After more than 16 years, Amy Galblum, our Membership and Program Manager, will retire from ISID at the end of June. Amy joined ISID in 2003 as the Program Coordinator. With Amy’s help ISID’s membership has grown from a few thousand members to over 90,000.

“I am disappointed to lose such a fine member of our team but delighted to see Amy start on the next phase of her extraordinary life,” said ISID’s Executive Director, Joshua Caulfield.

Managing the ISID Research Grants & Fellowships and the Congress Travel Grants, Amy has guided many early career investigators make their way into a fruitful career in the field of infectious diseases. A past travel grantee has said, “I would like to thank Amy for her kind support throughout the conference. It was a wonderful experience, and it was all because of her support. I have met the world’s best minds of my field and learned lots of things throughout the conference that definitely will bring positive change in my career.”

Amy has enjoyed making the connections with people worldwide in her time working with ISID. When asking Amy about a memory that stands out in her time working with ISID she shares the experience she had with the first group of Bill & Melinda Gates Travel Awardees that came to the 13th International Congress on Infectious Diseases in 2008 in Kuala Lumpur. “It was so much fun to watch these early career researchers from around the world interact with and collaborate with renowned ID experts,” states Amy.

ProMED Editor, Larry Madoff, reflects upon his time working with Amy, “It’s been such a pleasure to work with Amy for the last 16 years.  She has played so many important roles at ISID, and with ProMED, that it’s impossible to name them all.  Sufficient to say that she has been a great supporter and friend of ProMED and all of the individuals involved.  We will miss her and wish her a happy and fulfilling retirement.”

While we are sad to lose Amy as she is an integral part of the ISID team, we are excited for her to enjoy the next chapter of her life. Amy is looking forward to working in her award-winning garden, spending time with her grandchildren, traveling, and putting more time into advocating for environmental causes.

Amy hopes to see ISID’s members continue doing this important work and supporting their colleagues around the world.

Amy at the 16th ICID in Capetown, South Africa in 2014