Dr Gerard Flaherty, Senior Lecturer in Clinical Medicine and Medical Education at NUI Galway, has been elected as President of the Travel Medicine Society of Ireland during the 4th Northern European Conference on Travel Medicine (NECTM). The conference is taking place this week in Dublin.

An experienced travel medicine physician, educator and researcher, Dr Flaherty has served on the Executive Council of the Society since 2007. During that time he was appointed as a Fellow of the Faculty of Travel Medicine at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow where he serves on the Faculty Board. He is also a member of the editorial board of the journal Travel Medicine and Infectious Diseases in the UK. Dr Flaherty was instrumental in securing the Society’s bid to host the prestigious NECTM conference which has taken two years of detailed planning and organisation to bring to fruition.

As Chair of the scientific committee of the NECTM conference, Dr Flaherty is responsible for every aspect of the scientific sessions. Dr Flaherty said: “It has been an enormous privilege engaging with our 12 European partner societies in developing an innovative and educational programme. We have enjoyed welcoming approximately over 700 delegates from the UK and mainland Europe to Ireland and we hope that many of them will return to Ireland in the near future as holidaymakers.”

A diverse range of topics will be discussed at NECTM, reflecting the broad scope of travel medicine, including preparation of humanitarian aid workers for travel, serving the needs of disabled travellers, travelling with young children, travellers’ diarrhoea, accessing medical care overseas, psychological trauma in travellers, pandemic influenza, and malaria. Over a hundred Irish and international speakers will contribute to the programme of the conference, which was opened on Wednesday, 6 June by the Deputy Lord Mayor of Dublin, Dr Bill Tormey. The Minister of Health, Dr James Reilly, will host a reception for the delegates at Dublin Castle tonight (Thursday, 7 June).

Dr Flaherty looks forward to his new role as President of the Travel Medicine Society of Ireland, saying: “I aim to raise the profile of the specialty of travel medicine or emporiatrics which is only 25 years old. There is a need to ensure that all travel medicine practitioners in Ireland apply the highest standards of clinical practice in preparing their patients for travel overseas and in assessing the ill returned traveller. To this end, I intend to put education and research top of my agenda for this Presidency.”

For further details please see www.nectm.com.

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