Biology of Vector-borne Diseases six-day training course, June 20-25, 2021
Mission
Create a knowledge network for a diverse community of practitioners that persists, grows and transforms science, and interventions for plant, animal and human vector-borne diseases.
Vision
Stimulate and enhance innovative research, collaborations, teaching and outreach in plant, animal and human vector-borne diseases through a cutting-edge and interactive annual course delivered by a core community of leading scientists.
Brief description of the course
The Center for Health in the Human Ecosystem hosts the annual Biology of Vector-borne Diseases six-day course. This course provides accessible, condensed training and "knowledge networking" for advanced graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, faculty and professionals to ensure competency in basic biology, current trends and developments, and practical knowledge for U.S. and global vector-borne diseases of plants, animals and humans. We seek to train the next generation of scientists and help working professionals to more effectively address current and emerging threats with holistic approaches and a strong network of collaborators and mentors.
The course is both lecture- and discussion-based and is delivered by internationally recognized experts, with integrated case studies of emerging vector-borne pathogens to highlight parallels and key distinctions in biology across plant, animal and human vector-borne diseases. This course sets an example of new vision, through leadership of the Center for Health in the Human Ecosystem, to create an enduring community of participants and instructors to expand the impact and sustainability of these approaches.
The third annual Biology of Vector-borne Disease course is scheduled for Sunday through Friday, June 20-25, 2021. Applicants will be notified of their acceptance and invited to register for the course. The course registration fee (USD $1,500) includes housing, meals, course materials and social activities. Registration will be due following acceptance into the course.
In the course, we are attempting to break down silos, to move people away from focusing on individual organisms, individual temporal and spatial scales of study and individual pathosystems, to seeing connections and parallels among all of these.
Themes and concepts, course philosophies include
- Decision-making — This occurs at many levels in vector-borne diseases. For example, hosts and vectors are subject to processes analogous to decision-making, researchers and practitioners are subjected to decision-making that is often constrained by the pathosystem of study and goals for management (e.g., pertaining to agriculture vs public health) and by the diagnostic tools available or selected.
- Networks — We want to create a “knowledge network” of researchers, trainees, and practitioners who look at plant, animal, and human vector-borne diseases more holistically. This is also a concept that we will solidify with talks that illustrate networks of biology across multiple scales in example vector-borne disease pathosystems.
- Communication — We can talk about host-vector communication, host-pathogen communication, communication among participants and instructors, communication among scientists, stakeholders and the public, and, perhaps most importantly, scientific communication across pathosystems that is enabled by breaking down barriers in vocabulary.
- Dynamics — Vector-borne disease pathosystems are incredibly dynamic and we seek to facilitate new ways of thinking about important distinctions, biological parallels and ecosystem drivers across plant, animal and human vector-borne diseases. This will enable a new generation of thinkers to respond more effectively to emergent, dynamic, complex phenomena with innovative and sustainable solutions.
- BEI Resources for Infectious Diseases Research
- Coursera — Bioinformatics
- Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
- Global Biodefense events
- JournalMap — Geographic mapping tool
- National Academy of Sciences
- National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Diseases — Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- ProMED mail
- Science News
- Summer Institute in Statistics and Modeling in Infectious Diseases
- Software carpentry workshops
- UN Sustainable Development Goals
- World Health Organization
Course instructors in 2021
- Marek Borowiec — University of Idaho
- Corey Campbell — Colorado State University
- Adela Oliva Chavez — Texas A&M
- Gitta Coaker — University of California-Davis
- Sanford Eigenbrode — University of Idaho
- Pilar Fernandez — Washington State University
- Scott Harper — Washington State University, Clean Plant Center Northwest
- Andy Jensen — Washington State Potato Commission
- Jason Kinley — Director of the Gem County Mosquito Abatement District and President of the American Mosquito Control Association
- Luc Leblanc — University of Idaho
- Ed Lewis — University of Idaho
- Eric Lofgren — Washington State University
- Shirley Luckhart — University of Idaho
- Raul Medina — Texas A&M
- Susan Noh — USDA/ARS
- Edward Okoth Abworo — International Livestock Research Institute, Kenya
- Jane Polston — University of Florida
- Ann Powers — Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Fort Collins
- Arash Rashed — University of Idaho
- Mike Riehle — University of Arizona
- Jeff Riffell — University of Washington
- Michael Robert — Virginia Commonwealth University
- Barrie Robison — University of Idaho
- Marilyn Roossinck — Pennsylvania State University
- Ron Rosenberg — Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- Dana Shaw — Washington State University
- Luke Sheneman — Northwest Knowledge Network, University of Idaho
- Terry Soule — University of Idaho
- Glen Stevens — University of Idaho
- Rajagopalbabu (Babu) Srinivasan — University of Georgia