Content provided by Dr. Jonathan Ryder, second year UNMC ID fellow
Now as a second-year fellow (and second year attendee), IDWeek 2021 had a different feel. The virtual conference was no longer a new experience, having done this at IDWeek 2020 and SHEA 2021. While we hope for in-person meetings in the near future, I settled in for this conference a bit easier than last year. Once again this year, I felt quite fortunate to attend this conference as part of my fellowship training, as the emphasis on fellow education at UNMC is clear.
The first day of IDWeek 2021 as a second-year fellow is the Vincent T. Andriole Board Review Course. We covered high-yield material across several sessions, including UNMC’s Dr. Andrea Zimmer presenting on infections in transplant recipients. Next, we had the Fellows’ Day Workshop immediately preceding the meeting. This workshop kicked off with several challenging ID cases. We then had sessions to prepare for job interviews and contracts that provided perspective on our futures. Additionally, we had breakout sessions in areas of career interest, so I attended the session on antimicrobial stewardship.
Officially IDWeek started with 24 hours of COVID-19, the second consecutive Chasing the Sun day. This year focused more on COVID-19 vaccine development. I particularly enjoyed the perspectives on the development of mRNA technology born out of research on RSV vaccines. I also enjoyed learning about research on post-acute sequelae of COVID-19.
The next four days of IDWeek were my favorite: various sessions on innumerable infectious disease topics. With great anticipation prior to IDWeek, I always map out which sessions to attend. However, it is tough sledding given the abundance of high-quality sessions. I try to focus on my areas of interest (antimicrobial stewardship, endocarditis, antibiotic resistance) while balancing this with sessions that I need to learn more about (HIV, outpatient ID). I was fortunate to share my favorite IDWeek sessions with Dr. Sara Dong on the Febrile podcast this year, so check it out to hear a bunch of clinical pearls.
In conclusion, I had a highly educational experience at IDWeek 2021 once again with a wide swathe of expert speakers covering high yield infectious disease topics. However, I truly hope we can have an in-person conference this upcoming year. With two straight years of virtual conference, I have not been able to meet the infectious diseases community in-person, including several fellows that I have interacted with virtually. Here is to hoping to seeing everyone in Washington D.C. in 2022!