Recap of ILADS’ 11th European Scientific Conference in Portugal
By Sarah Quillen
The International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS) has never been an organization to shy away from the challenges of life – both big and small.
The month of May brought us to Lisbon, Portugal, for our 11th European Scientific Conference, our first in this beautiful Iberian Peninsula.
It also brought us right into a multi-countrywide power outage. Luckily for ILADS, all was back to normal by Day 1 of the conference.
And what a conference it was! Over the course of three days, more than 100 clinicians, researchers. patient advocates, exhibitors, and sponsors came together to learn, share stories, and connect.
Key take-aways
As the Executive Director for ILADS and ILADEF, I came away from the experience with several key takeaways. First and foremost, there is nothing that replaces the in-person experience. When clinicians can come together to learn and break bread with each other, there is a magic that happens.
I had the wonderful opportunity to take part in many conversations that were in reference to helping specific patient needs. I also observed an attendee chatting up a presenter on a particular aspect of their presentation, as well as two clinicians conferring about how to diagnose a patient.
It was such a joy to witness so much collaboration, which is sure to enrich the tick-borne practitioner community and beyond!
Another key takeaway is the launch of the first Fundamentals of Vector-Borne Illness course designed specifically for Europe. Responding to the surveys from previous years, a Program Committee composed of ILADS European members developed this course to address the unique challenges and needs in understanding and managing vector-borne diseases in the region.
The last takeaway becomes a call to action for ILADS. We are a global community of professional caregivers and researchers. There are countless practitioners throughout Europe and beyond who care for patients and about furthering the science in this community. ILADS owes it to these patients to help support this mighty network. We need to grow our roster of experts internationally and do all we can to help educate and fulfill our mission.
As an international network of dedicated clinicians and researchers, ILADS proudly represents professionals from 23 countries, united in their commitment to caring for patients around the world. We were honored to gather in Portugal and eagerly anticipate our next global meeting in 2026!
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