December 19, 2022
The Global Patients’ Meeting welcomed 100 participants
IPOPI had the great pleasure of welcoming 100 delegates from 34 countries from all over the world to the XVI Global Patients Meeting (GPM). The GPM is one of IPOPI’s key biennial events and is organised back to back with the European Society for Immunodeficiencies (ESID) and International Nursing Group for Immunodeficiencies’ (INGID) biennial congresses.
Medical education and skills building
This global meeting provided the participants with an update on the latest development for primary immunodeficiency (PID) by key PID experts. The programme highlighted topics such as targeted therapies, clinical research and trials and newborn screening. This year we also welcomed two exciting new sessions: “Back to the future, looking towards 2030”, a thought-provoking session on the future of PIDs; and “PID talks: Share, Learn and Get Inspired”, a speed dating session to discover 18 NMO initiatives across diverse topics. Lastly, the IPOPI’s Medical Advisory Panel (MAP) session provided a great platform for discussions, with participants asking several complex questions to the MAP members.
PID Champion Awards
The IPOPI members were also invited to a sparkling award ceremony where people whose actions have contributed positively to the PID community were acknowledged.
The Luciano Vassalli award is given to a young person who has made a difference for the PID community. This year the recipient was Zheng Jian Lei (Jerry Zheng), PID Care China, for his outstanding work on establishing and developing the first Chinese PID patients’ online communication chat group, and the consequent establishment of the PID Care China organisation.
The LeBien award, on the other hand, honours an adult who has improved the conditions for PID patients internationally. This year’s award was given to Professor Surjit Singh for his remarkable work and dedication to PID patients. He is a true champion for the PID patients’ community in India, regionally, and internationally.
The New BIG Award
The BIG Award is a new IPOPI Community Award celebrating Bold, Innovative and Game-changing (BIG) NMO projects. This award is designed to value good practice projects from our NMOs and to support benchmarking efforts. The very first BIG Award recipient was SOPPI Sudan, for their project on “Sustainability of Immunoglobulin Replacement Therapy (IgRt) for Primary Immunodeficiency (PID) patients in Sudan”, for its importance to the PID community in Sudan.
Annual General Assembly – New Executive Committee
On October 14, the GPM hosted the Annual General Assembly, including a presentation of the results of the previously held electronic Board Election. The voting delegates re-elected Ms. Martine Pergent (France) and Ms. Otilia Stanga (Romania) and elected Ms. Whitney Goulstone (Canada) as members of IPOPI´s Executive Committee.
