May/June 2003
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Newsletter of the International Society of Travel Medicine 2003 May/June Bradley A. Connor Inaugurated as Message from President; Prativa Pandey is chosen Prativa President-elect Three New Counselors Elected radley Connor, MD (USA) was inaugurated as the sev- enth president of ISTM at the organization’s May meet- Bing in New York. (Brad’s bio and mission statements ap- peared in the previous issue (March/April 2003) of NewsShare and are available on the ISTM website. Written copies of am very honored to be entrusted with NewsShare are also available from the ISTM office.) the responsibility of being president- Prativa Pandey, MD (Nepal) was chosen president-elect in the Ielect of this prestigious Society. I recently held election. She will be inaugurated as the Society’s never dreamt that I would be saying this eighth president at CISTM9, in 2005, in Lisbon Portugal, when but here I am asking for your goodwill Brad ends his term. and support to move the organization for- In the same election, three new counselors were chosen: Peter Leggat (Australia), Kevin ward. Kain (Canada) and Eli Schwartz (Israel). Kevin and Elie will serve four-year terms. Peter will The ever changing issues in travel medi- serve a two-year term. Generally, only two counselors are chosen, but a third was neces- cine make it imperative that the ISTM con- sary to complete Prativa’s term, as she now rises from counselor to president-elect. Peter tinues to educate travel medicine practi- received the third most ballots. tioners and the traveling public while en- This election of Prativa marks several milestones in the history of the ISTM. Prativa will be couraging research in areas that will form the first woman, the first person from outside Europe/North America, and the first person the scientific basis of our specialty in the from Asia to serve as chief executive officer of the Society. Also, the new counselors future. As travel medicine/migration medi- further widen the geographical representation of the executive board to Australia, Canada, cine grows in different parts of the world, Israel, and the United Kingdom, Continued on page 9 “I am sure that Prativa will be an active and dynamic President, especially in bringing the voice of those members outside Europe and North America to our Society,” said outgoing president Louis Loutan (Switzerland). Prativa is the Medical Director of the CIWEC Clinic Travel Medicine Center in Kathmandu, Bradley A. Connor Inaugurated as Nepal, a clinic that is well known internationally for excellence in travel medicine, provid- President ................................................. 1 ing clinical practice, research and training of residents. The patient population at the Clinic Message from Prativa ....................... 1 comes from all over the world. The New Counselors .......................... 2 Prativa is board certified in internal medicine in the United States. She practiced internal medicine for 10 years in Boston where she was associated with Beth Israel Hospital and CISTM8 is a Spectacular Success served as a clinical instructor of medicine at the Harvard University School of Medicine. on Broadway .......................................... 3 She returned to Nepal in 1993 and joined the CIWEC Clinic. Her experience in designing Update on the ISTM Certificate of and carrying out research in a clinic setting will help steer the priorities of the ISTM. Knowledge Exam ................................. 3 She has served a 3-month volunteer season at the Himalayan Rescue Association’s high Letters to the Editor ............................ 4 altitude clinic near the base of Mt. Everest, is active in several Nepalese medical organiza- New Feature on the ISTM Website: tions, and is currently the President of the Nepal chapter of the America Nepal Medical Educational Resources ..................... 6 Foundation. The Foundation strives to improve medical education in Nepal. AECTM ....................................................... 5 At ISTM, Prativa was elected a counselor in 2001. She was a member of the committee that Decker Award ........................................ 6 prepared the first certificate of knowledge examination and helped make the CIWEC Clinic one of the main destination travel medicine centers linked to the GeoSentinel program. Calendar ................................................... 7 Opportunities in Travel Medicine .. 7 Travel Medicine NewsShare 2003 May/June The New Counselors The new counselors also have had long and distinguished careers in travel medicine. Peter Leggat, MD, Kevin Kain MD, Eli Schwartz, MD, PhD, hails from FRCPC, is the di- DTMH, is the Di- Queensland, Aus- rector of the Cen- rector of the Cen- tralia. He did post- ter for Travel and ter for Geographic graduate studies at Tropical Medicine Medicine at Sheba universities in four at the Toronto Medical Center in countries and in General Hospital, Tel-Hashomer, Is- several disciplines is professor of rael. He is the cur- including public medicine at the rent president of health, occupa- University of the Israeli Society tional health Toronto, and of Parasitology (PhD), aerospace medicine, travel medi- holds a Canada Research Chair in Mo- and Tropical Diseases and is a senior lec- cine, aeromedical evacuation, and medi- lecular Parasitology. He has had post-doc- turer in the internal medicine division of cal education. He joined James Cook Uni- toral research training as a Senior Re- Tel-Aviv University. He has worked ex- versity (Australia) in 1992 and is currently search Associate in the Department of Im- tensively in developing countries includ- associate professor in the School of Pub- munology at the Walter Reed Army Insti- ing Cambodia Refugee camps (1980), lic Health and Tropical Medicine. Pres- tute of Research in Washington DC. Kevin CIWEC Clinic, Nepal (1987-88), and Ethio- ently he holds a Fulbright Scholarship for has worked extensively in the tropics and pia (1991 and 1999). As director of the academic exchange at several institutions sub-tropics, including New Guinea, Mada- Israeli malaria team, he has served as a in the USA, including the Civil Aerospace gascar, Uganda, Laos, Thailand, and the consultant for the governments of Zanzi- Medical Institute in Oklahoma City, is vis- Amazon basin. He has served as chair- bar (1994), for the United Nations peace iting professor at the University of the person to Health Canada’s Committee to keeping troops in Angola (1997), and in Witwatersrand, South Africa (in public Advise on Tropical Medicine and Travel Senegal (2001). He is a graduate of the health), and is visiting professor at the and to the Scientific Advisory Board of London School of Tropical Medicine and Prince of Songkla University, Thailand. the Malaria Foundation, been a board Hygiene. His research interests have led He is a Lieutenant Colonel in the Austra- member of the Programme for Appropri- to more than 70 publications in the medi- lian Defense Health Service Reserve. He ate Technology, and been a consultant to cal literature. He has a deep commitment has served in executive positions in many many organizations including the Red to education and expanding public aware- international and Australian organizations Cross, Canadian Blood Services, and Cen- ness in the field of travel medicine. including the World Safety Organization ters for Disease Control and Prevention. (director-general) and the Australasian Eli has been involved in tropical and travel Kevin’s research efforts are focused on College of Tropical Medicine (president). medicine for more than twenty years and He is the recipient of more than 20 major developing a translational research pro- has been an active member of ISTM since gram that characterizes host-parasite in- national and international awards. its founding. Within ISTM he has served teractions responsible for major global on several scientific committees of bien- Peter’s research in travel medicine has health threats such as malaria and HIV. nial conferences, the editorial board of the focused on general practice, travel insur- One of his primary goals has been to at- Journal of Travel Medicine, and currently ance claims, emergency assistance, and tempt to elucidate the molecular basis for is the chair of the Professional Education clinical trials of antimalarial agents. He is adverse outcomes in malaria and to trans- and Training Committee. As chair he a reviewer and a member of editorial late this knowledge into novel therapeu- hopes to help members by furthering the boards for numerous prestigious journals, tic interventions. development of educational resources. has contributed more than 300 papers to One of his goals is to organize ISTM- His specific interests in travel medicine professional journals and national and sponsored training centers to give mem- and his efforts within ISTM include the international conferences, written chap- bers hands-on experience in practicing development of molecular, diagnostic, and ters for many textbooks, and given innu- pre-travel, post-travel and migrant medi- epidemiologic tools for the surveillance merous lectures. cine. He is also the site director for of emerging diseases, especially those GeoSentinel. He has been active at Euro- Peter has served on several ISTM com- that threaten travelers. His efforts are also pean and Asian travel society meetings. mittees and sub-committees, including the focused on global equity, knowledge shar- In October 2002, he chaired the scientific editorial board of the Journal of Travel ing