Antifungal resistance in Candida and Aspergillus: is the honeymoon over?

Antifungal resistance in Candida and Aspergillus: is the honeymoon over?

10 June @ 14.00 CET

Fungal infections, in their various manifestations, affect millions of people worldwide and cause a very high morbidity and mortality.
The new threats in the field of invasive mycoses and the new drugs recently available will be reviewed in our next webinar by internationally recognised experts. Join us at the next free ISAC webinar on 10 June.

 

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** Attendees will receive a certificate of attendance.

Speakers

1. "Epidemiology of Fungal Infections with a focus in antifungal resistance"

Dr Ana Alastruey-Izquierdo is a research scientist at the Mycology Reference Laboratory of Spain where she leads the moulds unit. She chairs the technical expert group of the Fungal Priority Pathogens list by WHO, is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Joint Program Initiative on Antimicrobial Resistance (JPIAMR) and is President of the Spanish Society for Mycology (AEM). She is also fellow of ESCMID and ECMM.

Her main area of interest are public health mycology, antifungal susceptibility testing and surveillance and characterisation on antifungal resistance. She has published more than 170 peer reviewed articles in scientific journals including several guidelines for diagnosis and treatment of fungal infections.

2. "Detection of antifungal resistance: from MICs to SNPs"

Dr Jesús Guinea works as a clinical microbiologist at the Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Department at Gregorio Marañón Hospital (Madrid). He has been conducting research on medical mycology with emphasis in the application of molecular biology to the study of invasive fungal infections, the improved diagnosis of mycoses, and the study of antifungal susceptibility of agents causing mycoses. He received the Young Investigator Award of the European Society of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology in 2010. He has been acting as Scientific Secretary of the Steering Committee of the Antifungal Susceptibility Testing Subcommittee of EUCAST (European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing) since 2016. He has contributed to the field co-authoring 223 publications in scientific journals, with an accumulated impact factor of 1845 points, and a Hirsch index of 45.

3. "Clinical impact & new therapeutic options for managing antifungal resistant fungi"

Dr Antonio Vena graduated in Medicine and Surgery from the University "Campus Bio-Medico" in Rome, Italy, in 2008. Following that, he completed his residency training in Internal Medicine at the University “La Sapienza” of Rome in 2012. In 2017, he earned a PhD in Clinical Microbiology from the University "Complutense" in Madrid, Spain.

From 2013 to 2017, he worked as a clinical researcher and infectious diseases consultant at the Department of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón, in Madrid, Spain.

Since 2019, he has been serving as an infectious diseases consultant and member of the antimicrobial stewardship team at the IRCCS San Martino Hospital in Genoa, Italy.

Additionally, since 2019, he has been a member of the European Study Groups of Infection in Immunocompromised Hosts (ESGICH) and of fungal infection (EFISG).

MODERATORS

Prof. Patricia Muñoz is currently Professor of Clinical Microbiology at the Complutense University of Madrid and Head in the Service of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases in Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón.

Dr Muñoz's main research interests are fungal infections, infective endocarditis, infections in solid organ transplant recipients, immunocompromised hosts, cardiac surgery patients and nosocomially acquired infectious diseases.

She has published more than 800 articles, books and book chapters. Dr Muñoz has contributed to current prophylactic strategies against Pneumocystis carinii and toxoplasmosis in cardiac transplant recipients, knowledge of pulmonary nodules, identification of risk factors for invasive aspergillosis and targeted prophylaxis, and knowledge of human herpesvirus infection in transplant recipients. She is currently working on the development of an antifungal stewardship programme and the clinical application of fungal biomarkers.

Dr Muñoz is a member of the Spanish Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, the American Society of Microbiology and the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID). She is an active member of the European Study Group for Nosocomial Infections, the ESCMID Study Group of infection in compromised hosts (ESGICH) and the Spanish Network of Infection in Transplantation, and is Coordinator of the Group for the Management of Infective Endocarditis in Spain (GAMES). She has been President of the Spanish Society of Cardiovascular Infections (SEICAV). Since 2021 she has been president of the Sociedad Madrileña de Microbiología Clínica (SMMC). Since 2023 she has been a member of the Executive Committee of the International Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (ISAC).

Dr Abhijit Balis a Consultant, Head of Service and Infection Control Doctor at the Department of Microbiology, Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, Glasgow. He is also a Honorary Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Glasgow.

Prior to this, he was a Consultant Microbiologist (NHS Ayrshire and Arran) and Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer.

He is the Chair of the ISAC Fungal Infections Working Group.

Additionally, he was chair of the Fungal Infections Subgroup within the Scottish Microbiology and Virology Network.