KAWASHIMA Kent Diel
D4
2016 International Meeting on Emerging Diseases and Surveillance
November 4-7, 2016
Vienna, Austria
The International Meeting on Emerging Diseases and Surveillance is a biennial gathering ofscientists, researchers, medical doctors and veterinarians to discuss the latest efforts totrack and mitigate the spread of infectious diseases as well as to learn about the latest
research on the pathology, mechanism, and available treatment for communicable diseases
in humans and animals. This year, the conference boasted more than 600 participants fromall over the world coming from different scientific and medical backgrounds consistent withthe conference’s emphasis of the “One Health” approach. One Health is the concept thatpeople’s health is intrinsically tied to the health of animals and the shape of the environment.
Given that 6 out 10 infectious diseases in humans come from animals, the One Healthapproach advocates collaboration across disciplines in order to achieve the best health forpeople, animals and the environment.
I think the best parts of the conference were the poster
sessions. Here, I could sample from a wide range oftopics, discuss with presenters, and network with otherparticipants. Indeed, I found a lot of interesting posters
and I had the opportunity to discuss with some of thepresenters. My favorite poster was about an HIV drug
resistance phenotype prediction engine using machinelearning and real data. Here they demonstrated how
machine learning algorithms such as Bayesianconvolutional neural networks can be trained using real
genetic sequences together with high-throughput drug
screen results in order to predict the drug resistanceprofile of a newly-evolved HIV strain. Of course, I alsopresented my own poster and got the opportunity todiscuss my ideas with other participants. I even met
two Japanese doctors attending the conference that
mistook me as Japanese and started asking questionin Japanese.
My favorite session of the entire conference came at the last day when Dennis Carroll, thedirector of Global Health Security at USAID presented a global and multidisciplinary initiative
called the “Global Virome Project” that aims to identify and characterize every zoonotic viral
infections in animals that pose a threat to public health through a collaborative effort ofveterinarians, molecular biologists, epidemiologists and statisticians. Since most humanpathogens come from animals, studying and recording each zoonotic virus circulating inanimals will enable us to prepare for and maybe even forecast the next big outbreak. Such a

project would help me get real data from animals to help my research to understandpathogen evolution in cross-species transmission and spreading.
On the last night of the conference, the mayor ofVienna hosted conference participants for dinnercocktails at the Wiener Rathaus, which is the city hallof Vienna. Surrounded by intricately carved columns
and golden fixtures, dining at the main festivities hall
was an amazing experience that I am sure I andeveryone else in that hall would remember. Having
dinner at the Rathaus also saved me from a problem I
didn’t realize until it was too late – that all restaurants
were closed on Sundays.

The day after the conference ended, I had just enoughtime to go sightseeing around Vienna. I was surprised
how small Innere stadt, or the city center was. Fromthe eastern part where my hotel was located to westernpart of Innere stadt would take less than an hour towalk. Within this area lies most of the tourist spots in
Vienna like the Vienna State Opera House, theAustrian National Library, the Hofburg Palace complexof museums, and St. Stephen’s Cathedral.

Just outside of Innere stadt is the Schonbrunn Palace,the former imperial summer residence of the Viennese
Habsburg monarchs, most famous of which was Maria
Theresa. Aside from the palace building, the complex isalso famous for its numerous expansive and sculptedgardens. Although the trees and the foliage in thegardens were beginning to fade as winter wasapproaching, it was still an impressive sight.