World TB Day at UBC
Tomorrow, Wednesday March 24th, the Department of Microbiology and Immunology is co-hosting a TB awareness day to mark World TB Day.
From the event website:
WTBD-UBC 2010 is designed to raise awareness about tuberculosis in the university community and in the general public. Tuberculosis (TB) remains an epidemic in much of the world, causing the deaths of almost 2 million people each year. In Canada, the incidence of TB is particularly high among First Nations people. In Vancouver, TB is a growing concern in the Downtown East side (DTES).
A poster session and short seminars will be part of the day’s event in the West Atrium in the Life Science Centre at UBC. A talk by keynote speaker, P. Donald, MD from Cape Town, South Africa is also scheduled. An outreach community event will be also held in the Downtown Eastside (United Church).
Here’s a peak at the speaker’s list for the symposium (below). The talks address everything from the basic science to the social and clinical implications of TB in today’s world. Worth checking out for sure!
Kishor M. Wasan, R.PH, Ph.D.,UBC Introduction of NGDI-UBC
Jay Johnson, MD, BC CDC – “Port Albernioutbreak: clustering and identified risk factors
Jenna Capyk, MSc, CTBR – “The cholesterol degradation pathway and its role in TB pathogenesis”
Fawziah Marra, MD, BC CDC – “Antibiotic exposure and risk of TB”.
Joseph Chao, MSc, CTBR – “Coordinated Expression of the Dormancy Regulon in M. tuberculosis”
Mohsen Sadatsafavi, MD, CHEOS – “Costeffectiveness of IGGRA tests”.
Santiago Ramon-Garcia, PhD, CTBR “The development of new therapies for TB treatment”.
Sidenote: while I was searching flickr for some catchy TB images, I found this amazing collection of photos from an old TB sanatorium in New York.
