The 3rd Medical Mycology Training Network (MMTN) meeting
3rd MMTN was a key milestone in mycology education
The 3rd Medical Mycology Training Network (MMTN) meeting, an initiative of the Asia Fungal Working Group (AFWG), held on November 5-6, 2011 in Phuket, Thailand, was another key milestone in mycology education aiming to improve the outcomes for patients with fungal infections in the Asia-Pacific region. In 3 years, the MMTN went from a conceptual idea to a thriving educational program, which has benefited numerous clinicians and microbiologists across the region.
The 3rd MMTN, held in collaboration with the Infectious Disease Association of Thailand and supported by an unrestricted medical education grant from Pfizer, continued the success of the series and involved more than 40 infectious diseases clinicians and microbiologists from China, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand. The program was led by an esteemed faculty of international experts and opinion leaders, including AFWG members. Professor David Ellis (Australia; President of the International Society for Human and Animal Mycology [ISHAM]) opened the meeting, after which Professor Ben de Pauw (Netherlands), Professor Mahmoud A Ghannoum (USA), Dr Deborah Marriott (Australia), Professor Arunaloke Chakrabarti (India), Dr Tan Ban Hock (Singapore), Dr Ariya Chindamporn (Thailand), Professor Ruoyu Li (China), Professor Zhengyin Liu (China), Dr Atul Patel (India), Dr Pei-Lun Sun (Taiwan), Dr Siriorn Watcharananan (Thailand) and Dr Romanee Chaiwarith (Thailand) delivered a series of lectures on current management approaches, antifungal resistance trends and therapeutic drug monitoring. The faculty also provided updates on endemic and emerging fungal infections in Asia and shared experience through case studies and discussions.
Professor Ellis, Dr Chindamporn, Professor Yee-Chun Chen (Taiwan) and Dr Tan Ai Ling (Singapore) also led a practical session in which attending microbiologists had hands-on practice with fungal identification and resistance testing. The meeting ended on a high note, with a joint clinical-radiology-microbiology panel discussion provoking fruitful dialog across specialties.
The meeting received excellent feedback from the participants – 98% rated it as “informative and relevant” and 93% rated the presentations as “excellent” or “very good”. Regarded as one of the most successful in the series, the 3rd MMTN paved the way for future MMTN meetings and medical mycology initiatives in Asia.