Welcome from the BSACI President

This year the BSACI celebrates its 75th Anniversary. To mark this special occasion, we shall be celebrating BSACI’s significant milestones and achievements over the years with special sessions throughout the programme.

Our Joint Scientific Programme Leads are Dr Natasha Gunawardana and Dr Nandinee Patel, supported by Deputy Scientific Programme Lead Dr Cherry Alviani. Alongside our programme and planning committee of experts, they have produced such a diverse programme that there is truly something for everyone.

The President’s Plenary – ‘Can we prevent allergies’- looks at the latest in multiple areas of allergy prevention. The conference features sessions on ‘Upper airways’, ‘Gastro Allergy’, ‘Mast cells’, ‘Respiratory’, ‘Practical tips for clinical practice’ and an ‘Immunology’ session with our colleagues at Clinical Immunology Professional Network. We are also delighted to continue to champion a dedicated ‘Education Showcase’ in memory of Professor Tony Frew featuring the best education projects taking place in allergy. Our ‘Celebrating Excellence in Allergy Care and Research’ awards session recognises those making outstanding contributions to our field. We close with a session on “Implementing Food Immunotherapy in the UK” and the ever popular ‘Year in Review’ in collaboration with ‘Clinical & Experimental Allergy’ the BSACI’s official journal.

This year we’re excited to introduce ‘Rapid Review sessions’ which feature a mega six topic updates of 10 minutes each. In these sessions we will cover the latest from the BSACI including new guidelines and working group updates, a joint dermatology session in association with the British Association of Dermatologists, an ‘Itchy, swollen, mouth’ session covering common allergy clinic presentations and a holistic expert-led discussion of ‘Tricky cases’.

We are featuring more of the highly popular practical workshops than ever before and they’ll be kicking off our conference this year so do arrive early to make the most of this opportunity to exchange practice points or learn some new clinical skills.

This year the ‘Speaker’s Corners’ will be a platform for our charities to showcase their work. We’re also excited to be hearing from two of BSACI’s early trailblazers about the remarkable breakthroughs that have been made by some of the most influential and aspiring figures in the British allergy and clinical immunology, as they take us through their amazing careers in a special 75th anniversary Speakers’ corner. Professor Adam Fox will also be taking the platform and talking to us about the advances and plans for the National Allergy Strategy Group.

Due to popular demand we have brought back ‘Case rounds’ on Friday morning, chaired by BSACI council experts for some thought provoking cases over pastries!

You’ll also note we’ve made dedicated “poster walks” for all your scientific contributions to give them more prominence and give our visitor space to explore each poster with ease. There will be a dedicated sessions for each poster category on different days,  so be sure to find out when and where to join the poster walk so you don’t miss out on an expert-led guide through each category.

The conference is interspersed with industry symposiums , so do take the opportunity of joining the talks and visiting our industry stands in the main exhibition area.  This year all non-industry stands will be situated together in the foyer area, where you will also find the BSACI stand.

Tea and coffee breaks, and lunches are included and we will be catering for all diets and the conference wouldn’t be complete without our social events; ‘Welcome Reception’ and ‘President’s Dinner’, both are great opportunities to make new connections and network – so don’t forget to book your tickets as places for each are limited!

We hope we have whetted your appetite by giving you a taste of what’s on the menu for this year’s conference. Of course we wouldn’t have a conference without the support of our industry partners, committees, BSACI staff, Medivents (our professional conference team), charities, attendees and all those who contribute to making this meeting successful.

We very much look forward to seeing you in Harrogate!

Best wishes,

Professor Graham Roberts
BSACI President