Faculty Network Spotlight: Second Annual Yale Vector-Borne & Zoonotic Diseases Symposium

On January 12, 2024, the 2nd Yale Annual Vector-Borne & Zoonotic Diseases Symposium was held at the Winslow auditorium at the Yale School of Public Health. The symposium was organized by the Yale Vector-Borne & Zoonotic Diseases (VB&ZD) and MalarYale faculty networks and generously funded by the Ambrose Monell Foundation and the Yale Institute for Global Health. The goal of the symposium was to highlight the diversity and excellence of VB&ZD research at Yale, to foster a diverse research community working on VB&ZD, and to stimulate new connections and collaborations among participants. The day-long symposium was well attended by over 100 participants and featured interdisciplinary VB&ZD research spanning the disciplines of public health, medicine, ecology & evolution, social sciences, and engineering. The three keynote speakers were Dr. Flaminia Catteruccia (Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health), Dr. Nathan Grubaugh (Yale School of Public Health), and Dr. Sunil Parikh (Yale School of Public Health). Researchers from various stages of their careers gave short talks in two separate sessions. In addition, there were two sessions for lightning talks featuring 4-minute presentations made by students and postdoctoral fellows. There was also a Panel discussion led by faculty with international research programs discussing the successes and challenges of their programs and how to expand such programs to benefit Yale students, while building capacity in disease-endemic countries. The Yale VB&ZD faculty network was established in 2023 to strengthen the VB&ZD community at Yale and will continue to organize quarterly meetings and annual symposia highlighting VB&ZD research at Yale. If you would like to participate, visit the Yale VB&ZD faculty network or please reach out to the network leads, Drs. Chantal Vogels (chantal.vogels@yale.edu), Brian Weiss (brian.weiss@yale.edu), and Serap Aksoy (serap.aksoy@yale.edu).