The British Infection Association (BIA) is a professional association in the United Kingdom that supports professionals within in the field of infection. [1]
Registered in the UK,[2] the Association is governed by an elected board of Principle Officers,[3] made up of President, Vice President, Honorary Secretary, Treasurer and Meeting Secretary supported by a wider elected council.[4] BIA serves to support professionals to improve, diagnose, manage and prevent infection through education, advocacy and research and has grown to become a leading authority in the field.[5]
The BIA was formed from a merger in November 2009[6] between the Association of Medical Microbiologists.[7] and the British Infection Society (Itself a result of the merger of the British Society for the Study of Infection with the Clinical Infection Society in 1998).[8] The BIA was registered under its new name with the Registrar of Companies for Scotland on 12th November 2010.[9]
The organisation has upwards of 1500 members.[10] Full members of the association include consultants, associate specialists and senior academics, but membership options are offered for those in training and non-medically qualified healthcare workers with an interest in infection.[11]
BIA represents infection professional specialists at a high level in the UK through[12] collaboration with the Royal Colleges and work with NHS England and the UK Health Security Agency and other government bodies.[13] It provides multiple educational opportunities each year. They host their own events, are a hosting society of the Federation of Infection Societies Conference [14] and are an affiliated society of ESCMID Research [15] and travel grants are awarded on an annual basis with a focus on infection specialists in the early stages of their careers. [16] The association has produced multiple guidelines[17] and infection quick reference guides to assist infection specialists and others in their practice[18] and publishes two journals, the Journal of Infection[19] and Clinical Infection in Practice.[20]
The BIA Council changes every 2-3 years depending on the term of the roles. The current council is listed on their website.