Building upon the momentum of two prior signature conferences – the International Emerging Infectious Diseases Conference in 2018 and the Changing Paradigms in Infectious Diseases in 2019 – the 2021 International Infectious Disease conference was organized by partner hosts, the Sri Lanka College of Microbiologists and the India Gateway. The “Threat of new and re-emerging infections: role of novel tools and technologies to face challenges” convened virtually August 24-26, 2021 in Colombo, Sri Lanka. With a focus on the role of novel tools and technologies, the timely agenda amidst the COVID19 pandemic featured faculty, researchers, clinical experts, as well as practicing healthcare professionals, who shared scientific information, cutting-edge research and determined to join forces to collaborate with the South Asian community to combat infectious diseases.
The Ohio State College of Medicine faculty members who spearheaded the conference planning included Abhay Satoskar, professor and vice chair, Department of Pathology and Namal Liyanage, assistant professor, Department of Microbial Infection and Immunity. Nadira Karunaweera, president, Sri Lanka College of Microbiologists represented the partner institution alongside Nikhil Tambe, director, and Vishwajeet Phopale, business development specialist from the India Gateway. The planners also received support from The James Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Gil Latz, vice provost for global strategies and international affairs represented Ohio State at the inauguration ceremony for the first International Infectious Diseases Conference conducted completely on a virtual platform. A special address from Vice Provost Latz and Vice Chair Satoskar echoed the necessity of novel tools and technologies to combat infectious diseases. Chief Guest, Kamini Mendis, professor emeritus, University of Colombo and the Guest of Honour, Alka Singh, World Health Organization (WHO), also spoke to the attendees.
12 Ohio State faculty members from various departments, centers and schools around campus participated in the conference, including experts from infectious diseases, global one health, microbial infection and immunity, microbiology, health and rehabilitation sciences, pathology and veterinary biosciences. View the conference agenda, speaker list, and Ohio State and CDC speaker biographies.
The three day conference was split into Pre-Congress (Day 1) and Main Conference (Day 2 and 3). The Day 1 – Pre-Congress was completely hosted by the India Gateway and focused on areas including advances in infectious diseases and scientific writing. The main conference featured nine plenary sessions and 10 guest lectures spread across five symposia targeting a vast array of topics in the infectious diseases realm. The conference platform enabled a gathering of over 175 participants including 38 resource persons from Germany, Hong Kong, India, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, United States and United Kingdom, where 20 researchers presented their findings as oral and e-poster presentations.