Vertical Transmission

I hope that this Vertical Transmission finds you and your families safe and well. At the time of writing, some of you are in parts of Australia with few or no COVID-19 infections, while those of you in Victoria are in Stage 4 lockdown and dealing with the confusion, anxiety and uncertainty of this pandemic. What is clear is that the work of our dedicated epidemiologists, microbiologists, medical scientists, nurses, GPs, hospital clinicians and researchers improves the lives and health of our community, and that approaching a complicated issue from many angles will enable us to find the solutions to carry us through this situation. On behalf of the ASM, I extend our sincere gratitude to all of you.

Although we have postponed the Annual Scientific Meeting until next year, we have worked hard to develop online events to bring you all together and deliver wonderful speakers and interesting content. Thank you to Dr Megan Lloyd and A/Professor Priscilla Johanesen for organising a very successful ‘virtual’ EduCon for our Microbiology Educators on 9 July. Thank you also to our Vice President Scientific Affairs, A/Professor Kate Seib, and our Scientific Theme Leaders Professor Mark Schembri, Professor Deborah Williamson, Professor Linda Blackall, Professor Heidi Drummer, and Professor Tom Riley for bringing us a new monthly online event, ASM Hour. ASM Hour is held on the first Tuesday of every month from 12 noon to 1 pm and covers a different theme every time, with a number of experts speaking and answering questions. So far, we have had sessions on COVID-19 and antibiotic resistance, and forthcoming sessions will cover current topics in environmental and clinical microbiology, among others. We are also holding many state-based events that are advertised on our website and social media channels. I would like to thank our Scientific Executive Committee and State Branches Committees for their work towards developing and delivering these new online events, and to reassure them that their efforts will go a long way towards bringing our community together.

Finally, I extend my heartfelt congratulations to the recipients of our ASM awards for 2020. Please take a moment to view the gallery featuring our award recipients on our website. You can read a short biography of each recipient by clicking on their photo and we provide links to their LinkedIn profiles so you can easily send them your congratulations. Our winners are as follows – congratulations!

David White Excellence in Teaching Award: Jack Wang

Frank Fenner Award: Wilhelma Huston and Christopher Day

Lyn Gilbert Award: Richard Bradbury

Jim Pittard Early Career Award: Daniel Knight and Katharina Richter

Distinguished Service Award: Dee Carter, Liz Harry, Paul Sideris, Phil Giffard, Roy Robbins-Browne and Cheryl Power

Honorary Life Membership Award: Peter Traynor

Millis-Colwell Postgraduate Research Travel Award: Lucy Furfaro

As always, please visit our website www.theasm.org.au to access information regarding upcoming meetings and awards. Our website showcases content created by our wonderful ASM Communication Ambassadors and I encourage you to read the interesting and entertaining content created by our younger members. You may also like to follow and contribute to ASM on Twitter, @AUSSOCMIC, or on Facebook to make sure you keep up with the latest news, trends and developments in Microbiology in Australia and around the world.