Dear LASID Members,

2018 is running very fast and we would like to share our latest news and updates with you.

The summer school in Medellin Colombia (August 15-18) was a success thanks to the hard work of José Luis Franco and his team. I especially thank Andrés Arias and Faisuly Gaviria who took care of a large part of the logistics with students and teachers.
The LASID educational committee selected 33 students (from 46 applications) from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru and El Salvador and we were lucky to have 15 faculties from Latin America (Andrés Arias, Liliana Bezrodnik, Lizbeth Blancas, Antonio Condino, José Franco, Saúl Lugo, Lorena Regairaz, Gesmar Rodríguez Silva Segundo), USA (Mary Dinauer, Marcela Moncada, Luigi Notarangelo, Sergio Rosenzweig), France (Jacinta Bustamante) and Australia (Stuart Tangye).
The organizing committee also invited 14 Colombian doctors and scientists who participated as observers.

Obtaining sponsorship to carry out this summer school was difficult and uneven but I want to thank the support of the pharmaceutical industry (CSL Behring and Octapharma), the FIP Colombia (Faisuly Gaviria), FUMENI Mexico (Mayela García) and Jeffrey Modell foundations, who contributed whit economic resources; as well as the logistical support of the Colombian Association of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology.

The organization of our next LASID meeting at the Cancun International Convention Center in October 9th to 12th next year is developing properly. As it is tradition, we have confirmed internationally renowned professors from all continents. In the near future we will send a preliminary program and the list of confirmed faculty.

There is a wide variety of hotels near the conference venue for all tastes and budgets. So please block your calendar and start looking for the best airplane fare. Cancun airport is very well connected and has direct flight from almost every large city in Latin America.

During the last ESID conference in Lisbon, we had a meeting with the International Alliance of Primary Immunodeficiency Societies where we agreed, among other things, to collaborate on research projects of the participating societies (APSID, ASID, CIS, ESID, and LASID) and to organize an “Advanced Faculty School “in 2020. We will have more news in the coming months about the logistics of who, how and when to apply for this joint educational event.

I wish you all a very happy and restful Christmas with your loved ones, and all the very best for the New Year.
Sincerely.

Francisco J. Espinosa-Rosales, MD

President

LASID