The Department of Tropical Medicine co-sponsored an International Workshop on Molecular Epidemiology of Parasites and Dengue in Guayaquil, Ecuador as part of the XXI Congress of the Latinoamerican Federation of Parasitology (FLAP), held October 2-5. A scholarship from FLAP to attend the meeting was awarded to a Tulane undergraduate student. DTM Post-doctoral fellow Dr. Claudia Herrera and Dr. Yim Wong of the National Institute of Health of Ecuador coordinated the workshop. Of the seven course instructors, four represented DTM: Dr. Dawn Wesson, Dr. Claudia Herrera, Sam Jameson, and adjunct faculty Dr. Eric Dumonteil.

Dr. Herrera received an honorary medal on behalf of Tulane for the University's excellent course and active participation in the event.

Several of our faculty, post-doctoral fellows, and students participated in the 2013 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.

Dr. Patricia Scaraffia served as chair of a section titled, "Mosquitoes: Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Molecular Genetics I."

You can read DTM Associate Professor Daniel Bausch's reflections on the meeting on the ASTMH tumblr page. 

Earlier this month the department held its annual Holiday Potluck. We are grateful to enjoy such rich cultural diversity among our faculty, staff, and students, and this potluck gives everyone the opportunity to share the culinary traditions of their homeland. You can check out photos of the event here. 

Dr. Gregory Jennings (PhD, 2001) visited the Department and met with Drs. Mark Wiser and Nirbhay Kumar during a recent trip to New Orleans. Dr. Jennings works with the World Health Organization as a technical officer in the Emerging Diseases Surveillance and Response Unit in Laos. Together with the Ministries of Health, he and his team coordinate aid and put together disease control programs with a primary goal of reducing the mortality rate by training healthcare workers, encouraging community mobilization, and strengthening vector control programs. Dr. Jennings said that his time as a student in DTM helped prepare him for this work by providing a strong background in classical parasitology, helminthology, and protozoology, but also said that the opportunities for practical experience were just as helpful. While he was a doctoral student he worked with the Mosquito Control Board, and this exposure to vector control strategy helped him tackle the issues his team encounters in Laos. He urges current students to take advantage of these practical opportunities to gain research experience and focus on basic lab and clinical services to find creative approaches to public health problems.