It is a real honour for me to take on the role of the BIA President, especially during a time of such global unrest which has important implications for our infection community and patients. We are facing a rising tide of infectious diseases and antimicrobial resistance with ever more limited resources and staff shortages. Efforts to prevent infection through vaccination and research are also being undermined.

Our membership has increased steadily over the past 15 years, and we want to continue to encourage people to get involved. With this goal in mind here is a list of ways you can get involved with BIA

How to get involved with BIA

• The very first thing you can do if you haven’t done so already is join. Membership is free for trainees and non-medical allied health professionals. Members get our monthly Digest that has information on about upcoming opportunities, news, and events. Members also get a discount to attend our meetings, which includes the Federation of Infection Science (FIS) Conference. We use the income raised through membership to support free and discounted educational meetings and research grants.
• Attend our Annual Spring Meeting, Infection Dilemmas day or Federation of Infection Society Conferences to catch up with colleagues from around the UK and keep up to date.
• Join the BIA e-list. The e-list connects you with infection specialists around the UK and facilitates informal discussion and information sharing.
• Join a subcommittee. Most Council roles include leading a subcommittee. Subcommittees play a key role in providing different perspectives and supporting projects. If you are interested please send an email to the relevant council member.
• Representation: Look out for notices by email or on the Digest for opportunities to represent the BIA on various topics and committees. These are key roles as they allow us to advocate for our patients and services.
• Write questions for Learn Infection, our online resource for trainees to test, learn and share knowledge on infection topics and best practices.
• Join the Council. We hold elections in the first quarter of each year, and there will be one or more posts up for election. Find out which posts are coming up in the next year here and find out more by speaking to the post holder.
• Guidance: we are moving away from writing traditional clinical guidelines as they are time intensive and become out of date almost as soon as they are published. We are focussing more on practical clinical and workforce guidance. If you have any ideas and have a commitment to developing a guidance document then get in touch with us.

My BIA journey

I attended my first BIA Spring meeting in 2009 when I was undertaking my doctoral research. This was a year before I officially started my specialist training and I was inspired to be around so many people interested in infection. As a specialist trainee, the BIA trainee meetings were a highlight of my year and it was useful to share experiences with trainees from around the UK as well as learn from the lectures. As I was such a fan of the meetings, I offered to help the then Trainee Meetings Secretary, Fiona McGill, organise a clinical grand session at an Autumn trainee meeting. I then took the plunge and took on the role of Trainees Meetings Representative in 2014 as a role share with my colleague Maheshi Ramasamy.

I started my first consultant post in 2017 and applied to be the BIA Meetings Secretary in 2020. This was a challenging time to be organising meetings but we learnt about the benefits of virtual option, and being in the BIA was a good way of staying connected with colleagues around the country. For the past two years I have been Vice President focussing on supporting other Council member roles and representing the BIA on several national committees and projects.

Being an active member of the BIA has been one of the highlights of my career to date. It has allowed me to meet new enthusiastic and committed colleagues from around the UK through committee work and other initiatives. It has made me appreciate the collective power an organisation can have to improve patient care, which often feels more challenging on the shop floor. I have also valued the experience and skills I have gained supporting the breadth of the BIA’s work.

Making time

Active involvement does take up time. The BIA is a charity, so therefore I see much of my role as voluntary and am happy to commit time to the work outside of working hours. This has become easier for me over time. I moved to a 50% academic role in 2024, which does not mean less work, but it does afford me more flexibility over my time. My children are now aged 13, 16, and 20, so life remains busy but not as exhausting as it used to be and so I have more energy to squeeze things in around the edges. That said, the BIA’s aim to improve infection services and patient care aligns with our clinical roles and remit to undertake quality improvement, teaching, and service development, so much of our BIA work sits well within the scope of everyday practice.

Finally, having the support of my Department has been critical both as a trainee and a consultant, and I am very grateful for this and to those who encouraged me to get involved. As a membership-led society we need to take this opportunity to use as many of our voices as possible to advocate for our services and support each other through our networks.