SPECIAL EVENTS FOR STUDENTS
Student Professional Development Workshop. A student career building workshop, to be held on Sunday afternoon, September 5th, will include a panel discussion, interactive dialog and a planning session to familiarize students with different career paths in aquatic animal health. Our international panelists work in a wide variety of fields including veterinary clinical care, education, research, and regulatory activities, and work with a wide variety of animals from turtles, to fish, and marine mammals. They will discuss the career paths they choose, offer advice and suggestions, and answer questions from participants. Attendees will be able to draft individual plans for success, and recognize key steps for achieving them. The contacts made on this day can be nurtured during the subsequent 5 days of the symposium.
Workshop Coordinator: Dr. Ruth Francis-Floyd, University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine; Director, Aquatic Animal Health Program.
Student platform presentation and poster competitions. Students presenting in the platform and poster sessions can compete for prizes and recognition. Presentations will be judged by a group of experienced aquatic animal health professionals, and prizes will be awarded to the top students in multiple categories.
Student Presentation Awards Coordinator: Dr. Cindy Driscoll, Maryland Department of Natural Resources, Director Fish and Wildlife Health Program.
Certificates of participation. All students presenting at ISAAH will receive a certificate of participation, to be presented at the Wednesday evening banquet.
SPECIAL SESSIONS AND WORKSHOPS
In addition to invited plenary lectures, and contributed oral and poster presentations by symposium attendees, the ISAAH program also includes the 5th Myxozoan Workshop, an aquatic animal disease surveillance workshop, a Diagnostic Challenges session, and three special sessions: “Global Emergency Response and Preparedness: Emerging Aquatic Issues; “Antimicrobial Use in Aquaculture – Resistance, Residues, and Research,” and a Diagnostic Challenges session.
5th Myxozoan Workshop. Monday, September 6th (platform sessions) and Wednesday 8th (posters).
The 5th Myxozoan Workshop will feature scientific sessions for presentation of papers and posters on myxozoan research, as well as a focused discussion session. Last year, at the EAFP meeting, the focus was on climate change effects on myxozoan disease, and a summary of this is posted on the Myxozoan Network website. This year we anticipate a discussion on criteria and strategies for reorganization of the systematics of the Myxozoa, as well as a synthesis of the outcomes of the climate effects discussion. Please contact Jerri Bartholomew, workshop coordinator, with questions or suggestions for topics.
Aquatic Animal Disease Surveillance Workshop. Sunday, September 5th from 9:00am until 2:30pm. Workshop leader will be Kenton Morgan, Chair of Epidemiology, University of Liverpool. This optional, pre-conference workshop (additional fee; see registration page) will be hosted through the International Society of Aquatic Animal Epidemiology (ISAAE), and has limited seats (so register early!).
Aquaculture is the fastest growing food sector in the world. Epidemics of established and emerging diseases represent a threat to the biodiversity of indigenous fisheries, the sustainability of developing aquaculture and to the social fabric of the populations associated with them.
Aquatic disease surveillance is seen as an essential component of national and international disease control. The OIE is currently preparing a manual on Aquatic Animal Disease surveillance. Theoretical and political imperatives that surround surveillance have been addressed with great clarity. The practical issues of How? Who? Where and at what cost? are less well defined, even in terrestrial animal health where the epidemiological capacity and practical experience of international disease control is better established.
The aim of the workshop will be to examine some of the practical issues surrounding aquatic animal disease surveillance and to report back on these to national and international organisations.
It will be of interest not only to epidemiologists but to politicians, regulators, economists, and repesentatives of national and international organisations and multinational companies.
The workshop will be scenario-based and lead by experienced facilitators trained to foster learning and creative thinking. A wide range of relevant issues will be addressed, prioritised and evaluated critically.
One of the exciting things about aquatic surveillance is that there is no ideal system. This workshop presents the opportunity to consider surveillance systems that capture relevant information but that can be tailored to a particular budget.
Diagnostic Challenges session. Wednesday, September 8th.
The special session on Diagnostic Challenges will provide a forum for symposium participants to present, discuss and interpret novel or intriguing pathology cases. Cases may be those that have been diagnosed by comprehensive investigation and testing, or ones that have yet to be brought to closure. Participants are invited to submit a case of interest by August 15 for review by the workshop coordinators. During the session, participants will give a brief case history, and present gross and/or histopathological images using PowerPoint and/or from glass slides using a projection compound microscope. Presentation timing, including time for group discussion will last 5-10 minutes, depending on the total number of cases presented. A summary of presented cases will be developed by the session coordinators, in coordination with the presenters, and posted on the symposium website to share with the symposium community.
This session, supported by the Department of Molecular and Comparative Pathobiology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, will be coordinated by Drs. Jeffrey Wolf and Stephen Smith. Dr. Wolf is an ACVP Board Certified Veterinary Pathologist from Experimental Pathology Laboratories, VA, USA. Dr. Smith is a professor of aquatic medicine and fish health in the Department of Biomedical Sciences & Pathobiology, Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine, Blacksburg, VA, USA.
Antimicrobial Use in Aquaculture – Resistance, Residues, and Research. This session will provide a stimulating and inclusive forum for exchange of expert opinions on current antimicrobial resistance issues and monitoring efforts, and research approaches to determining antimicrobial residues in fish tissues. This special session will also facilitate discussion on issues of international importance, including efforts to improve prudent and judicious use of antimicrobials in aquaculture. The presence and outreach of the Center for Veterinary Medicine at the symposium will provide global awareness regarding drug residues in aquaculturally–derived foods, and antimicrobial resistance. This special session will be chaired by Dr. Ron Miller and Dr. Jennifer Matysczak, US Food and Drug Administration, Center for Veterinary Medicine.
Global Emergency Response and Preparedness: Emerging Aquatic Issues. Monday, September 6th.
The Aquatic Veterinary Medicine Committee of the American Veterinary Medical Association will host this special session, featuring a diversity of speakers and perspectives. The session will be chaired by Dr. Roy Yanong, University of Florida Tropical Aquaculture Laboratory, and Aquatic Veterinary Medicine Committee of the AVMA. Invited speakers and their topics include:
Dr. Marta Remmenga
United States Department of Agriculture-APHIS-VS
The art and science of epidemiological modeling of reportable aquatic animal diseases
Dr. Jill Roland
United States Department of Agriculture-APHIS-VS
Perspectives on global preparedness for aquatic animal diseases
Dr. David Scarfe
American Veterinary Medical Association
The role of veterinarians in biosecurity
Dr. Roxanna Smolowitz
Roger Williams University
Emerging diseases issues and concerns in shellfish
Dr. Nicholas St-Erne
PetSmart
Pet industry efforts to control chytridiomycosis in amphibians
Dr. Brent Whitaker
National Aquarium in Baltimore
Aquarium and aquaculture facility emergency preparedness and recovery
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