The event should have been glorious. Beginning October 30th, the American Society for Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) held its first face-to-face meeting. meeting 4,200 participants from 115 countries registered, waving and hugging, wondering if they really need to wear N95 masks while receiving full vaccinations. So (as did I), I felt the same eager anticipation that marked the rough huddle of the first ASTMH. Forty years ago.
At that time, after I returned from London with a degree in tropical medicine, my then medical boss in Boston kindly gave me three days off to fly to New Orleans for the latest on parasites and plague. I had a drink. Looking back, we can only marvel at the global scourge we’ve fought, the lessons we’ve learned, and the challenges we still face. Let’s go back to the meeting at.
My first symptoms, just a mild sore throat and fatigue, started during the opening keynote. Despite being transfixed by a lecture by Mauricio Barretto, MD, PhD, M.P.H. entitled “Poverty, Inequality, Social Justice and Health: Notes from Brazil,” I was impatient. . presidential election). Still, the COVID-19 antigen test was negative, so the next day he also attended three exciting symposiums. The first, covering many facets of malaria, honored the late Alan McGill, M.D., a distinguished clinician, researcher, and military advisor who led his malaria program at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The second session addressed current and future threats from tick- and mosquito-borne viruses in a ‘warmer and wetter’ world. My final pick was a naive dissection of poor hygiene and intestinal parasites in a poor, rural southern United States. Then I went to one of my favorite festivals, his annual reception for the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Alumni Mini United Nations. — and polished off the evening with dinner with friends.
what can I say? Our Halloween meal of apple salad and seafood paella on Terra Plata’s roof deck was delightful. The evening’s conversation was shared with Lisa Frenkel, MD, a journalist and pediatric infectious disease specialist. toxoplasma gondiiBut when a paroxysmal cough disrupted my sleep that night, I could no longer blame my illness on the dry hotel air. The bright magenta line on the second test kit in the biodegradable bag, bearing the slogan “Health since 1903,” tells an all too familiar story. (Thankfully, I was later able to confirm at dinner that none of my friends were infected.)
We then went into lockdown due to COVID-19 for the rest of the conference.
Reflections from the 33rd floor of the Sheraton Grand
As an ASTMH rifler, I’ve long cultivated ways to avoid “Stop the madness! I’m overwhelmed!” We feel that the annual meeting can be a trigger, whether you attend in person or online. I simply can’t get enough of the content. As a result, especially this year, I take comfort in having year-round access to recorded coverage of all plenary sessions, symposiums, and scientific sessions. to my futureAbout parasites and plague” column MedPage Todayin addition to breaking medical news, you will definitely make use of this content.
But would you regret traveling from Los Angeles to Seattle and spending five surreal days, five days in a concentration camp? In an era when health care workers and “field workers” existed, simply coming to see an old friend and being sympathetically asked about my health enhanced the joy of the community. I often feel discouraged and lonely. As one leader wrote of ASTMH on the day of my departure, “There’s no better place to welcome a professional home!”
This leads me to something else. Yes, medical culture has changed over time. For some, lifelong loyalty to the working world now seems outdated. But through my many years of experience as a doctor, teacher, and journalist, my involvement with the ASTMH, an ever-growing global tribe, has been an incredible touchstone and anchor.
So what is waiting for the next generation? I started wondering in lockdown. Will other respiratory diseases be the future of slamming the door on large face-to-face meetings? (but my husband tested positive in California the same day my test turned pink, so probably before I left home). Emissions cannot be ignored. So, while it’s not my decision to make, I hope to see more hybrid meetings and regional sub-meetings in the future of ASTMH.
My final insight due to the COVID-19 lockdown was much more personal.
closing epiphany
In my mid-to-late 30s, I realized that certain friends and mentors were true “collectors.” Some were drawn to elaborate pens, some to old medical instruments, and some to antique books. very! I concluded that I don’t share their passion for acquiring certain “things”.
But earlier this year at the ASTMH “Story Slam” (which I was supposed to co-moderate), I collected, as most people in the medical world do, something of immense value. I remembered thatSelected from narrative essays published in American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.
Authentic, heartfelt stories and emotions. What a refreshing enhancement to any medical gathering, whether it’s a beloved annual conference or a special gathering of professionals back at home. So feeling fully recovered after 5 days of rest and nirmatrelvir/ritonavir (paxlovid) i finally left lockdown and thanked again for face to face medical meetings and will enjoy them for years to come I was hoping that
Claire Panosian Dunavan, MD, is Professor of Medicine and Infectious Diseases at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine and past president of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. For more information on her writings, seeAbout parasites and plague” digit.
