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Transcript

SHEA Spring 2026 Recap · The SHEA Podcast

• 0:08
  SPEAKER_01: Hello and welcome.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_01: So my name is Ibakun Kalu and I'm here with Matt Ziegler.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_01: We are both the co-chairs for the Shea Spring Planning Committee for 2026.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_01: Hi and good afternoon.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_01: How are you doing, Matt?
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: I'm doing well.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: It's been a fun Shea Spring 2026.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, so I've been the vice chair this year, working under Ibekun, which has been a pleasure.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: So thank you, Ibakun.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Matt.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: So should we just dive into the questions or?
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, we are here today to highlight some key takeaways and interest and findings from Shea Spring.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_01: So we'll delve right in.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, sounds good.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: Well, Ibakun, since you are uh the chair, I'm gonna start by uh quizzing you a little bit.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: So I thought it would be interesting, Ibakun, first if you could share a little bit about your vision uh in planning this year's Shea Spring.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: What were you hoping that attendees would take away this year?
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and perhaps maybe focus also on what was different this year from previous years.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_01: And I will say early on that this is probably a reflection of the Shea Board's strategic plan as well as the strong support we've had from our Shea Spring Planning Committee.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_01: So representing all of those, we decided on a theme titled Defending Science and Protecting Patients.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_01: And this was to try and encompass what our current challenges are with facing our infection preventionists, facing our hospital epidemiologists, our stewardship pharmacists, our public health colleagues, without solely focusing on challenges, but moving towards how we build communication, how we become resourceful in our current era and ending with our strong closing plenary focused on advocacy at the local, national, and global levels.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_01: As you can tell, our theme was embedded in our plenaries, and that was intentionally the goal, which I hope our attendees as well as our committee actually saw.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_01: As you, I think you also asked about what was different from last year, maybe from prior years.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_01: And we're hoping most, if not all, people that attended recognize that we tried to keep our topics timely.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_01: We know that we have our tried and true tracks, that we're always present, and we have really strong speakers there.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_01: But we intentionally had a strong public health focus.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_01: Our public health colleagues have faced numerous challenges, and we were excited that they were able to be represented, both in terms of speakers, but also attendees this year.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_01: And we plan for that in the sessions that were included in our program.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_01: And then finally, in not trying to change or not trying to that, but not trying to take away from speakers in prior years, but we're really excited about speaker variety this year.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_01: We cut across regions, geographical regions, levels of training or levels of expertise in the field, as well as their topical or career expertise as well.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_01: And there were slight changes in the format.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_01: We hope people noticed.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_01: We tried to give shorter talks that were targeted.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_01: We had one from veterinary science, for example, but also psychiatry or pharmacists talking about medications, but also how you can talk about leadership and putting all of those together to ensure that it was more interactive.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_01: So that was a very long way of saying that.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_01: We did a lot of what we've done previously, but we embedded some of our new timely topics and changed formatting based on feedback that we received from prior years.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_01: So, Matt, how do you think we did achieving some of these changes?
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: Well, first I'll say that uh you you certainly um did a lot this year, and I think it went very well, and it also uh big shoes to fill for uh next year because of all of the uh the changes and and and everything that went just uh swimmingly as far as I was concerned.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: But uh as an attendee um and as the vice chair, I wasn't able to attend every single session, but part of my job was running around and bugging everyone for feedback.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: How are sessions going?
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: You know, what did you enjoy and what did you not uh enjoy?
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: And I I've heard thus far just excellent feedback.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: But um, you know, some of the things that I think um were interesting and and new, um I think the interactive sessions was a particularly kind of new part because I've been going to Shea Spring for a very long period of time, and and and this was something that I heard very positive feedback.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's nice to get kind of up out of your chair or talking to the people next to you.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, even if it isn't right after lunch, it keeps you engaged, keeps you thinking, and it makes uh kind of the monotony of uh sitting in kind of a lecture format a little bit uh easier to tolerate.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: So I thought that was very, very well done.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um and then there are also other things that were kind of sprinkled in this year that I thought um allowed for more engagement amongst the attendees.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so it's not just absorbing the knowledge from the speakers, but you know, communicating with others, networking.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: And um one of those that we were just talking with uh one of our colleagues out in the hall was about the peer perspectives during the uh the the lunch and poster hall sessions, um, which we had a very lengthy kind of two-hour uh gap for people to network, to eat lunch, to view the posters, um, but also to uh to sit at uh sessions, so sit at tables where someone has designed a question for very informal discussion, and it really allows people to kind of identify new people to collaborate with or just to identify practices that they might adopt at their hospital.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: So I thought that that was really cool.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um and and I think the last thing that I thought that was, you know, in addition to all of the changes, um, the classic content or like the stuff that we do every year, um, including the tracks, so the healthcare IB and the stewardship track, I tried to circle in and see some of those sessions and you know pop my head in and see how engaged the attendees were.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: And and I thought those were going very well, and I were very well attended, rooms were full, and the questions and engagements from the attendees, uh, which many of those are new attendees, first-time attendees to Shea, uh, it seemed to be very engaging for them.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: So, so good job, Ibakan.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_01: Good job, so good job to you team, as well as the rest of the team.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you did remind me about some of the special events, which I should have mentioned earlier, and I want to emphasize that that was well, those were well received.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_01: We're excited to continue them in the future.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_01: And I will specifically call out the Dineround Chicago.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_01: We're in a great city.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um there was a lot of intentionality with the Shea staff in picking restaurants and ensuring that even if you were new to the event, even if you didn't know any other person, you could meet with people and have a lovely dinner and have good conversation.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_01: That was really great.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_01: As well as an annual event, certainly, the Shea Foundation dinner, but the inclusion of the silent auction this year was a nice touch and it brought people together around donations or just talking about skills that people have.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_01: We didn't know we had some great painters in our group, as well as some of the um encouraging people to visit some of the locations that future Shea Spring conferences will be at.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_01: So many reasons to be excited for um our conference this year, but also for future conferences which you and the team will be planning.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: So again, have uh large shoes to fill, but uh um could I'm wondering um you know, this year, were there any sessions that you really enjoyed or that you know really resonated with you this year?
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, I know you feel free to pat yourself on the back if you plan that session, but I'm curious what you enjoyed.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, and you've already mentioned that we certainly wish we could attend all the sessions.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_01: We are part of the planning stages, we hear about the speakers and moderators, and we're often eager to see and hear how it all plays out.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_01: Unfortunately, we can't be everywhere.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um but I've talked to some of the attendees, I've listened to sessions, and we do plan to listen to some of them after the meeting.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_01: I will emphasize that the pre-meeting workshops, while everyone doesn't get a chance to attend them, they've been great over the last couple of years.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_01: And this year, the one on AI was quite impactful.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_01: It was useful, we had useful skills, it also gave people clear take-homes on how to embed technology in AI.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_01: Let's go in.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_01: Can I ask this AI bot what to do next, but more in a constructive way to push infection prevention and stewardship?
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um to that end, I'll also just shamelessly plug our plenaries.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_01: We were excited to plan them.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_01: We had good conversation with our speakers prior to them speaking, and the way it all played out seemed to fit nicely with the theme as well as emphasize what we discussed in more detail in some of the sessions.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_01: So I thought they went well, and I'm excited for future plenaries that address these big level topics.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_01: And there were many other topics I will not get a chance to cover, but there were some that focused on leadership, education.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_01: We had dedicated reviews of the Shea compendiums and guidelines.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_01: We had the top papers as well as the challenging cases that are always hit every year.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_01: We went down to granular level talking about NHSN reviews.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um we also talked about cutting-edge drugs as well as molecular Epi, metagenomics.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we had pro-con debates and even philosophical moments as well as ethical moments.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um discussion, but ultimately uh giving people enough for this conference, but more uh excitement for future conferences.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_01: I'm curious, how do you pick sessions?
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_01: Because I can't possibly think about how the best strategy here to figure out where to go and how to get the best bang for your buck when you come to Shea conference.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I'll I'll say that it's always a challenge to decide you know what to pick between.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um here at Shea, it's you know a little bit easier because it's a you know a somewhat smaller conference than some other larger conferences, but uh but you still have to make choices between very interesting sessions.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: And um oftentimes I'll stick with what I know and want to hear an update of something uh in a topic that I'm very interested or active in, either for research or uh or in infection control.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um but usually my approach is that I will look at not just the session title, but break down this the speaker breakdown, who's speaking at that session.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: Is it uh either someone who I know that um that I really want to hear something that they've been doing, some new research that they've uh been plugging, or um or just to break down occasionally to something I haven't heard before, um, which is I think it's hard for me to choose the ones that I haven't heard before if it's out of scope, but I try to at least push myself once during a conference to go to something that is just a little bit out of scope.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um and then also you know, you you mentioned the our of our veterinary content.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: As someone who's not a veterinarian, but uh with an appreciation that that does intersect with infection control and transmission of drug-resistant organisms.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_00: I always like to hear uh any session where there might be featured uh pet pictures, pet information, anything like that.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: That's uh that's a good way to sway me to attend.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_01: Wonderful.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_01: And why where else would you dabble if not at this safe space with other SHA members?
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_01: And I will just put in a quick plug, if you're not yet a SHA member, please consider joining.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_01: There probably will be links in the links somewhere that you can easily join.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um I will say that both joining as a member, so joining SHA, we've tried to encourage that.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_01: We've received a ton of benefit from it, one of which is attending the conference and networking with others.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but there are many other ways that Shea members can get involved.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_01: And so I will kind of point that question to you a little bit, but how have you thought about this?
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_01: How can Shea members get involved if they want to be part of the process, particularly for planning uh Shea Spring, or even just developing Shea's goals in the future?
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um so it's a great question, and certainly something that I think we both can uh attest to because we've been very active in Shay for many years, and I think that that's something that we encourage everyone to participate in SHA, volunteer for Shea, and that can be in many different forms.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um in a in a small form, that could be.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, the just completing your evaluations for this conference to help shape the next conference uh would be very much appreciated.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um and then also there will be a call for session suggestions for Shea Spring 27.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: So if you have ideas to suggest uh a particular session, speakers for that session, um that really helps you to help us to shape in the planning committee to shape a particularly a new uh topic, something that hasn't been covered before, a new speaker on a topic, that could be a very impactful way to shape the the conference.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: Uh but in addition to that, there's also going to be a call for volunteers, um, and that could be volunteers for the planning committee for Shea Spring, but it could also be for the research committee, the education committee, and there's uh a vast array of ways to engage with Shay and you know other um other Epi and stewardship-minded folks throughout the country and internationally, which has uh been a joy to work on some of those activities.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: So I would say look up for those emails, respond to the emails, do your feedback, and give us good session suggestions for 27.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_01: And get your CME while you're at it.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_01: Wonderful.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_01: So we know we can't just rest just yet.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um what I'm gonna hand off to you to speak about your plan for next year.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_00: So the plan for next year is something that uh, you know, as I've been running around gathering feedback from people this year, is another reason to call it for feedback.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_00: I, you know, I have some ideas, but I'd like to see the session suggestions and uh get all of the thoughtful uh feedback from the entire planning committee, which I really appreciate everybody's ideas.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_00: And um and one of the things that I really enjoyed that I'm hoping we can integrate uh more in 27 are the rapid fire short presentations.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because I really feel that it's a great way to keep attention and to generate discussion, not only between the presenters, but it's the style where I also see the audience, you know, afterwards really kind of debating and engaging because they might have differences in opinions on some maybe controversial topics in IPC or stewardship.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: So I'd like to integrate that as a kind of a uh session style that we we really build into 27, and then also to maintain a lot of these innovative changes that you were able to put in place for the 26th conference, so that makes my job a lot easier.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_01: That was a hope.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so Ibacun, um, I think I've lost track.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: One second.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_00: We'll put a pause in that.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_01: Next year.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_00: Ah, okay, yes.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: All right, and resume.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um Ibacon, I was uh I I also wanted to put a highlight in uh that next year um I will have help, which I'm very grateful for.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um and Jenny Kwan, Chief of ID at Northwestern University, will be joining me in planning uh the conference for Shea Spring 27.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um do you have any advice for for me and Jenny uh to do uh a good job next year?
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_01: I will keep it fairly simple and share the advice I also received, which is share the science, focus on your audience, and have a ton of fun.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I'm looking forward to it, and we'll continue to tap you for advice as we uh as we plan for uh Shay Swing 27, and and uh again appreciate everybody's session suggestions and ideas, and it's just been a joy to to chat with people throughout the week.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_01: It has, and thanks to Shea staff as well as the SHA board planning committee, our speakers, moderators, our hotel, and just everyone that worked together to make this a success.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we really appreciate all of you.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_00: And thank you everybody for listening to the SHA podcast, um, and thank you to Jules for putting this together.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_00: And we will see you in DC in 27.