It is with great sadness ...
It is with great sadness that we note the death of TID Executive Committee member Francisco Marty on April 8, 2021 from a fall while photographing a waterfall in the Dominican Republic. Francisco is recognized globally for his expertise in treating transplant and cancer patients. He was a dedicated clinician, patient advocate, and teacher, taking extraordinary joy in mentoring new generations of clinicians. He was an incredibly generous mentor, who continued to help his many trainees and colleagues throughout the world long after their official relationship had ended. In addition to his accomplishments related to the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of fungal and viral diseases in immunocompromised hosts, Francisco was a talented photographer, touching the lives of others with stunning images that showcased the same passion he applied to his patients and research (https://500px.com/p/fmarty?view=photos). A dedicated member of the scientific community, he served as a co-editor-in-chief of TID since 2011, guiding the growth of the journal, which has now become the flagship journal for transplant infectious diseases. He was recognized as someone who not only directly contributed to the medical literature through his impactful clinical trials and epidemiologic investigations but also his ability to analyze existing literature and break it down so that it was easily understandable. He gave talks on every corner of the globe and was well recognized as a Transplant ID Twitter influencer. He will be remembered fondly for his wisdom, kindness and enormous generosity. The TID Section extends its deepest condolences to his friends and family, and its gratitude for his commitment to the fields and all members of the TID community. Our field has lost one of the giants who will be missed by the field and all who knew him.
President's Message
Dr. Michael Ison
TID president
Professor of Medicine and Surgery
Infectious Disease and
Organ Transplantation
Northwestern University
Feinberg School of Medicine
Chicago, IL, USA
Dear Colleagues,
Since my first update after becoming president of the TID section of TTS, our lives have been turned upside down by COVID-19. I’m especially proud of the TID community which has not only been active but frequently has led the response to conduct research and manage SARS-CoV-2 infections at their centers, nationally and internationally. These unprecedented times are have challenged all of us.
Through it all, we have continued to make strides with the section. I’d like to discuss some major changes and new opportunities that will be coming to the section.
The first edition of this journal was published in September 1999. The journal was conceived and launched by Dr. Robert H. Rubin, the founding editor and one of the fathers of our medical specialty. The journal was designed to be the home of clinical and basic research related to infectious diseases in hematopoietic cell transplantation as well as solid organ transplantation. Bob recruited Hans H. Hirsch and Francisco M. Marty as senior editors in 2005. Hans and Francisco continued as Co-Editors-in-Chief after Bob retired in 2012. Through their leadership, the journal has transitioned from a quarterly review journal to original research in an online format and continued to grow, and is considered as the true home for the field. The journal is about to undergo a transition to new leadership over the next year. We already now wish to express our thanks to Hans and Francisco for their hard work, for their dedication to the Journal and to Bob’s heritage, Transplant Infectious Disease.We encourage anyone interested in being considered as an editor-in-chief of the journal to review the job description and outline of the application process in the attached PDF, that has been set up by Wiley.
Second, we have been actively preparing for the TTS 2020 meeting which is going to be entirely virtual. I want to especially thank Ban Hock Tan and Stephanie Pouch who have worked hard to develop the ID programing for this meeting.
The ID specific programs, which will be updated weekly, will include a focused workshop on CMV Infection, a state of the art session entitled Prevention of Infections and and a novel session where we invite non-ID experts to expound on problems that we as TID docs confront frequently, such as the management of bilomas. There will also be an online ID abstract session. I encourage all of you to register to engage in these sessions and other incredible sessions planned for the meeting.
The TTS COVID-19 Taskforce has also planned a 3-hour COVID-19 Symposium. As part of the Taskforce, we specifically planned the symposium to highlight the lessons we have learned from COVID-19 to inform prevention and treatment of transplant patients with COVID-19 and to inform how to optimize transplant program function during a pandemic. The program will bring experts from around the world to give a timely update and will note that there will be many TID speakers and topics that we will all find incredibly interesting.
Linked, but separate to the TTS2020 meeting, the TID 2020 Symposium, also organized by Ban Hock Tan and Stephanie Pouch, will be a masterclass in Transplant Infectious Diseases. This virtual meeting will include 16 speakers from around the world providing a clinically focused update on the common challenges that we see in TID. This will provide TID experts a detailed review of prevention and management strategies. As members will be able to watch individual lectures whenever they want, the Symposium will endure as a critical video textbook for the field. I encourage everyone to take advantage of this program with more details to follow in the near future.
In terms of other meetings, we had designed sessions at 2 meetings that have had their dates changed. The Immunocompromised Host Society is now going to take place as a hybrid in person and virtual meeting January 31–February 2, 2021.
Click HereI encourage everyone to participate since you will be able to do so from the comfort of your home (although we would all prefer to be in Melbourne). The TID session at the ISHAM Asian Fungal Working Group Meeting will now take place August 5-7, 2021. Click Here This important meeting will be of clear interest to the members. We continue to encourage collaboration with other meetings, whether virtual or in person, to collaborate with us as new meetings are planned.
Lastly, I want to commend the TID Council who have developed and updated a clinical practice set of guidelines for transplant centers challenged with COVID-19.
As we all know, data was coming out at an incredible pace and the group continued to update the data as they could throughout time. This guideline has been heavily used with over 40,000 visits. We are launching our latest update to these guidelines which will include 6 focused reviews. This approach will allow us to update sections more quickly and easily and provide easier to access guidance. I would encourage all of you to see what we’ve pulled together.
While much of what we had hoped to accomplish has been limited due to the impact of COVID-19, the section continues to move along and provide useful tools for the field. I encourage all of you to utilize what we have and reach out if you have ideas about new or different ways to serve you.
Thank you so much for everything you have been doing. Please stay safe as we all continue to struggle with COVID-19.
TID President
TID Members now have access to ID related videos from TTS 2020
UPDATE & GUIDANCE ON 2019 NOVEL CORONAVIRUS (2019-NCOV) FOR TRANSPLANT ID CLINICIANS (March 1, 2021 Update).
Contact
Address
Transplant Infectious Disease
International Headquarters
505 Boulevard René-Lévesque Ouest
Suite 1401
Montréal, QC, H2Z 1Y7
Canada