HIV Summer School

HIV Summer School 2023

4-8 September, Lisbon, Portugal

The HIV Summer School is a 5-day residential course designed for clinicians involved in HIV management who wish to deepen their knowledge about all aspects of HIV medicine and research methodology.

In 2023, the course took place from 4-8 September 2023 in Lisbon, Portugal.

The course is delivered by an experienced faculty of key opinion leaders in the fields of HIV clinical care and research. Teaching is based around a combination of plenary sessions, which provide updates on the recent advances in HIV clinical science and a general introduction to clinical research methodology, and interactive small working groups led by faculty members.

For the latter, participants opt to enroll either for Module A (research methodology), which provides an opportunity to delve more deeply into the complexities of developing a research proposal, or Module B (clinical care) which provides extensive opportunities to build knowledge on specific clinical aspects of antiretroviral therapy/resistance, HIV prevention, HIV co-infections, opportunistic infections and co-morbidities.

A maximum of 60 participants are accepted.

Applicants must be physicians or clinical scientists working in infectious diseases and/or HIV. They are selected on the basis of an online application form demonstrating close involvement in the HIV field, a CV and a letter of support from their current Head of Department. Applicants must demonstrate a good command of English. Applicants enrolling in Module A must also demonstrate a clear interest in and commitment to undertaking clinical research.

A moderate fee of EUR 300 is charged which covers registration and accommodation (payment is due upon confirmation of a place in the course). Note that the participation fee is "free of bank charges". A limited number of scholarships are available to applicants from low-and middle-income countries.

Applications are closed

Clinical topics

Introduction to pathophysiology of HIV
Value of measuring resistance of HIV
State of the ART of ARV therapy
Treatment initiation
Management of unsuppressed viraemia/resistance
Optimizing ART in the suppressed patient
Management of co-morbidities
HIV & malignancies
Management of long-term ART and co-morbidities
PrEP & STIs
Hepatitis B / Hepatitis C
Opportunistic infections
HIV prevention strategies

Research topics: Why is research important?
Choosing the right study design

Choosing a study design

Identifying the research question and study design

P-values and hypothesis testing

Confidence intervals

Interpreting results from abstracts

Collecting data

Developing the study protocol

Developing a clinical research programme

What to look for in a presentation/paper

Identifying bias

Sample size calculations and data analysis

Sample size calculations, data analysis and completion of presentations

Educational objectives

After attending the HIV Summer School all participants will be able to:

Apply in-depth knowledge and current understanding of the pathophysiology of HIV, co-infections, drug treatments, and co-morbidities to the management of patients living with HIV or HIV prevention
Identify the most commonly used study designs used in HIV medical research studies and list their advantages and disadvantages
Interpret the results of published hypothesis tests and critically appraise the methodology used in their generation
Understand the principles of writing abstracts/full papers and critically evaluate published papers

Participants attending the clinical workshops will be able to:

Formulate investigation and management plans for a wide range of clinical presentations
Appraise evidence-based for the optimal management of antiretroviral therapy and complications, viral resistance, opportunistic infections, co-infections and co-morbidities.

Participants attending the research workshops will be able to:

Understand the principles of developing a scientific abstract and a full manuscript of a clinical research project
Critically appraise published papers.

Steering Committee

Prof. Sanjay Bhagani, Royal Free NHS Foundation Trust and University College, United Kingdom

Prof. Stéphane De Wit, Saint-Pierre University Hospital, Belgium

Dr Tracy Glass, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Allschwil, Switzerland

Prof. Christine Katlama (Chair), Hôpital Pitié Salpêtrière, France

Dr Nicola Mackie, Imperial College Healthcare Trust, United Kingdom

Prof. Caroline Sabin, University College London, United Kingdom

The HIV Summer School 2023, Lisbon, Portugal 04/09/2023-08/09/2023 has been accredited by the European Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (EACCME®) with 27 European CME credits (ECMEC®s). Each medical specialist should claim only those hours of credit that he/she actually spent in the educational activity.

Information about past courses:

HIV Summer School 2022

HIV Summer School Online 2021

HIV Summer School at EACS Live! 2020

HIV Summer School 2019

HIV Summer School 2018

HIV Summer School 2017

HIV Summer School 2016

Advanced HIV Course

European Clinical Research Course

For previous presentations, check out the Archive!