The South African Society of Psychiatrists (SASOP) Biological congress took place at the Century City Conference Centre from 15 to 18 September 2022. The congress hosted over 630 delegates from 20 countries including 7 African neighbours.

Prof Henk Temmingh was part of the organising committee and hosted a workshop on “Managing psychiatric disorders in general psychiatric practice”.

Profs John Joska and Jackie Hoare were guest speakers, sharing their knowledge on ‘COVID-19 and HIV as intersecting pandemics’ and ‘Caring for the carers during the COVID-19 pandemic’ respectively.

UCT continued in the proud tradition of registrars presenting their MMed research projects with proud support from their colleagues in the audience. Dr Inette Van Niekerk’s research was accepted as an oral presentation under the COVID-19 theme. Dr Fatima Dangor presented a poster entitled “Psychiatric disorders and suicidal behaviour at a Transgender clinic in South Africa and Dr Haseena Sablay presented on “COVID-19 and serious mental illness”.

As usual, the congress dinner was the social highlight for participants. The Tygerberg children’s choir graced the audience with their voices and showed professionalism beyond their years when they did not miss a note during sudden loadshedding.

Cape Town remains a popular destination and the SASOP congress will again be hosted in Cape Town in 2023.