Vertical Transmission

This will be my last communication to you as President of the ASM, after serving in this role for the past 4 years.

I never expected that I would hold the role of President of our Society and, in truth, I was nervous about taking on such an important task. What I can say now, at the end of my tenure, is that it has been a deeply fulfilling time, which has allowed me to connect with so many of you – I am very lucky to have so many new friends and colleagues in our community of microbiologists. More than that, it has been a tremendous privilege to serve you as the ASM President. I hope that I can use the knowledge I have gained to continue to serve the Society in other ways in the future.

One of the most wonderful aspects of my presidency has been the time I have spent working with our ASM Executive. These people are profoundly committed to the Society and our members, and it has been an honour to spend time with them. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Roy Robins-Browne, Kate Seib, Anthony Baker, Cheryl Power, Rebecca LeBard, our President Elect, Mark Schembri, and Priscilla Johanesen, who attends every executive meeting in her role as Chair of the Professional Development Committee; you are such a talented and passionate group of people and I am privileged to now call you friends.

I would also like to extend my thanks to our State Branch Chairs and the Chairs of our Standing Committees, and all of the members who sit on the committees under these portfolios. Thank you also to the members who take the time to represent the Society on National and State Advisory Committees and Boards. The members of the Microbiology Australia Editorial Board also deserve a very big thank you for the wonderful job they do getting interesting, readable issues together, and for giving our members an opportunity to showcase their science. I am also grateful for the hard work of our Scientific Advisors, especially during COVID-19 restrictions when, together with Kate Seib, they managed to deliver online content that kept us all connected and engaged.

A special thank you to Kara Taglieri at ASN events for many things, but mostly for helping me to solve problems along the way and tolerating my many, many questions.

Finally, I would like to thank all of our ASM members for your support. The ASM is you, our members. Please consider taking an active role in the Society at the state or national level, it will bring you so much more than you can imagine. I wish our new President, Mark Schembri, and our Society, the very best for the future, and I know that the Society is in good, caring hands. I look forward to seeing many of you at our upcoming meeting in Sydney, face-to-face for the first time in 3 years. Safe travels to all of you.