Global Health Diagnostics | June 1-3, 2023 
COURSE FORMAT
This course has been cancelled for 2023. We plan to hold it again in summer 2024.
DESCRIPTION
This three-day seminar on global health diagnostics will focus on cross-cutting issues affecting the infectious diseases diagnostics space, including sexually transmitted and blood borne infections (STBBIs), acute febrile illnesses, selected neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), and HIV, TB, Malaria and COVID-19.
Participants will learn from an array of stakeholders including product manufacturers, donors, product development partnerships, policy makers, academics, clinicians, researchers, community advocates, program managers, public health implementers and health leaders from high-burden countries. Attendees can expect a mix of plenary talks, engaging panel discussions and tech pitches from industry leaders.
COURSE DIRECTORS
Cédric Yansouni, MD, FRCPC, DTM&H
Assistant Professor, Divisions of Infectious Diseases and Medical Microbiology, McGill University Health Centre;
Associate Director, J.D. MacLean Centre for Tropical Diseases
Nitika Pant Pai, MD, MPH, PhD
Associate Professor, Division of Clinical Epidemiology, Experimental Medicine & Infectious Diseases, McGill University;
Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation, MUHC Research Institute
Watch the video to hear the Drs. Pai and Yansouni discuss the course!
PREVIOUS COURSE FACULTY
- Sue Horton – University of Waterloo
- Tanya Applegate – Kirby Institute, Australia
- Mikashmi Kohli – FIND
- Sarah Charnaud – WHO
- Wallace White – FIND
- Michael Mina – eMed
- Christine Leckie – Health Canada
- Ali Esmail – University of Cape Town
- Ricky Janssen – Maastricht University
- Patrick O’Byrne – University of Ottawa
- Jesse Papenburg – McGill University
- Ameeta Singh – University of Alberta
- Angela Karellis – McGill University
- Christine Mesa – National Labs Canada
- Sanjida Karim – FIND
- Marguerite Massinga Loembe – Africa CDC
- Collins Otieno – ASLM
- Trevor Peter – Clinton Health Access Initiative
Faculty are still being confirmed and there may be changes to the above list.
CONTENT
Infectious diseases continue to pose a major threat to the health of most developing nations. The COVID-19 pandemic and emergence and spread of infections like XDR-TB, Ebola, dengue, chikungunya, and avian influenza have highlighted the importance of effective global response to epidemic threats.
Diagnosis is a critical step in effective disease care and control, but many people in developing countries do not have access to high quality diagnostic tests.
In this popular course, professionals ranging from clinicians, nurses, policy-makers, researchers, implementers, advocates and health educators gather to share their rich and diverse experiences, successes, failures and lessons learned in launching, leading, important diagnostic initiatives, globally. They ask important questions that help advance the field of global health diagnostics.
OBJECTIVES
- Convene key stakeholder groups on global health diagnostics to create a platform for information exchange and knowledge transfer.
- Inform, educate, engage and convene discussions on pertinent issues in diagnostics so as to inform the direction of future practice, policy and funding initiatives for diagnostics.
- Dissect the value chain for global health diagnostics development, current pipeline of diagnostics, market size and dynamics, policies on diagnostics, and barriers for scale-up for selected infectious diseases of global health importance across all infections.
- Debate and propose solutions for accelerating market entry for innovative diagnostics, to sustain and support manufacturers’ engagement in development of new diagnostics that address unmet global health needs.
- Debate and identify novel approaches to scale-up, including innovative business models that leverage market-based incentives.
TARGET AUDIENCE
This course appeals to a wide range of participants including:
- Policy makers and ministry officials
- Researchers, academics, and students/fellows studying global health or infectious disease
- Product developers, and industry
- Funders and public health agency officials
- Community advocacy groups working in diagnostics and global health
ENROLMENT
In-person maximum 150 participants
Online maximum 100 participants