President’s Letter from Deb Palazzi – The Power of Showing Up

This year marks the 15th IDWeek, but our tradition of gathering goes back much further. For decades, before the first IDWeek in 2012, IDSA held its own independent yearly scientific sessions, often overlapping or coordinating with other bodies. Different names, different formats, generations of new science, but the same fundamental idea: infectious diseases is a field that advances when we come together.

And IDWeek has become much more than an annual scientific meeting. It is our field’s annual reunion; a few packed days when colleagues from across disciplines, institutions, career stages, and geography come together in one place. Of course, we go for the science. We go to hear new data, challenge our thinking, learn from experts, and bring new ideas home to our patients and colleagues.

But some of the most important moments at IDWeek happen between the sessions.

They happen when we talk with a student or resident who is considering infectious diseases. When we stop at a fellow’s poster and ask about their work. When we introduce a junior faculty member to someone whose papers they have been reading for years. When a senior colleague takes a few extra minutes to offer encouragement, advice, or an invitation to collaborate.

There is power in simply showing up for one another.

That matters enormously for the future of pediatric ID. Recruitment, compensation, and training structures all matter. But so does belonging. People choose careers, and remain in them, because they find meaningful work and a community in which they can imagine a future.

So, I am challenging every PIDS member attending IDWeek to do one simple thing: be intentional about engagement.

Talk to students. Visit a trainee’s poster. Introduce yourself to someone new. Bring a junior colleague into a conversation rather than allowing them to stand at its edge. Introduce them to one of the “stars” of our field and remember that today’s leaders were once trainees hoping someone would notice their work and invite them into the conversation.

And show up for PIDS. Attend pediatric programming (the full PIDS and pediatric ID track schedule are available on our IDWeek page). Support our speakers and presenters. Join us for the PIDS Membership Meeting on Friday, October 23, from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m., immediately following the Stanley A. Plotkin Lecture, which itself is a celebration of the extraordinary contributions that have shaped our field. Our gathering afterward is an opportunity to think together about where PIDS goes next.

There is something particularly fitting about doing this in Washington, DC, where decisions affect vaccines, research funding, public health infrastructure, and the health of children and families. While we are in our nation’s capital, I hope you will learn more about the advocacy efforts underway through PIDS and our partners and consider where your expertise and voice can contribute.

Advocacy, after all, is another form of showing up.

Show up for the science. Show up for our profession. Show up for the next generation. Show up for PIDS.

And if you see someone standing alone at a reception, poster, or coffee break – show up for them, too.

I can’t wait to see you in Washington.

Better together, always,
Deb