Welcome to the CISTM17

CISTM17 SPC Chair Welcome Letter

Dear Colleagues,

It is my pleasure to invite you to the first virtual conference of the ISTM!

Travel has been upended by the pandemic this year in ways that no one could imagine. Across the world we all have felt the impact of COVID-19 personally and professionally. During the entirety of this past year ISTM has adapted, innovated, and provided a space for travel medicine providers to connect.

The theme of the conference is the “The Changing Face of Travel Medicine: Anticipating its Global Impact.” It was originally chosen for the fluidity of the rapidly changing landscape of travel medicine, which is clearly more relevant than ever today. Although we are covering traditional topics in travel medicine this year, we will also be addressing rapidly expanding fields including antimicrobial resistance, new diagnostic tools, emerging vaccines, and of course, COVID-19.

The Scientific Program Committee has been hard at work developing a full and comprehensive program including global health security, the severe impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on travel medicine, technology and digital transformation of travel health, and OneHealth for the plenary sessions. We are lucky that Dr. Terrie Taylor, Distinguished Professor of Tropical Medicine at MSUCOM, will join us as the Alan Magill Memorial Lecturer. She will present groundbreaking findings from her team in Malawi, which have helped unravel the pathogenesis of cerebral malaria in children in sub-Saharan Africa.

Our workshops will cover clinical presentations of the returning traveler, tropical diseases, medical care abroad, and migrant medicine, among other topics. This year, we introduce two special sessions: a ‘Deep Dive’ into Schistosomiasis: A Disease of Many Faces and a ‘Deep Dive’ into Eosinophilia in Returned Travelers and Migrants.

We will be using a very exciting and immersive virtual platform for the conference, and look forward to showing you its impressive features.

Sincerely, Christina M. Coyle
Chair, 17th Annual Conference of the International Society of Travel Medicine

CISTM17 ISTM President Welcome Letter

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

It is a real pleasure to invite you to the 17th Conference of the ISTM that will be held virtually 19-22 May, 2021.

Our world has transformed dramatically. We are confronting the SARS-CoV-2 threat with the rapid development of diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought travel to a standstill but showed how integral travel is in our lives. It has illustrated the connectedness of travel with our health, and the role of travel in global health security. The digital revolution and mobile technology are charging ahead in a way we hardly can imagine. And, the concerns regarding climate change, migrant health, and equity in health have risen to new levels. So much has happened since the last Conference in 2019 that impacts travel medicine, and there is much to learn about the changing epidemiology of diseases, migrant health, re-starting travel, and innovations in travel medicine.

How can we practice travel medicine wisely and in a sustainable way in this evolving COVID-19 crisis?

The Scientific Program Committee has built a superb program that addresses many of these issues. We hope we can share this wonderful event with you. We also look forward to your participation and discussions.

Despite all desires and efforts to hold the ISTM Conference for the first time in Asia (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia), we realize that it is unsafe to meet in person at this time. However, the pandemic has taught us to keep pace with innovation, take advantage of technology, to 'teleport' ourselves and gather to learn.

So we look forward to 'seeing' you in the Virtual World of CISTM17!

Lin H. Chen,
ISTM President,
United States of America