Today we’re sharing the next installment of our interview series about attendee experiences at global immunology meetings. We are honored to provide grants to support travel to essential immunology conferences as part of our WINMD program.
Dr. Maria Pilar Tejada received a WINMD grant to support her attendance at the European Society for Immunodeficiencies (ESID) meeting where she was accepted to present a poster. Pilar is a Fellow in Pediatric Immunology at Children's Hospital Ricardo Gutierrez in Buenos Aires, Argentina. We hope you enjoy reading about her experience!
What made you interested in immunology? Please share a brief overview of your career and current work.
My name is Maria Pilar Tejada, I’m a pediatrician doing my residency in a Clinical Immunology Fellowship Program at Ricardo Gutierrez's Children's Hospital in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
When I was studying medicine at the University of Buenos Aires, I started to have a special interest in Immunology, so I studied and became an Immunology Academic Assistant Lecturer for several years while I finished my training as a physician. When I finished my studies, I did my Pediatric Residency at Garrahan’s Children’s Hospital in Buenos Aires. During those years I got advanced knowledge about managing and treating complex pathologies, and I was in contact with children that face an Inborn Error of Immunity (IEI). After this, I applied to one of the most important Immunology units in Buenos Aires at Ricardo Gutierrez’s Children’s Hospital. This fellowship is a strongly intensive formation focused on the diagnosis and follow-up of IEIs.
From the start of my training as an immunologist, I have been in contact with a lot of patients with IEI and their families, from whom I learn (and still learn) a lot. The diagnosis, following and treatment of these complex diseases make me want to improve my knowledge every day.
Why did you want to attend ESID?
I wanted to attend the ESID meeting because I was accepted to present a poster of a complex case we were following in our immunology unit. The girl that motivated me to write and apply for this experience has a variant in a gene that is recently associated with immunodeficiency, so the management of this patient was challenging since there are few reports with the same variant in the available literature.
Attending ESID was important for me since it was an opportunity to interact with the specialists that will be presenting the description of this new mutation at the meeting to look ahead to possible therapies.
What was the biggest takeaway of attending ESID?
The biggest takeaway from attending the ESID meeting this year was the opportunity to share and learn from different cases, increase my knowledge of IEIs, and get new elements to improve my clinical formation. Also, I had the chance to share the case of the complex patient we had in our immunology unit with the professionals that specialize in this disease.
Is there a specific research effort or development in the field of immunology that you’re particularly excited about?
I am really interested in how gene therapy and bone marrow transplantation are now curative treatments for diseases which only a few years ago were lethal for our patients. At the ESID meeting, I learned that gene therapy is growing by leaps and bounds, but unfortunately in Argentina, we do not have this therapy yet.
How will you take what you learned at the ESID conference and apply it to your daily work?
I will encourage my working group to read and study some of the new topics that were presented at ESID, and maybe with these new advances, we can arrive at new diagnoses for patients who don’t have one yet and change some of our patient’s treatments.
Do you have any advice for first-time conference attendees?
Do not be afraid! Go, ask, talk. It is a wonderful opportunity to know professionals from all over the world, so do not miss the chance; maybe someone can help you with a tricky patient you have in your work.
What is the most rewarding aspect of your career?
The most rewarding aspect of my career is the opportunity to be in contact with children with IEI and their families. From the diagnosis of the pathology to the treatment is a long journey and having the chance to accompany them during this process is what I like the most about my career as a pediatrician and as an immunologist now.
Is there anything else you’d like to share with our community?
Foundations like the Jeffrey Modell Foundation support new immunologists in training like me allow us to participate in international activities like the ESID meeting. As an Argentinean professional, sometimes is difficult for us to attend this type of events so I am grateful for this enormous opportunity.