Dear Friends and Colleagues, Warm greetings! On behalf of APAAACI, I would like to thank everyone who attended our virtual APAAACI 2021 International Conference, held from 15-17, October, 2021. With over 100 faculty, 34 symposia, 10 plenary lectures and 3 days of great learning, we believe the conference provided a strong scientific program with a mix of cutting-edge science and practical aspects providing valuable insights, perspectives, and experiences to all in the new normal and beyond.
I would like to express my sincere gratitude on behalf of APAAACI to all our outstanding International and Regional faculty, our Guest of Honour, Past Presidents, Collaborating societies, National member societies, and Sponsors. My personal thanks also to my co-chairs, abstract committee members, junior member leadership and our conference working team, for making this event an unforgettable memory in the history books.
I am also pleased to share with you that we have received an overwhelming positive feedback and great appreciation on both the scientific content as well as the organization. With over 3000 delegates from 54 countries, we are in awe to see APAAACI’s valuable contribution to the world of allergy, asthma and clinical immunology. We look forward to continue providing you with state of the art educational and scientific initiatives, and clinical / practical programs.
On another front, I am thrilled to share with you the news of our very successful first Junior APAAACI Allergy Leadership Forum and Café (JAAFCA). Held on 4th October, the very first JAAFCA initiative was attended by over 114 junior members and was led by APAAACI Junior Member Committee Co-chair, Dr. Agnes Leung along with Dr. Paxton Loke and Ms. Sigrid Pitkin. Stay tuned to further JAAFCA programs.
APAAACI 2021 International Conference Highlights (October 15-17)
The APAAACI 2021 International Conference, centred upon Innovations, Challenges and Opportunities in Allergy, Asthma and Immunology in a New Era, was a major milestone that surpassed expectations and achieved unimaginable success! We had an impressive reception of over 3,000 delegates in attendance from 54 countries worldwide. This would not have been possible without our cutting-edge, state of the art scientific program led by our brilliant international and regional faculty that essentially covered all aspects of allergy, asthma and clinical immunology. View Scientific Program | Meet our faculty now
Key highlights included the Opening Ceremony which featured a Keynote Address by Dr. Katie Allen, Member of Parliament, Australian Government. APAAACI Past Presidents, Prof. You Young Kim, Prof. Ronald Walls and Prof. Karnen Baratawidjaja then delivered Special Congratulatory Addresses. APAAACI President, Prof. Ruby Pawankar, delivered an Opening Address and officially opened the conference. This Opening Ceremony was moderated by Dr. Agnes Leung, Co-chair of the APAAACI Junior Member Committee. This was preceded by a successful Junior Member Symposium covering a vast array of asthma and allergy-related topics. Watch Opening Ceremony Now
Our four plenary sessions played a pivotal role at the conference. This included:
Plenary Session 1: Microbiota and Immune System in Health and Disease, featuring Prof. Heidi Kong, Prof. Harald Renz and Prof. Jenny Ting; moderated by Prof. Soo Jong Hong
Plenary Session 2: Advances in Allergen Immunotherapy and the Future of Digital health, featuring Prof. G. Walter Canonica, Prof. Oliver Pfaar and Prof. Jean Bousquet; moderated by Prof. Marysia Recto and Prof. Pongsakorn Tantilipikorn
Plenary Session 3: Precision Medicine and Biomarkers in Asthma and Allergy, featuring Prof. G. Walter Canonica, Prof. Kenji Izuhara, Prof. Stephen Galli and Prof. David Price; moderated by Prof. Ting Fan Leung and Prof. Hae-Sim Park
Plenary Session 4: Epithelial Barrier and Immune Regulation, featuring Prof. Cezmi Akdis, Prof. Sir Stephen Holgate and Prof. Fu-Tong Liu; moderated by Prof. Ruby Pawankar and Prof. Jiu-Yao Wang
Our world renowned experts came together to deliver ground breaking discoveries and scientific updates. This was followed by stimulating Q&A panel discussions executed by our excellent moderators.
We also take great pride to highlight our collaborating society symposia including EAACI, ACAAI, FOCIS, APAPARI, PSAAI, TAAACI, INUNUMA and WAO. All 8 symposia were chaired and lectured by key international and regional faculty, covering a multitude of topics focused on updates, trends and novel learnings.
Other highlights included our symposium on Covid-19 Therapy and Vaccines, and Climate Change in Allergic Diseases. These are two very critical issues we had to address as we aim to create a better, healthier world in the long run. Such informative talks have really helped provide insightful learnings.
In addition, there were excellent sessions on many clinically relevant topics like asthma, rhinosinusitis, nutrition, allergy prevention, urticaria, food allergy, anaphylaxis, allergen immunotherapy, HAE etc.
We also would like to thank our sponsors, A. Menarini, Danone Nutricia Campus, DBV Technologies, Sanofi Genzyme Regeneron, Stallergenes Greer, Takeda and Viatris for organising and running brilliant symposia across the three days. View Sponsored Satellite Symposia
We were also delighted to announce our best oral and poster awardees. A big congratulations to Yuling Zhang (China), Thimo Reuthers (Australia), Evelyn Xiu Ling Loo (Singapore), Yi-Giien Tsai (Taiwan), Ismail Ogulur (Switzerland), Li-syuan Yang (Taiwan), Jinpao Hou (Hong Kong) and Sung-Ryeol Kim (South Korea).
Finally, as we gear up for the upcoming APAAACI Congress 2022 PSAAI@50, a dedicated symposium as a prelude to this congress focused on Covid-19 Updates: Immunomodulators to Vaccines. This featured representatives from PSAAI including Prof. Marysia Recto, Prof. Maria Carmen Ang and PSAAI President, Prof. Rommel Lobo. The session was chaired by Prof. Ruby Pawankar, President APAAACI and Congress Chair of APAAACI 2022 Congress PSAAI@50 and Dr. Carmela Kasala, Co-Chair of the congress. It was a fascinating session, and a true prelude to the APAAACI Congress 2022 PSAAI@50.
We are deeply grateful to Esanum, our online conference platform, for having provided a virtually enticing and seamless experience to all our viewers from around the world.
For those who missed the event or could not attend all the sessions, we will be rolling out on-demand recordings that cover all tracks and sessions of the three days made available on Esanum.com and APAAACI TV.
Junior APAAACI Allergy Leadership Forum and Café (JAAFCA)
WATCH NOW
JAAFCA is APAAACI flagship program for Junior Members. Leadership development strategies is a high priority for APAAACI. Aligned with APAAACI’s mission to build a robust future for the organization and the specialty in the region, this program is an online forum designed especially for APAAACI’s Junior Members.
JAAFCA – Series 1
Journal Club & A Practical Approach to Immunotherapy for Food Allergy
To kick start this initiative, we organized the very first JAAFCA online program on 4 October 2021 from 18:00-19:30. This forum was chaired by Dr. Agnes Leung who first presented the Journal Club. Following this, A Practical Approach to Immunotherapy for Food Allergy workshop was conducted by Dr. Paxton Loke and Ms. Sigrid Pitkin. The opening edition turned out to be a great success, having strong viewership and user engagement.
WATCH NOW
Become a Junior Member
APAAACI welcomes you to join our Junior Membership. If you are 45 years and below, kindly fill in the application form and send it to us at secretariat@apaaaci.org.
Start your journey with us today!
Upcoming Activities
As we have officially closed APAAACI 2021 International Conference on a high note, stay tuned to our upcoming education programs: Science to Action, Science At The Edge and JAAFCA initiatives, as well as our latest publication releases to complete the year.
COVID-19 Updates
Our COVID-19 task force continues to update the latest recommendations and information and provide guidance to HCPs and the public and will be conducting additional initiatives, surveys and registries. View our Covid-19 Resource Centre now!
For more information, check out the:
APAAACI 2022 Congress Joint PSAAI@50
APAAACI is working closely with PSAAI to prepare for the APAAACI 2022 Congress PSAAI@50 in Manila, Philippines, 1-4 October, 2022. Lookout for an outstanding scientific program coming soon!
APAAACI Community: Volunteering Opportunities
APAAACI continues to avidly seek for volunteers to help grow and support the organization. We have opportunities to volunteer in:
1. Committee & New Member Activities
2. Junior Members
3. Conferences
4. Webinars & Online Modules
5. Content & Community Development
For those interested, kindly email us at secretariat@apaaaci.org. We look forward to your help and support in building our community!
I would once again like to thank our APAAACI Board of Directors, the committee chairs, members and working team for their hard work and dedication for making the APAAACI 2021 International Conference an unforgettable event.
Stay tuned for exciting new updates on our activities and initiatives in the coming months!
Professor Ruby Pawankar
APAAACI President
