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 The objectives of MISMS regional meetings and technical workshops are to:

  1) Review the epidemiology of influenza in temperate and tropical climates and outline the achievements of MISMS through analytical presentations of epidemiological and genomic data that elucidate the disease burden of influenza, its transmission dynamics, and the impact of vaccination programs. We also review methodologies to conduct research on the molecular epidemiology and evolution of influenza.
 
  2) Demonstrate the utility of secondary-source data in the study of influenza epidemiology.
 
  3) Work with current collaborators and establish new collaborations for binational and multinational studies.
 
  4) Communicate findings to the scientific community and policy-makers in order to aid the influenza control decision-making process.
 
  5) Analyze data through a hands-on workshop on methodologies for influenza studies, including the dissemination and instruction of analytical tools that help to conduct research on time-series, vaccine effectiveness, molecular epidemiology, and genomic studies.
 
   
Target audience

 
  • Virologists conducting research on influenza and other respiratory diseases and who are interested in phylogenetic analyses and molecular epidemiology.
  • Public health officials, epidemiologists, and biostatisticians also have forums to discuss reports of influenza disease burden in populations similar to their own, as well as the opportunity to review and analyze their own data.
   
Meeting Length

  Meetings usually last three to five days. They begin with one to two days of oral presentations on international influenza research conducted by MISMS collaborators, as well as local researchers. These presentations are followed with a two to three day hands-on workshop led by the MISMS scientific staff that trains virologists and epidemiologists in the analysis of epidemiologic and genomic data.
   
Workshops

 

Workshop participants are encouraged to bring a laptop loaded with their data for analysis. Recommended analytical softward packages include STATA, SAS, and R. Workshops concentrate on the phylogenetic analysis of influenza sequence data and methodologies to evaluate time-series data for regional or national analysis of influenza disease burden. Estimation of reproductive numbers and disease modeling are also covered. Participants have the opportunity to apply tools to analyze national datasets and formulate further collaborations on binational and multinational studies.

While we strongly recommend that participants bring their own data, software and sample datasets created by the MISMS team are distributed freely to workshop participants prior to the meeting.
   

 

 
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