ASM Ambassador Participation in 111th General Meeting

"The enthusiastic and substantive participation of ASM Ambassadors and Country Liaisons at this year's General Meeting was fostered by invitations to participate in the International Board (IB) and International Membership Committee (IMC) meetings, where they experienced an overall view of our international programs and contributed with their qualified global perspectives," commented Edmundo Calva, IMC Chair. Calva was joined by 14 Ambassadors and Country Liaisons in New Orleans for the ASM General Meeting.

During the IB meeting, Piotr Kochan, Ambassador to Central&Eastern Europe, led a discussion on the Ambassador Program and updated the IB members on the significant accomplishments realized by the network during the past year. Kochan also explained issues specific to his region, highlighting the importance of having international ASM members serve as volunteers so that they might provide suggestions to ASM Leadership based on their cultural perspective.

During the IMC meeting Ambassadors and Country Liaisons provided keen and valuable insight on a range of topics, including an analysis of the results from the recent International Membership Survey. Ambassadors and Country Liaisons also participated in an Ambassador meeting where they discussed successes, challenges, and ways to improve the program. Finally, several Ambassadors and Country Liaisons delivered scientific presentations during the annual Ambassador Scientific Forum.

As the ASM Ambassador Network expands its international outreach, the 19 Ambassadors and 59 Country Liaisons continue to connect ASM leadership with members worldwide. While each Ambassador manages one of the 20 ASM regions, Country Liaisons focus on their particular country of residence. Ambassadors and Country Liaisons are selected based on a range of criteria including history of ASM membership, level of recognition within their region or country, and recommendations from other members.


ASM International Board Special Interest Session during ASM General Meeting

Limited availability and access to quality laboratory services has contributed to delayed or improper responses to epidemics, disease control, and patient management-leading to empirical patient care and ultimately a contributing factor to drug resistance. The ASM International Board, through its Global Laboratory Capacity Strengthening (LabCap) Program, recognizes the critical role the laboratory plays in disease control and prevention programs by providing timely and accurate information for use in patient management and disease surveillance. Since 2005, LabCap has utilized the expertise of ASM members to improve clinical and public health microbiology laboratories in resource-constrained countries throughout sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean.

At the 2011 ASM General Meeting in New Orleans, then- International Board Chair Keith Klugman convened a special-interest session entitled "Laboratory Support for Addressing Infectious Disease Surveillance and Outbreak Response in Resource-Constrained Countries." The session highlighted advances made in capacity building and global cooperation for implementation of the International Health Regulations [2005], which require countries to develop core capacities to detect, assess, report, and respond to public health threats. It also emphasized the importance of efficient and high-quality clinical microbiology laboratories as they offer the first opportunity to detect new, emerging microbial threats; reemerging infectious diseases; the spread of antibiotic resistance; and the possibility of bioterrorism.

The speakers discussed how networks, such as the Global Laboratory Directory (GLaD), the Global Emerging Infections System (GEIS), and the World Health Organization Foodborne Infections Network, have addressed local and international public health emergencies by strengthening public health infrastructure in the areas of specimen collection, transport, and referral; biosafety; laboratory testing; quality assurance; and reporting and communication. Of special note was Oundo's presentation on Kenya's Field Epidemiology Laboratory Training Program (FELTP), a mechanism for the development of indigenous epidemiologic and laboratory capacity in Sub-Saharan Africa. Recent graduates of the program are already in key leadership positions in multiple countries and will be able to sustain these capacity building efforts in the long-term.


ASM Participation in ECCMID

ASM and the European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID) continue to explore ways to leverage each other's strengths and combine efforts to realize our common goals. To this end, ASM participated in the 21st European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) held 7-10 May 2011 in Milan, Italy. The Congress, which was held in conjunction with the International Conference of Chemotherapy (ICC), was highly successful and drew over 8,000 attendees from 106 countries.

On 8 May, ASM and ESCMID leadership reaffirmed the societies' mutual commitment to building collaborative relationships to strengthen the practice, education, and advocacy of microbiology by signing a Memorandum of Understanding. The agreement formalized the relationship between both societies and established a framework under which they can broaden and intensify joint activities. ASM President-Elect David Hooper was present at the signing and said, "ASM and ESCMID have many common interests and shared members. The opportunity to strengthen our collaborative activities through our Memorandum of Understanding should be of great benefit to both societies and our members." The next formal meeting between ASM and ESCMID will be held in Chicago, Ill., at ICAAC in September 2011.

ASM also had a booth during ECCMID where information on all of ASM's programs was displayed. Due to the significant international attendance, the ASM booth provided an excellent opportunity to interact with current and prospective members. In addition, six ASM Ambassadors and Country Liaisons attended the Congress. ASM staff took advantage of this opportunity by coordinating one-on-one and group meetings with Ambassadors and Country Liaisons in attendance.


2011 ASM International Fellowship and Professorship Recipients

ASM International Education Committee (IEC) is pleased to announce the winners of Round Two of the 2011 ASM International Fellowships and Professorships. These programs strive to put the IEC's Strategic Plan into action by providing high-quality education and training programs to microbiologists and institutions at all levels, fostering the professional development of international microbiologists, and promoting excellence in the microbiological sciences through scholarly exchange. To learn more about how to apply for these programs, please visit: www.asm.org/international/grants.


ASM International Fellowships

The International Fellowship Program encourages research and training collaborations in microbiological sciences worldwide by enabling early career scientists or students from developing countries to visit the host laboratories of experienced ASM members. The International Fellows for Round Two, 2011 are:

Felix Botchway, a Ph.D. student at the University of Ghana Medical School, Accra, was awarded an ASM International Fellowship for Africa to pursue the research project "Role of CXCL10 in fatal cerebral malaria pathogenesis" with Jonathan Stiles at Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, Ga.

Ramkaran, a Research Fellow at the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, was awarded an ASM International Fellowship for Asia to work with Shiladitya Das- Sarma at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, to implement a research project, "Genomics and proteomics studies of halophilic archaea."

Narantuya Damdinsuren, a lecture and researcher at the National University of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar, was granted an ASM International Fellowship for Asia to pursue the research project "Development of biomarkers for microbial quality surveillance of river waters in Mongolia" with Tamas Torok at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, Calif.

Maria Eugenia Loureiro, a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute of Science and Technology Dr César Milstein-CONICET, Buenos Aires, Argentina, was awarded the ASM International Fellowship for Latin America and the Caribbean to collaborate with Adolfo Garcia-Sastre at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, N.Y., to implement the research project "Mapping of the RNA-binding domain(s) within the arenavirus nucleoprotein."

ASM International Professorships

The International Professorship Program provides microbiological expertise to faculty and students throughout the world. The program enables an ASM member who is scientifically recognized in his/her area to travel to an institution of higher learning in a developing country to teach an interactive short course on a topic in any of the microbiological disciplines.

The International Professors for Round Two of 2011 are:

Jason Blackard, Assistant Professor at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Ohio, was awarded an ASM International Professorship for Africa to teach the course "Introduction to Molecular Phylogenetics and Virus Evolution" with host Jeffrey Mphahlele at the University of Limpopo in Pretoria, South Africa.

Jose Antonio Vazquez, Professor at the Henry Ford Hospital and Wayne State University, Detroit, Mich., was awarded an ASMPAHO Infectious Diseases Epidemiology and Surveillance Professorship to collaborate with Eduardo Ticon, Sociedad Peruana de Enfermedades Infecciosas y Tropicales, and the Tropical Medicine Institute of Cayetano Heredia University in Lima, Peru, to teach a course on clinical mycology.

Luis Martinez-Sobrido, Assistant Professor at the University of Rochester Medical Center, N.Y., was granted an ASM International Professorship for Latin America and the Caribbean to teach a course entitled "Influenza virus: experimental tools and methods in collaboration" with host Gilma Sanchez-Burgos at the Regional Research Center of University of Yucatan, Mexico.

Indo-U.S. Professorships in Microbiology

The Indo-U.S. Professorship Program encourages scientific partnerships between the United States and India and is sponsored by the Indo-U.S. Science & Technology Forum.

Elankumaran Subbiah, Assistant Professor at the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine, VirginiaTech, Blacksburg, Va , was awarded an ASM-IUSSTF Indo-US Teaching Professorship to implement the course "Novel Approaches to Vectored Viral Vaccines for Animal Diseases" in collaboration with host Prabakaran Rajamanickam at the Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Chennai, India.

Radhajeyalakshmi Raju, Assistant Professor at the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, India, was granted an ASMIUSSTF Indo-U.S. Research Professorship to visit. Jeanmarie Verchot-Lubicz at the Oklahoma State University in Stillwater to pursue the research project "Production of virus- free canna bulbs through in vitro micropropagation and ‘virus-free' certification for five major viruses."