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2019 Annual Scientific Conference – Lyme & Other Tick-Borne Diseases: 20th Annual Scientific Update for Clinicians & Researchers

July 16, 2020

The Lyme Disease Association held the 20th annual scientific conference, Lyme & Other Tick-Borne Diseases: 20th Annual Scientific Update for Clinicians & Researchers, on September 21 & 22, 2019 in Philadelphia, PA at the Hilton Penn’s Landing on the banks of the Delaware. Columbia University jointly provides the conference.

This conference was designed for medical & health professionals & researchers, but it was also open for registration to the general public. Adults only. Scholarships for conference and transportation was available for Medical student; resident; post-doctoral candidate; fellow; nurse practitioner candidate; doctor or nurse practitioner new to practice, i.e., less than 5 years experience; veterinarian with equivalent status to the aforementioned; physician assistant whose sponsoring physician writes a letter of support on office letterhead; representative from a public health department.

The conference featured faculty consisting of clinicians and researchers from across the US and other countries. Brian A. Fallon, MD, MPH, Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons, the Conference Director, will speak on Clinical Trials: Biologic & Clinical Measures of Change. Other speakers include Charles Chiu, MD PhD: Multi-Omics approaches to diagnosing Lyme & TBD; George Chaconas, PhD: Intravital imaging to study Lyme dissemination; Adrian Baranchuk, MD: Lyme carditis diagnosis & management; Emir Hodzic, DVM, PhD: Post-treatment persistence of Bb in mouse model; Mark Soloski: PhD, LD host immune response; Holly M. Frost, MD: Pitfalls of LD serologic assays; Ingeborg Dziedzic, MD: Lyme disease & the eye; Lance A. Liotta, MD, PhD: Shedding of urinary tick pathogen-specific proteins in patients with tick borne diseases; and Osama Haddad, MD: Mitral Valve Endocarditis: A Rare Manifestation of Lyme Disease Additional speakers were Margaret MacDonald, MD, PhD: Powassan virus; Choukri Ben Mamoun, PhD: Babesia duncani in vitro culture; Philip Strandwitz, PhD: The Gut-Brain-Axis – Potential Therapeutic Targets and J. Stephen Dumler, MD: Human Granulocytic Anaplasmosis-Emerging Faster than Lyme; Daniel Sonnenshine, PhD: Expansion of TBD vectors & implications of spread of TBD; and Paige Armstrong, MD, MHS: Rickettsial diseases; Robert Naviaux MD, PhD: Lyme & Chronic Fatigue Syndrome; Eric Storch, PhD: Obsessive Compulsive Disorder; Peter Novak, MD, PhD: Neurological correlates of Post Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome; and Joanna Lyon, PharmD, MEd: The possible association between the human ABCB1 gene and Post Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome. Elizabeth Maloney, MD and Sam T. Donta, MD will be conference facilitators. Speakers represented Columbia University, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Yale School of Medicine, Mayo, Harvard Medical School, Uniformed Services University, CDC, UCSF School of Medicine, Queens University Canada, University of Calgary Canada, Northeastern University, University of Colorado School of Medicine, UC Davis Veterinary Medicine, Rockefeller University, UCSD School of Medicine, University of Maryland School of Pharmacy, Old Dominion University, George Mason University, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Baylor College of Medicine and an ophthalmology practice.