No-one can deny that the recent months have been challenging, at best. The global public health crisis we all find ourselves in has forced change - dramatic change - in many areas of our lives. ISSAID announced that a decision had been taken to postpone the 2021 Toronto Congress in view of Covid pandemic and since then, the ISSAID Steering Committee has turned our attention to our mission statement to define ways in which we can continue to share information and support professionals in our community to improve the quality of life of our patients, without being able to meet together face-to-face.

We are very pleased to be able to announce that in 2021, ISSAID is organising a Periodic Congress. Building on feedback from our community, of your experiences of on-line congresses and learning, we will be structuring our congress in “bite sized pieces” that will be programmed throughout 2021. The ISSAID periodic congress will commence in May 2021, running through to the end of the year, and provide a minimum of 2 hours of learning per month as well as industry symposia and Meet the Expert sessions. The objective of this congress is to discuss the following main topics: Periodic fevers, Monogenic recurrent fevers, Interaction between autoinflammation & infection, IL-1 mediated diseases, Interferonopathies.

Most importantly, the goal of the periodic congress is to foster discussion and knowledge exchange among colleagues and stakeholders from the ISSAID community.