Meetings

2003 Summer School in Primary Immune Deficiency Disorders

Coconut Grove, FL
October 22-26, 2003

The Clinical Immunology Society (CIS) held its second Summer School in Primary Immune Deficiency Disorders at the beautiful Grove Isle Club & Resort in Coconut Grove, FL, October 22-26, 2003.

CIS received applications from North, Central and South America also Europe and the Middle East. A number of excellent applications were submitted making the selection process difficult. Thirty fellows were selected to attend the five-day meeting; twenty (20) from the United States, one (1) from Canada, one (1) from Kuwait and nine (9) from Central and South America. The international make up of the participants provided a unique learning experience.

In preparation for the course, the faculty, also international in scope; seven (7) from the United States, three (3) from Europe, and one (1) from Costa Rica, provided each student with guidance on their case presentation and slides. The intensive five-day course covered topics including: SCID/CIS and transplant, WAS/XLT, DiGeorge, unknown defects, Hyper IgM, Hyper IgE, Mycobacterial Infections, XLA, AT and antibody defects. Student case presentations were followed by faculty lectures in each topic. The question and answer sessions that resulted from the presentations were invaluable.

The participants did not leave the course empty handed. In addition to knowledge gained from the presentations, participants received a syllabus made up of teaching slides, articles of relevance, lab references and case studies. Attendees were encouraged to share this information with others in their labs.

The casual and social atmosphere of the course allowed participants to establish connections with their peers as well as leaders in the field. CIS looks forward to future scientific contributions and collaborations from this group.