The British and Irish Society for Oral Medicine (BISOM) welcomed over 95 delegates from across the UK and Ireland to their Annual Scientific Meeting 2019. This year’s meeting was held in Bristol on 2nd-3rd May at the Bristol Royal Marriott Hotel.
The meeting was opened by Dr Pepe Shirlaw (President of BSOM 2017-2019) who revealed the exciting new BISOM website. This has been an ongoing project and was well received by all.
The morning session of the first day provided an update in Dermatology covering inflammatory dermatological disease of the head and neck, modern systemic medication for skin disease and novel treatment concepts for graft versus host disease. This update was kindly provided by Dr Louise Newell, Dr Genevieve Osborne, Dr Aparna Sinha, Dr Giles Dunnill and Dr Debbie Shipley from The NHS Bristol Dermatology Centre.
The afternoon session on both days was dedicated to oral presentations from Fellows, Fellows-in-training and members. All of the presentations were of a very high standard and well done to all who presented. Special congratulations are given to Russell Hathaway and John Macken who were awarded the oral presentation BISOM Original Investigation Prize and the BISOM Case Report Prize respectively.
The first day concluded with the Annual General Meeting where the Society formally changed its name from the “British” to the “British and Irish” Society for Oral Medicine. Pepe Shirlaw was thanked for all of her hard work as she stepped down from her role as President and John Gibson was welcomed into the role which he will hold until 2021.
The Conference dinner was held at The M Shed which provided fantastic sunset views across Bristol’s Harbourside. We were honoured to welcome Cllr Cleo Lake, Lord Mayor of Bristol who delivered a passionate speech which kick started the evening’s festivities.
The second day of the conference was opened by Mr Jeff Farrar, Chairman of University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust. His presentation on Resilience and Leadership was insightful and raised many interesting points for discussion. He was followed by Dr Jane Luker, Postgraduate Dental Dean for HEE South West who outlined the ongoing HEE Advancing Dental Care Education and Training Review which will have an impact on how Oral Medicine Specialty Training in England is delivered in the years to come.
The morning concluded with a series of presentations on Genetic Epidemiology which showcased some of the impressive research being undertaken by Professor Nicholas Timpson and his PhD students across Bristol University. This was a very inspiring session and it was great to see the conversations spilling over into lunch.
On behalf of the Bristol Oral Medicine Team and BISOM, I would like to thank our sponsors (Alliance, Oralieve, GSK, DDU, CCMed and TePe) and all of those who contributed to and attended the event. All of you made the Annual Scientific Meeting 2019 a huge success!
I look forward to seeing you all in Belfast in 2020!
Gemma Davis
Fellow-in-training, Bristol