Tropical and Emerging Infectious Diseases for the Clinician and Translational Investigator - The NIH has long recognized the steady decline in the physician-scientist workforce. We have great concern over the critical shortage of physician-scientists in the field of Infectious Disease. We are equally concerned about assuring the next generation of leaders needed to combat the emergence of new pathogens. Even more, the gap between clinical and laboratory investigators limits the potential for progress. The recent SARS- CoV-2 pandemic, mpox epidemic, and multiple filovirus outbreaks have highlighted these challenges. This R13 proposal requests support for a symposium on “Tropical and Emerging Infectious Diseases for Clinicians and Translational Scientists” to be held in Galveston, Texas, April 9-12, 2024. The overarching goal is to ignite interest of physician and scientist trainees in the evolving field of tropical and emerging infectious diseases. We will convene 60-80 clinician and scientist participants along with speakers who are global leaders in this field. The target audience will be clinical trainees with an interest in developing as clinician-scientists and PhD postdoctoral fellows with an interest in clinical/translational research. We strongly believe that interprofessional and multidisciplinary collaboration is essential to move the field forward. The Specific Aims of this symposium and R13 application are twofold. Specific Aim 1 is to ignite interest in the field of tropical and emerging infectious diseases through a program that captures recent research advances and next steps for moving the field forward. Toward this end the 2½-day symposium will have 5 keynote addresses and 18 speaker presentations that will be organized in 4 blocks around key themes of 1) One Health approach to Emerging Infectious diseases, 2) Emergence of antimicrobial resistance, 3) Special Pathogens: From the Laboratory to the Bedside, and 4) Global emergence of vector-borne diseases in the era of climate change. Specific Aim 2 is to promote career development opportunities for junior-level clinicians and scientists through peer-to-peer interactions and discussions with leaders in the field. This will be promoted by a unique format, which includes attendees and speakers having intentional but informal interaction over meals, multiple structured small group discussion sessions, and an interactive poster session. Select attendees will present their own research through oral presentations. Finally, tours will be offered of UTMB’s Galveston National Laboratory (GNL), a Biosafety Level 4 (BSL-4) research facility on the UTMB campus, and UTMB’s Biocontainment Care Unit (BCU) which is a Regional Emerging and Special Pathogens Treatment Center. Targeted efforts will be made to ensure that women, attendees with accompanying children, under-represented minorities, and persons with disabilities will attend this symposium. This symposium will spark interest in clinical and translational research in tropical and emerging infectious diseases and will provide a forum for junior clinicians to gain a vision for how they could successfully embark on a career as a physician-scientist. Funds from the R13 application would be used to offer travel scholarships for trainees who submit an abstract of their own research.
