The event started out in the mid eighties as a "regional meeting on HIV infection and AIDS" led by local practitioners, at the time when the epidemic first struck the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur causing many deaths. The first annual meetings focused on epidemiologic and clinical aspects of this new disease, and management of the associated opportunistic infections. Staged at Toulon General Hospital’s conference hall, they attracted around 100 participants. 1992 saw the simultaneous launch of Toulon’s new "Palais des Congrès" Convention Center and a special Medical Unit at the hospital, led by Dr. Alain Lafeuillade. At that time, the "regional meeting" was upgraded to a "Mediterranean Symposium" and welcomed its first overseas speakers. The Symposium audience changed radically in 1993:  until then, it had mostly attracted doctors and consultants who were not directly involved in the management of AIDS patients, but the programme’s increasingly technical content now particularly targeted hospital personnel in daily contact with patients. From its formative years as a post-graduate training tool, the event had evolved to a specialist HIV / AIDS Symposium in its own right. In recognition of its pioneering spirit, the 1995 edition attracted nearly 500 participants and included the first pharmaceutical industry satellite symposia plus parallel sessions. The team of Toulon practitioners in charge of logistics decided to reschedule the Symposium every two years, and call on the services of a professional events organiser.

Between 1995 and 2006, ISHEID welcomed most of the world’s leading AIDS specialists, such as Professors Robert Gallo, Antony Fauci, David Ho, Douglas Richman, David Back, Roger Pomerantz, Brian Gazzard, Giuseppe Pantaleo, Brigitte Autran, Françoise Brun-Vezinet, Julio Montaner and Pedro Cahn. The Steering and Scientific Committees were joined by dynamic European personalities such as Professors Stefano Vella, José Gatell and Jean-François Delfraissy. The pooled work of these eminent personalities reinforced the Symposium’s international stature and won the loyalty of a continually expanding core of industrial partners.

Although ISHEID still focuses essentially on HIV infection, it now encompasses the sphere of emerging infectious diseases, such as Creutzfeldt-Jacob’s disease, avian influenza and viral hepatitis. The Symposium currently welcomes the world’s foremost experts on these topics.

ISHEID offers clinicians and biologists highly technical, state-of-the-art presentations by THE leading authorities in their fields. It is also the stage for hands-on, thematic workshops and gives young researchers and practitioners a chance to "kick off" with their first presentations. The program is enhanced with quality-certified satellite symposia by its industrial partners, scientific posters and a richly varied, informative exhibition.

Over the years, ISHEID has won the loyalty of numerous participants from many different horizons and countries. Thanks to their feedback, we know they particularly appreciate the easy communication facilitated by ISHEID’s human scale, its relaxed and warm atmosphere, and original content.

In 2008, we hope to take ISHEID one step further in its quest to become an unrivalled international benchmark.