ting research, education, training, and good medical practice for all aspects of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. Study Group membership is open to all ESCMID members.Next >