The first ASTMH meeting outside of the United States will take place November 9-13 in Toronto, Canada. As that date draws closer, Lyn Maddox, VP Meetings, discussed the planning required, and the challenges faced by the Society and attendees.
How long has this meeting been in development?
We’ve been planning this meeting for at least 10 years. We were supposed to meet in Toronto in 2020, but the global COVID-19 outbreak forced us to host a virtual meeting instead. To secure a meeting location for a group our size, we have to reserve the venue at least five years in advance. That means Toronto has been one of our planned destinations since 2015.
How does it feel to have the Toronto meeting weeks away?
After so many years of planning, we are delighted to finally host our first meeting outside of the United States. We hope this opens new doors to collaboration and engagement by the Canadian tropical medicine and global health community. I’m also excited about the Metro Toronto Convention Centre venue. It is the perfect size for our needs. Sessions will primarily be held on three floors, with only a couple of minutes’ walk between spaces. This will make it easy to network, catch up with colleagues and really feel that sense of being together—but without feeling too crowded.
Given the disruptions and funding challenges in the global health scientific community this year, what impact are you anticipating to meeting engagement?
The ASTMH Board and staff are fully aware of significant disruptions to programs, funding and jobs that are impacting our community globally. To maximize access to the meeting, our team has been working extra hard to secure additional funding to offer more travel grants, and we opened registration months earlier than usual to maximize time to secure visas.
How has the tropical medicine/global health community responded?
So far, our community has really leaned into the theme of this year’s meeting, “United in Science for Global Health.” We are seeing a real sense of solidarity and motivation to come together in person. Our symposium and abstract submissions remained very strong this year, and registrations are currently at pace with the same numbers from this time last year in New Orleans, our most popular meeting site. We are optimistic that this year’s meeting will be a great experience.
We know there will still be some unable to join us in Toronto, including international students studying in the United States who may not feel safe crossing borders, and we hope they will at least be able to join us for the livestream components of the meeting.