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SER
Conference 2022
After two long years,
epidemiologists across the world grabbed their masks and flew to the
Windy City of Chicago for the Society for Epidemiological Research
(SER) 2022 conference. Some flights were delayed because of a tornados
and bad weather. Unfortunately, we are also in the middle of a COVID19
surge, so many had to cancel last minute due to inconvenient
infections or the fact that they were high risk for severe disease.
Surprisingly, there wasn’t a hybrid option. But, ultimately, a couple
hundred epidemiologists from across the globe made it.
There’s no doubt this
year’s conference was different than previous ones. Most obviously, we
are still in the middle of a pandemic. Everyone was wearing masks.
Everyone was taking daily antigen tests. And the rooms were freezing
(Maybe this isn’t different than previous years, but was a good sign
of good ventilation!). COVID19 precautions were planned impeccably
well, and I wish every conference was planned by epidemiologists
during a pandemic. Dr. Whitney Robinson, epidemiologist at
Duke, brought a CO2 monitor to the plenary session. It was packed!
Standing room only and people were seated shoulder to shoulder.
However, CO2 levels remained low. See her readings and commentary
below:
This was also the
first in-person conference since 2019. Many old friends embraced. Many
new virtual friends met face-to-face for the first time. The reunions
and social interactions were incredibly refreshing. However, below the
surface it was obvious how hard the past 2.5 years have been for our
field. We are exhausted. We are burnt out. And many are frustrated,
traumatized, and “checked out” to preserve wellness and sanity. Tears
were exchanged while debriefing on sacrifices we’ve taken. Deep
conversations also ensued: How do we build institutional trust?
How do we fight misinformation? How do we strengthen our data
systems in this fragmented system? How do we prepare for the next wave
and next pandemic? These are important and imperative
questions with incredibly difficult and complex answers.
Scientifically it was
refreshing to see that the majority of sessions and posters were
not focused on COVID-19. This only highlighted that our response
to SARS-CoV-2 was an all hands-on-deck response. We responded to the
pandemic while concurrently keeping up with our work in other
important topics of public health. Strolling the poster sessions, I
was particularly excited to see that a few brave souls started
implementing #betterposters. This is a design that was introduced in
2019 by Mike Morrison,
a Ph.D. candidate in organizational psychology at Michigan State
University. The purpose of the new design is to convey the science and
new insights more efficiently for people walking in rows and rows of
giant boards. Read more about the #betterposter campaign
here.
In all, this
scientific session was a success! And, EpiMonitor was well
represented. We are already looking forward to next year!
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