Letter from the Executive Director:

2 February 2010

Dear Colleague:

On behalf of the Organizing Committee I am delighted to advise you that registration is open for the 16th Symposium on Infections in the Immunocompromised Host, sponsored by the International Immunocompromised Host Society (ICHS). This symposium will be held on June 27-30, 2010 in Budapest, Hungary.   The venue will be the historic Hilton Hotel in the castle district of Budapest.

The scientific and local committees, chaired by our President Prof. Per Ljungman have developed a wonderful program that starts on the evening of June 27 with a welcome reception in the Hilton Hotel Courtyard overlooking the Danube river.

The main program starts on the morning of June 28 with three Meet-the-Expert sessions. These sessions are designed to give participants the opportunity to interact in a small group setting with members of our faculty. You will be giving the opportunity to sign up for thee workshops at registration which opens on-site on June 27 at 15:00. The Meet-the-Expert sessions will run each day from 28 to 30 June from 07:30 08:30. These sessions tend to fill up quickly so we urge you to sign up on the June 27 for all three days. Meet-the-Expert sessions are limited to the first 30 delegates.

In addition to the six plenary lectures by internationally renown experts in the field, there are four roundtables scheduled, which will provide the latest practical information on the various topics.

A special session will be held on Infections in Cancer Patients organized by representatives from the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Texas on June 30.

In addition to the scientific program organized by ICHS there will be two satellite symposia supported by Pfizer and Roche; we invite you to participate at these two events which will be held within the program.

Posted on our conference pages is an up-to-date program which has more details on registration, abstract submission etc. I would like to urge you all to consider submitting an abstracts for our meeting. The deadline in March 31 and we will be giving out four awards for the best abstract. Accepted abstracts will be published in a peer-reviewed journal and will be provided to all delegates at registration. Accepted abstracts will be presented at the meeting in the form of posters in evening poster session on June 29 where we will be providing a canapes and refreshments.

An exhibition area will be housed in the foyer please make the time to visit the exhibitors.

The early registration deadline is March 31. Members of ICHS will receive a reduced registration fee.

We have arranged for local tours to be available.  Please check details for these on the conference pages.  Tours are not operated by ICHS so please address any questions to the travel group.

I am looking forward to meeting you in in the beautiful and fascinating city of Budapest. If you have any questions do not hesitate to contact me.

Kind regards

Elaine

Elaine Rinicker

ICHS Executive Director