International Society of Travel Medicine
E-mail: ISTM@ISTM.org
Office hours: Monday - Friday, 9.00 - 17.00 EDT (UTC-04)

July 2011

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President's Message

Fiona Genasi
Fiona Genasi

(Condensed version of Inaugural Address during the CISTM12 in Boston, MA, USA.)

Accompanying slides to this address can be located on the website.

Thanks

I’d like to start by thanking a few key individuals who have made exceptional contributions to the ISTM over the past two years. In particular the outgoing past president Frank von Sonnenburg and the two outgoing counsellors Eric Caumes and David Shlim. Fortunately Frank, Eric and David will all continue to play a major part in the society moving forward in various roles so we will not lose their input. Also our Secretary-Treasurer David Freedman and our secretariat, Diane and Elena who have been organizing everything behind the scenes and providing support for the ISTM leadership and members. David I’m sure you must operate in some parallel universe to the rest of us since you seem to be able to achieve more in one day than most of us can do in a week!

Thanks are also due to outgoing chairs of standing committees, professional and interest groups -- Michele Barry, Jane Chiodini, Charlie Ericsson, Larry Goodyer, Assunta Marcolongo and Anne McCarthy. A special thanks to Robert Steffen for looking after the journal so expertly for the past 8 years, before handing over to Eric Caumes to continue the excellent work, and to Karl Neumann for his talent and dedication at compiling NewsShare, a challenge now passed into the capable hands of Peter Leggat.

I would also like to recognize and thank Christoph Hatz, Mary Wilson, Christina Greenaway and Leo Visser, for steering the Scientific Programme Committee, and David Hamer for leading the Local Organizing Committee, for what has been a truly wonderful CISTM12 here in Boston.

Finally my biggest thanks must go to Alan Magill. Alan, you have been inspirational to me these past two years -- in the way you deal with people, your insight, vision and they way you approach problems. You are compassionate and always demonstrate a true sense of what is fair, and right and proper -- always with the best interests of the society in mind -- even though that often means making some tough calls. You are also very organized -- you could get a job in the military I’m sure!  I am very grateful that facing my first executive board meeting tomorrow as Chair I will have you on one side of me and David Shlim on the other -- I’d call that a result!

My background

I couldn’t stand here and not make some reference to the fact that I am a nurse. The fact that I have been able to rise to this position in the society is testament to the commitment on the part of the ISTM to embrace the multiple disciplinary nature of Travel Medicine and recognize the valuable contribution that the various professions, whether nurses, physicians, pharmacists or other make. I am proud of the contribution my profession has made to drive forward the specialty and I have been impressed this meeting with the talent and enthusiasm demonstrated by many fellow nurses I have met. I am confident that there is a thriving and vibrant community of practitioners out there that we can help nurture. Nursing professionals are very loyal to the ISTM -- this came through quite strongly in the recent membership survey we conducted. The creditability that comes through involvement in the Society is important to them. I know that the Nurses professional group of the ISTM will contribute over the next few years to help better define the specialty for nurses and provide specific resources and guidance for the nurse members of ISTM.

Vision

Looking to the future and my goals and aspirations for the society. As Alan has described to you we have seen the introduction of some big changes and new initiatives for the society in the past two years. ISTM is now better equipped to face the rigours and challenges of what will come in the future and thus part of my effort over the next two years will be to ensure we consolidate and embed these exciting developments and initiatives to ensure they don’t falter and fail.

However, I would ask you to indulge me a little whilst I take the opportunity to flag up my vision for the ISTM and highlight to you some of the areas I would like to concentrate on during my presidency.

The ISTM is a vibrant and inclusive international society committed to ongoing and sustained contributions to the advancement of the practice and science of travel medicine globally

I tried to encompass in this statement what I hope for the ISTM, with particular emphasis on the terms vibrant, inclusive, advancementpractice, science and global. It is really much of what is already in our mission statement, but I have just put it into my own words with my particular emphasis.

I would like to flag up three strategic goals, or themes, which I see as central for us to focus on in order to get us to that place.  

  1. Stimulate education, service and research critical to the advancement of the practice, science, and specialty of travel medicine    

    One of the main strengths of the ISTM is that it allows people from different countries and cultures to network, share scientific collaboration, compare guidance, vaccine and malaria recommendations and voice opinion. You only have to look at the ISTM website to see the range of initiatives already in place to foster this aspiration.  Inevitably there will be differences -- of course we are not always going to agree -- that is part of the fun - it is good that our thinking is challenged otherwise we become complacent and continue to do things because  that’s what we have always done, not necessarily because they are effective. The ISTM has the infrastructure to help reconcile, or at least explain these differences and help build consensus and provide guidelines.

    Health Improvement and health impact assessment are underpinning principles of what I do in my day job at Health Protection Scotland - where we are encouraged to focus on improved patient outcome and risk/benefit of interventions rather than getting overly distracted by the process alone. This should equally apply in our approach to the practice of Travel Medicine and make us question what we are doing and why.

    Expanding and evaluating the evidence base for Travel Medicine practice is essential if the specialty is to grow - that is one of the main purposes of these conferences.   Where we could do better as a society is to seek out and promote and encourage the next generation of leaders and researchers, including those in under-represented geographic areas. You can see from this slide that we do attempt to move the ISTM conferences around the world, but for the CISTM’s we have traditionally alternated between Europe/NA for various reasons. The regional meetings were introduced in 2004 to facilitate outreach to other parts of the world where we might not take a CISTM. But as you can see there are many areas we have not been and areas that we need to engage with if we want the society and the specialty to continue to grow, breathe and be vibrant.

    ...because there are many talented travel medicine scientists, researchers and practitioners across the world as illustrated by the distribution of the GeoSentinel® and EuroTravNet networks.  Increasingly on our horizon as global travel and international trade continue to rapidly increase is the potential spread of pathogens and vectors which may pose a threat to human and animal health and the environment. Indeed there is a very close link between travel and emerging disease and Travel Medicine should play more of a role in informing decisions by policy makers. Policy makers are increasingly turning to those of us working in this area for guidance as the threat from emerging disease linked with travel has reached the national agenda in many countries and we need to be ready to respond.

    Another area where the public/travel health agendas are inextricably linked is the area of migration. We are acutely aware that migration has contributed to the emergence of certain infectious diseases and immigrants constitute a special group of travellers. The use of resources for the study of specific diseases and health promotion in this population would be expected to have positive public health repercussions and ISTM should be encouraging and assisting high quality research output in this area.   

  2. Grow as an international society, representative of the travel medicine community across borders and across continents  

    A key goal of mine is to strive to grow ISTM as truly international society -- and to demonstrate and communicate to the wider Travel Medicine community that we are. I would like to see us outreach beyond where we are. Part of the appeal of ISTM to me has always been its international nature and I am sure most of you feel the same way - and I would like to see the ISTM enter into more enduring relationships with other Travel Health societies and organizations worldwide. We need to foster a co-operative approach, working together for the benefit of the traveller and the specialty.

    This is not a new concept or aspiration for the society -- we are currently not oblivious to the issues of geographic representation within the ISTM. If I can just take a few minutes to illustrate how we do try to strike a balance geographically. It is actually written into our by-laws that no one continent can dominate the executive board -- so no more than 3 board members at any one time can be from a particular continent.

    If we consider the wider leadership spread we can see that we do have a predominance of North American contributors. And there is a sense of this which came through on the recent member survey, and I have picked up on when speaking with people, that ISTM is dominated by the US. Let me say that while this feeling exists, it isn’t overwhelming -- and it is also not surprising given that 65% of our members are based in this continent. But also let me stress that some of our most active, talented and hardest working leaders are on this side of the Atlantic, and the society would be far poorer without them -- so I am not mentioning this to be confrontational.

    Rather I would like to emphasize that we are an international society and we always have to be cognizant of that. So, on the one hand there is a desire to be more international -- but equally we have a duty to represent the members we have and to ensure we engage the best and most enthusiastic people to take on key roles in the society - and not merely appoint on the basis of geography alone. This is a balance we have to find and I believe we have to look at ways of making the ISTM more attractive both geographically and professionally.

    This brings me onto the last goal which overlaps to an extent with what I have been saying

  3. Strive for a diverse membership, actively engaged with each other internationally and globally

    Here my focus is more on communication, inclusion and participation. Of course I would like to see an increase in members, particularly from countries where English is not their primary language -- but equally I would like to see an increased participation of the members we have. Our membership is growing, and they are looking for real engagement - when there is communications both ways, between the Society and the member and where the member feels they have an investment in the association. Membership of the society should be viewed as so valuable that professionals worldwide will want to join.

    We need to actively encourage members to engage with us and populate the various committees and interest groups. For example this slide is a screen shot from one of the nursing professional group pages on the website when they were looking to recruit onto their council.

    The recent formation of the pharmacy professional group, the various interest groups and the more focused standing committees as part of the new ISTM structure should facilitate better communication between members and the society within all the constituency groups.

    So although people may join the ISTM in order to get a discount for the conference - they remain members because they feel good about the society!

Finally..

My final, slightly cryptic slide relates to a point I would like to make around the concept of Global Health and ISTM’s social responsibility around this -- that we recognise and accept that by improving health globally we will improve the health of our own people. This slide depicts HRH Princess Anne who came to address our Regional meeting in Edinburgh in 2006 when she gave an inspiring talk on her work with “Save the Children”. This is her networking with some of the nurses that were there. She ended her talk with a plea -- one that I now mirror - that we do not forget the plight of those with enormous health needs in the countries our travellers are visiting. For example, if malaria was eradicated in Africa this would save millions of African lives, and at the same time protect our travellers.

It is easy to say this, it’s the proper thing to say -- but it is also easy to forget and do nothing about it. However I know that ISTM should, and does, have a conscience in this regard, although we may need to prod it once in a while, and I will be looking at how we can make more of an effort and contribution in this regard. I know it is something the president elect David Shlim is also very keen to progress.

Therefore, it is my hope to stand up two years from now in Maastricht, the Netherlands, and report back to you that the ISTM is indeed advancing the practice and science of Travel Medicine globally, that we are more geographically diverse and that our members are happy and engaging more with each other and with the society.

Once again can I thank you for giving me the opportunity to serve as president of the society for the next two years. I promise that, along with the rest of the board and leadership council, we will do our very best on your behalf -- and we will try hard not to break anything in the process!

Brenda Bagwell(ADDENDUM -- I would like to pay a special and separate thanks to Brenda Bagwell for her 18 years of dedicated service to the society and to its individual members.  Brenda began working part-time from her house in 1993 when there was no ISTM office, and left in late 2010 having served as Administrative Director since 2005.  Brenda in many ways was the voice, face, and spirit of the ISTM especially in the early years when websites and e-mail didn’t exit. During her time with us she provided a steady hand on the administrative affairs of the society, working in particular to support our members, our meetings, our training courses as well as GeoSentinel®.  The now successful CTH® exam was in many ways her pride and joy; she was passionate in her role in organizing, advocating within the elected leadership, and ensuring the integrity of the CTH® examination process from its earliest days. Her  down-to-earth approach, coupled with her sunny outlook and cheerful manner made her a very popular personality in the society. I have particularly fond memories of travelling with Brenda several years ago on ISTM business in China when her warmth and sense of humour were very much in evidence, and indeed were a highlight of the trip. We wish Brenda every success in the future. )

Cheers,
Fiona Genasi, President

 


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From the Editor

Peter Leggat
Peter Leggat
This edition of NewsShare has been a while coming, but hopefully it has been worth the wait. There has been a lot happening in the ISTM in the past few months, including another CTH® examination, CISTM12 in Boston, the installation of a new President, and a number of new but experienced faces on the various committees of the ISTM, which are key drivers in the engine room of the Society. Your society leaders and committees have indeed been very busy. I was fortunate to be able to attend the Leadership Council meeting held in Cape Cod following CISTM12 and there is considerable enthusiasm, activity and excellent plans amongst the various committees. Indeed, having been in the chair for the past 6 months, I believe the NewsShare Editor has to be the best job in the society, which is facilitating the communication flow from the various committees and office bearers as well as providing useful information to ISTM members with the assistance of our Executive Director, Diane Nickolson.

I will make special mention of significant new appointment, which is my editorial counterpart on the Journal of Travel Medicine (JTM). After years of exceptional service, Prof. Robert Steffen has handed the position of JTM Editor-in-Chief (EiC) to Prof. Eric Caumes. The JTM is an important part of the ISTM's academic and professional global outreach. Robert has left the JTM in a strong position for the new EiC, as indeed Karl Newman did when he passed on NewsShare. No doubt we will continue to hear from Robert and you will certainly hear from Karl, as I am asking him to do guest editorials for NewsShare.

I also look forward to working with Fiona Genasi and her team. Her three strategic goals for her term of office should indeed be inspiring to all ISTM members, namely (source-President's Message):

  1. "Stimulate education, service and research critical to the advancement of the practice, science, and specialty of travel medicine;
  2. Grow as an international society, representative of the travel medicine community across borders and across continents;
  3. Strive for a diverse membership, actively engaged with each other internationally and globally".

I personally wish Fiona well for her Presidency, which should see a continuing consolidation of ISTM's preeminent place in travel medicine globally. For those that were able to attend CISTM12, I am sure you will agree that it was a splendid academic program for a conference held in the wonderful city of Boston. Congratulations to all the organisers. We are now looking forward to the next ISTM endorsed regional conference, which will be RCISTM5 in Singapore 2-5 May 2012, held in association with the Asia Pacific Travel Health Society and other partners, such as Faculty of Travel Medicine of The Australasian College of Tropical Medicine. Singapore is truly an exceptionally modern city state where "East meets West" and where the best of the past has been retained. Mark the conference in your diaries, check out the link from the ISTM.org website, and see you in Singapore.

Peter Leggat
Editor, NewsShare

 


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Secretary-Treasurer's Report

David Freedman
David Freedman
I am pleased to report the result of the 2011 ISTM Executive Board elections. The new Board members were installed during the Membership Assembly at the CISTM12 in Boston, USA.

2011-2017 President-Elect (then President and Past-President: David Shlim, United States of America
2011-2015 Counsellor: Francesco Castelli, Italy
2011-2015 Counsellor: Karin Leder, Australia

 
David Schlim
David Shlim
David Shlim was the founder and Medical Director of the CIWEC Clinic Travel Medicine Centre in Kathmandu, Nepal from 1983 to 1998. Since then David Shlim has served as Medical Director at the Jackson Hole Travel and Tropical Medicine Clinic. He is the co-author of Medicine and Compassion: A Tibetan Lama's Guidance for Caregivers. He is currently Medical Editor of the CDC's Health Information for International Travel ('The Yellow Book').

David's ISTM roles have included serving on the scientific program committee, the exam committee, and the publications committee. He has been an editorial board member of the Journal of Travel Medicine since its inaugural issue.

 
Francesco Castelli
Francesco Castelli
Francesco Castelli is Professor of Infectious Diseases and the Director of the Department of Mother and Child Care and Medical Bio-Technologies at the University of Brescia. He is also the head of the Tropical Unit at the Institute for Infectious and Tropical Diseases, University of Brescia, which serves as a GeoSentinel® site.

Francesco's main fields of research are (i) HIV infection, (ii) Tropical and Migration Medicine, (III) Travel-related and imported diseases and (iv) Congenital infectious diseases. He has published more than 140 papers, 90 book chapters, and has edited one Book on Infectious and Tropical Diseases.

He is the President of the Italian Branch of Medicus Mundi Italy, a non-profit Non-Governmental Organization working in many humanitarian projects in South America, Africa and Asia. In June of 2011, Prof. Castelli was bestowed the title of "Knight of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic", the highest ranking honour of the Italian Republic.

 
Karin Leder
Karin Leder

Karin Leder is the Director of Travel Medicine and Immigrant Health Services at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, a large tertiary referral hospital in Australia. She is also Head of the Infectious Disease Epidemiology Unit in the School of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Monash University.

Karin's main research interests include travel health, the burden of imported infections, immigrant / refugee health, research methodology, and public health issues associated with water use.

Karin is the GeoSentinel® Site Director for Melbourne, and a member of the ISTM Research Awards Committee. She has also been a member of the Scientific Program Committee for CISTM11 (Budapest) and CISTM 12 (Boston), as well as for the Asia Pacific Travel Health Conference in Melbourne (2008). She is the co-chair of the Asia Pacific Travel Health Conference to be held in Singapore, 2012. Dr Leder is also a regular contributor to and referee for the Journal of Travel Medicine.

ISTM Executive Board
Photo taken during the May 2011 Executive Board Retreat
Pictured from left to right are: Back row: Alan Magill, Past President; David Shlim, President-Elect;
David Freedman, Secretary-Treasurer; Annelies Wilder-Smith, Counsellor; Francesco Castelli, Counsellor
Front row: Fiona Genasi, President; Lin Chen, Counsellor; Karin Leder, Counsellor

With these newly elected Directors, the 2011-2013 voting ISTM Executive Board members are:

  • President: Fiona Genasi, United Kingdom
  • President-Elect: David Shlim, United States
  • Past President: Alan Magill, United States
  • Counsellor: Francesco Castelli, Italy
  • Counsellor: Lin Chen, United States
  • Counsellor: Karin Leder, Australia
  • Counsellor: Annelies Wilder-Smith, Singapore

You can find photos and biographical information for each of the EB Members on the ISTM Website under Leaders of ISTM.

 


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News from the Secretariat

Diane Nickolson
Diane Nickolson

Dear Members:

What a pleasure it was to meet so many of you at the CISTM12 in Boston. It is always fun to be able to place faces with names and voices! I look forward to seeing everyone again at an upcoming Regional or International ISTM Conference.

Recently I've been thinking about the many resources the ISTM leaders have provided for members, and how so many members are just not aware of them. I believe that the Secretariat must begin to do a better job in letting you know of the educational materials, patient information handouts and other informational resources available to you as ISTM members.

The ISTM website is filled with useful documents and information for ISTM members - I will take some time here to share just a few of the resources on our website and how you can easily find them. You can also hyperlink directly to them by clicking on their titles below.

Beginning and Operating a Travelers' Health Clinic Monograph

The ISTM Professional Education Committee developed a 112 page monograph providing resources for beginning and operating a travelers' health clinic. The full monograph is available for ISTM members to download directly from the website. You can easily locate the monograph using the navigation bar on the top of the home page "ISTM Activities/Publications and Handouts/Handouts and Educational Materials".

Pharmacist and Travel Medicine Bibliography

The ISTM Pharmacist Professional Group (PPG) created a list of books, articles, and other items on pharmacists and travel medicine. The bibliography is regularly updated, so check back often to review the latest information. The bibliography is available for ISTM members to download directly from the PPG page on the website. You can easily locate the PPG page using the navigation bar on the top of the home page "Groups and Committees/Professional Groups/Pharmacist".

Pediatrics and Travel Medicine Bibliography

The ISTM Pediatric Interest Group also created a list of published resources on pediatrics and travel medicine. The bibliography is regularly updated, so check back often to review the latest information. The bibliography is available for ISTM members to download directly from the Pediatrics IG page on the website. You can easily locate the page using the navigation bar on the top of the home page "Groups and Committees/Interest Groups/Pediatrics".

Nursing Resources

The ISTM Nursing Professional Group (NPG) has placed a number of resources on its website page, including a special feature profiling nurses and their practices called Nursing in Travel Medicine Around the World. Also on this page you can find guides on Best Practices in Travel Medicine and Competencies: An integrated career and competency framework for nurses in travel health medicine.

Travel Medicine Meeting and Event Listing

We are working to capture and list travel medicine meetings and events of interest to members. If you have an event you would like to have posted, please submit it to the ISTM secretariat at ISTM@ISTM.org, and we will submit it for approval prior to posting. You can find this list from a link on the ISTM home page in the bottom box on the left side of the page.

World Watch

The home page of the ISTM provides regularly updated links to late-breaking information from WHO, the ECDC, the CDC, GeoSentinel® and EuroTravNet. We do send membership emails when this section is updated, but feel free to peruse it at any time. You can find the links right on the home page of the ISTM website, in the World Watch box.

I hope you will find these resources helpful to you, and that you will take some time to explore the ISTM website where these and many other resources can be found. I'll be sure to highlight more resources and educational items in future issues of the ISTM NewsShare.

Thank you for all you do to support the ISTM and the practice of Travel Medicine!

Kind regards,
Diane Nickolson, ISTM Executive Director

 


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CISTM12 in Boston, MA, USA

CISTM12CISTM12

Christopher Hatz, CISTM12 Scientific Committee Chair
Christopher Hatz,
CISTM12 Scientific
Committee Chair
More than 1300 delegates gathered for the 12th Conference of the International Society of Travel Medicine held 8-12 May 2011 in Boston, MA, USA, marking the 20th Anniversary of the ISTM. The CISTM12 Scientific Committee led by Chair: Christoph Hatz, Switzerland; Co-Chair Mary Wilson, United States of America; Christina Greenaway, Canada; and Leo Visser, The Netherlands delivered a remarkable scientific program to rave reviews. The scientific program covered all aspects of travel medicine, from clinical considerations to practice management. Recent advances in the field were highlighted throughout the program, and expert presenters were secured from around the globe.

During the CISTM12, the following awards were presented for the Best Oral and Poster Presentations:

Best Oral Presentations

First Place
G.A. Deye for "Prolonged Prophylactic Efficacy of Atovaquone/Proguanil to Prevent Malaria." FC01.03

Second Place
P. Zanger for "Importation and spread of Panton-Valentine leukocidin positive Staphylococcus aureus through nasal carriage and skin infections in travelers to the tropics and subtropics." FC06.04

Third Place
A.H. Roukens for "Delayed antibody response to yellow fever vaccination in elderly coincides with prolonged viraemia." FC05.06

Best Poster Presentations

First Place
K.B. Gibney for "Detection of Yellow Fever Immunoglobulin M Antibodies at 3-4 Years Following Yellow Fever Vaccination." PO02.12

Maastricht

Second Place
A.A. Ebringer for "Safety and tolerability of a short higher-dose primaquine regimen for terminal prophylaxis in healthy subjects." PO01.01

Third Place
C. Taucher for "Modelling the antibody decline following a booster dose of the inactivated Japanese encephalitis vaccine IXIARO®, IC51." PO02.04

You can find the complete program book and all abstracts received on the CISTM12 page of the ISTM website.

Plans are underway for the CISTM13 which will be held in Maastricht, The Netherlands. Mark your calendar for 19-23 May 2013!

 


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5th Regional Travel Medicine Conference of the ISTM: Travel Health and Vaccines: The Asia Pacific Perspective

RCISTM5

Annelies Wilder-Smith
Annelies Wilder-Smith
Chair: Prof Annelies Wilder-Smith (President of the Asia Pacific Society of Travel Medicine)

The 5th Regional Conference of the ISTM is being organized in conjunction with the Asia Pacific Travel Health Society on 2-5 May 2012 at the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel in Singapore. The conference will focus on issues critical to the practices of healthcare professionals working in the field of travel medicine covering issues such as emerging infectious diseases, tropical medicine, preventive medicine, and vaccinology. The conference offers the opportunity to exchange and receive the most up-to-date information on travel medicine in the Asia Pacific region.

The conference features plenary sessions, high level debates, country highlights and symposia, and will offer delegates ample time to network and meet colleagues in the area, as well as speakers who will be brought in from around the world.

The ISTM Certificate in Travel HealthTM examination will be offered on 2 May 2012.

Chaired by Professor Eli Schwartz, the Scientific Committee has been working diligently to identify the most compelling topics and speakers. The Plenary sessions include:

  • Travelling superbugs
  • Dengue: the known and the unknown
  • Vaccines: past, present, future
  • Travel Medicine in the Asia Pacific Region

Reknown experts such as Nick White, Jeremy Farrar, Robert Steffen, David Freedman, Alan Magill, Kevin Baird, and Mary Wilson have agreed to speak.

With Dr Poh-Lian Lim chairing the local organizing committee, the conference is poised to be an overall stimulating event. In addition to the Asia Pacific Travel Health Society and the ISTM, the following organizations are collaborating to ensure the success of the conference:

Singapore Infectious Disease Society
Australasian College of Travel Medicine
Japanese Society of Travel Medicine
Japanese Society of Travel and Health
Thai Travel Medicine Society

Consider joining us in Singapore, a country that is known for the fashion emporiums of Orchard Road, antique shops in Chinatown, diving with sharks at Underwater World on Sentosa, Mountain biking around Bukit Timah and waterskiing or wakeboarding on the Kallang River. The weather in May is as usual warm in Singapore.

Free membership (for a limited time period only) for the Asia Pacific Society of Travel Medicine is available at www.apths.org.

For more information about the conference, or to register, please go to the Conference website: www.apthc2012.org

 


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Journal of Travel Medicine (JTM)

Eric Caumes
Eric Caumes
During the recent CISTM12 in Boston, MA, USA, we had the pleasure of presenting the 2009-2010 ISTM Journal of Travel Medicine Awards. The Awards program is made possible through the generous sponsorship of Wiley-Blackwell, the JTM publishing company.

A review committee was appointed to review all published articles and the winners below were presented the awards during the ISTM Membership Assembly in Boston. Presenting the awards were Robert Steffen, Outgoing Editor-in-Chief, ISTM JTM, Eric Caumes Incoming Editor-in-Chief, ISTM JTM and Elaine Musgrave of Wiley-Blackwell.

 

Original Article First Place
Authors: Laura Costas, Anna Vilella, Antoni Trilla, Beatriz Serrano, Isabel Vera, Montse Roldan, Maria-Pilar Sancho, Jose-Maria Bayas, Joaquim Gascon, Josep Costa JTM 16.5
Vaccination strategies against hepatitis A in travelers older than 40 years: An economic evaluation

Award
JTM Award Recipient
 

Original Article Second Place
Authors: Gerard JB Sonder, Gini GC van Rijckevorsel, Anneke van den Hoek JTM 16.1
Risk of Hepatitis B for Travelers: Is Vaccination for All Travelers Really Necessary?

Review First Place
Authors: Jennifer A. Whitaker, Carlos Franco-Paredes, Carlos del Rio, Srilatha Edupuganti JTM 16.1
Rethinking typhoid fever vaccines: Implications for travelers and people living in highly endemic areas

Best Article
JTM Award Recipient
 

Review Second Place
Authors: Larry I. Goodyer, Ashley M. Croft, Steve P. Frances, Nigel Hill, Sarah J Moore, Sangoro P. Onyango, Mustapha Debboun JTM17.3
Expert Review of the Evidence Base for Arthropod Bite Avoidance

ISTM Members have complete online access to the Journal of Travel Medicine.

 


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2011 CTH® Examination

Kenneth Dardick
Kenneth Dardick

The ISTM presented the 2011 Examination in conjunction with the CISTM12 in Boston, MA, USA in May of 2011. 276 candidates passed the 2011 exam bringing the total number of travel medicine professionals with the Certificate in Travel HealthTM to 1522.

There are now travel medicine professionals holding the Certificate in Travel HealthTM in 55 countries, representing doctors, nurses, pharmacists and physician assistants.

We would like to gratefully acknowledge the Exam Proctors, who sacrificed sleep and a long Sunday morning to assist in conducting the examination in Boston.

Paul Arguin
Brian Aw
Diane Boteler
Phil Coyne
Ken Dardick
Sam Diab
Daniele Fryer
Martin Haditsch
Sheila Hall
Paula Hart
Tadeja Kotar
Pierre Landry
John McDade
Marc Robin
David Roque
Robert Smith
Robert Steffen
Lori Stetz
Alex Van den Daele
 

We are also pleased to report that the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons Glasgow has now exempted travel medicine professionals who have achieved the Certificate in Travel HealthTM for the Part I of its two Part examination process.

The next examination will take place during the RCISTM5 on 2 May 2012 in Singapore.

Congratulations to those who passed the 2011 Examination!

More information can be found about the Certificate in Travel HealthTM program and the upcoming examination dates on the ISTM website.

 


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Research Awards

David Hamer
David Hamer

During the CISTM12, the ISTM Research and Awards Committee presented the ISTM 2010-2011 Research Awards to two research teams. The ISTM Research Awards program provides small to moderate size grants through a peer-reviewed process. These grants are designed to stimulate travel medicine research by supporting comprehensive research projects or, for larger projects, providing support for pilot studies to allow researchers to collect preliminary data and test novel hypotheses , ideally and if feasible encompassing a laboratory component, so that they can then apply to other agencies for more substantive research grants.

Research Awards
Pictured from left to right are: Tarek Mikati, accepting the award for Monica Shah;
Anne McCarthy, Past Chair of the Research Awards Committee; Rupal Shah, Awardee then Alan Magill, Past ISTM President
 

The 2010-2011 Awards were presented to:

  1. Monika Shah (Principal Investigator of the study from the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA) , her associate investigators, Tarek Mikati and Kenneth Griffin (both from Weill Cornell Medical College, New York Presbyterian Hospital, New York, NY, USA), and Matthew Matisar (Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY USA). The group aims to determine how "To assist in Supporting the Health Preparations and Travel-Related Morbidity of Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant Recipients Travelling Internationally".
  2. Rupal Shah (Principal Investigator) and Nicola Boddington (Associate Investigator), both from InterHealth Worldwide in London, UK are going to work on an "Assessment of the Use of Standby Emergency Self-Treatment Kits for Travellers' Diarrhoea and Malaria".

Applications are now being accepted for the 2011-2012 ISTM Research Awards. The submission deadline is 9 December 2011. The application and instructions for proposal submission are available on the ISTM website at www.ISTM.org.

 


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Nurse Professional Group (NPG)

Gail Rosselot
Gail Rosselot
Message from the Chair:

Our professional group is now entering a new and exciting phase of development. On behalf of the newly elected NPG Steering Council, I want to thank everyone for their participation in the recent election and the great turnout at the Boston meeting. Some of you presented very well-received sessions and others contributed valuable posters. Many ideas were shared at the Tuesday Night Members' Assembly. As our number approaches 500 nurses, this is a defining time for the Nurse Professional Group. In coming months we will be regularly communicating to you all via the website and email in response to your requests and in an effort to put forward new projects and initiatives. In this issue of NewsShare, we are excited to present your new Council and officers for 2011-2013:

Chair: Gail Rosselot, United States of America

Gail is a nurse practitioner certified in Adult Health and Occupational Health with a joint Masters in Nursing and Masters in Public Health. She has more than 25 years of experience in travel health nursing and earned her CTH® in 2003. Gail has worked in a variety of health settings that include: directing a student health clinic at Rutgers University, managing an office of Kaiser-Permanente HMO, employee health and wellness promotion at Bristol-Myers Squibb, and travel health services and vaccine clinical trials in the Department of Infectious Diseases, Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Since 1992 Gail has maintained a private practice in travel health, Travel Well of Westchester, Inc. Since 2002, she has also directed The Westchester Course: Travel Health Fundamentals. Gail has been active in ISTM since 1991 and is also a founding member of the American Travel Health Nurses Association. In 2008 Gail was inducted as a Member of the Faculty of Travel Medicine, Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons, University of Glasgow. In 2009 she was inducted as a Fellow of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners. In addition to her NPG role, Gail serves on the CPD committee and PEC.

Vice-Chair: Lani Ramsey, Australia

Lani works as a Travel Medicine Nurse in Australia. Nine of her 21 years as a practicing nurse has been in this area. She trained in travel medicine first in Vancouver B.C, Canada, and helped run three clinics for 5 years. Lani wrote the ISTM-CTH® in 2005, and has received a Diploma of Travel Medicine through the RCPSG-Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons Glasgow. She is currently working on her Masters of Nurse Practitioner Degree and would like to take the Gorgas Course in Peru next or possibly a shorter course in Africa. Lani is spearheading our effort to develop a special nursing session at the next RCISTM5 in Singapore.

John Bosch, The Netherlands

John started as a registered nurse in 1991 and worked in some general hospitals in the Netherlands and the Netherlands Antilles (Aruba). After 1994 he started specializing in occupational health, ergonomics and travel health. Since 2007 John has worked full time as a travel health nurse for Keur Company Travel Clinics. He was closely involved with setting up the Travel Clinic, focusing on nurses' responsibilities and quality control. Keur Company Travel Clinics (part of the ArboNed Group Occupational Health Organization) is working with 16 highly educated professionals (physicians and nurses) and has 30 locations throughout the Netherlands. Besides working as a travel health nurse, John is a member of the core team of Keur Company Travel Clinics as a Delegate. John is a member of the Organizing Committee for CISTM13 in the Netherlands.

Briar K. Campbell, New Zealand

Briar is a proud Kiwi RN, working full time, practicing in travel medicine since 2004. Day to day she specializes primarily in the identification of health risks and advise on the prevention management of health problems or to minimize those risks associated with travel. She is also the nurse specialist for all New Zealand police overseas deployments. In 2008 Briar completed a post graduate diploma in travel medicine (University of Otago, Dunedin). She is aiming to pursue a Nursing Masters in the not too distant future and has presented at several external agencies.

Cindy Rugsten, Uganda

Cindy was born and raised in Canada and completed her RN nursing qualification in 1988 in Canada. In 1990 she went to Kenya to work within a rural clinic with Maasai peoples. Then she joined an international NGO and worked in Somalia and South Sudan doing emergency nutrition programs and primary health care for 5 yrs. In 2001 Cindy moved to Uganda where she has lived and worked for the last 10 years. Cindy married her Swedish husband in 1994, and had a son in 1999 as well as a daughter in 2000, both in Nairobi. Cindy has been involved in Travel Medicine for the last 10 years in Uganda in both the private and diplomatic sectors. This summer she will relocate to Australia.

Nahoko Sato, Japan

Nahoko's interest in travel medicine began 20 years ago when she worked in one of Japan's largest international general trading companies. In that company Nahoko performed regular medical checkups, administered vaccines, conducted seminars on local health education, and did health consultations as well. After working with this trading company, Nahoko traveled and lived in different countries including Canada, Singapore and Vietnam. Since April 2000 Nahoko has been working for one of the major Japanese international airlines as an occupational health nurse. In this company, Nahoko taught in-flight first aid skills, proper sanitation and treatment of infectious diseases. Now she belongs to the Flight Crew Medical Services Division. While working at the airline, Nahoko was able to obtain a Master's Degree in Health Sociology at the University of Tokyo. And in 2009 she received her CTH®. During this time she also joined the Japanese Society of Travel and Health. As a member of Japanese Society of Travel and Health, Nahoko is responsible for organizing travel medicine seminars for nurses. Nahoko is currently part of the examination committee of this organization. Also, Nahoko became part of the scientific committee of the 8th Asia-Pacific Travel and Health Conference, where she organized a nursing symposium.

Claire Wong, United Kingdom

Claire has 15 years of experience in travel medicine during which time she has worked in several specialist travel clinics. In 2002, Claire started as a Specialist Nurse at the then newly formed National Travel Health Network and Centre (NaTHNaC). Claire's role at NaTHNaC is a varied one and involves advising health professionals on complex travel health queries, teaching, writing clinical information and involvement in the research activities of the centre. In 1999 Claire completed a Diploma in Travel Health and Medicine, and in 2007 she gained an MSc in International and Travel Health, her dissertation subject being travellers visiting friends and relatives. Currently Claire is completing a Post-graduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education at the University of Liverpool.

Seeking NPG Members for ISTM Standing Committees

Are you interested in working on one of the several committees of ISTM? NPG would like to encourage more nurses to volunteer for these interesting professional opportunities within the society. Many of us enjoy the international networking of ISTM and when you work on a standing committee or special project that interaction is even stronger. You can find a description of the different committees on the ISTM website if you would like to know more about their focus and function. If you have any interest, please send us an email and let's start a conversation. Committee openings come up from time to time and NPG hopes to support the nomination of many more nurses during the next two years.

Share Your Practice Profile!

Have you been reading this regular feature on our webpage?

NPG has nearly 500 members. No two travel health nursing practices are quite alike, but around the world we all share many similarities and have some of the same challenges and triumphs. To date we have shared profiles on nurses from: New Zealand, Portugal, the United States, Uganda and two from nurses in the United Kingdom who work in very different areas of practice. We hope to continue this feature and are now looking for nurse profiles from Canada, Australia, South America, India, the Far East, Eastern Europe and beyond. If you would like to submit your profile, please get in touch with us at the address below. No need to send us a "finished" product. We'll gladly help you edit! Let us know what you are doing as a travel health nurse in your country...

Spreading the News...

Have you attended any meetings that you would like to share with other NPG members? Sandra Grieves from the UK attended a meeting earlier this year and shares this account with us:

The National Coordination Centre for Travellers Health Advice (LCR) in Amsterdam in The Netherlands held their 15th anniversary conference in March of 2011. NPG member Susan Koeman is senior nurse in LCR and presented a session dedicated to nurses that included a presentation by NPG Past Chair Jane Chiodini. Jane discussed travel health advice by "foreign" nurses, differences and similarities between the UK and the Netherlands, and the importance of a competency profile for the travel nurse. From an international perspective Jane also discussed how Dutch Travel Nurses can contribute internationally with reference to the ISTM. Jane shares her abstract with us here.

Travel health nursing was established in the United Kingdom in the early 1990's with the formation of a special interest group within the Royal College of Nursing. In 1995 formal education commenced at the University of Glasgow with a post graduate diploma and masters course in travel medicine, in which nurses studied and were evaluated alongside doctors. Since this time, nurses have taken key roles in travel health in day to day practice: seeing travellers, teaching, and taking roles within National bodies to deliver guidance and advice. The publication in 2007 of "Competencies: an integrated career and competency framework for nurses in travel health medicine", has helped to make a difference to the standard of advice delivered to travellers. It was a ground breaking document, the first of its type in the world. Of recent years, a Faculty of Travel Medicine has been established within the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, into which nurses, both international and UK based, have been admitted in their own right, to Fellow, Member and Associate status, based on their qualifications. This has been a significant development and high honour, as Royal Medical Colleges in the UK are usually reserved for doctors alone. UK nurses have also taken lead roles within the International Society of Travel Medicine. This presentation will describe the work and pathway opportunities that the field of travel health is providing for nurses, and demonstrate how the nursing profession can certainly excel and add great value to the delivery of a travel health service.

International Travel Health Conferences of Note to Nurses

It is never too early to start your planning and preparation to attend an international travel health meeting. In this issue we want to alert you to two important meetings coming up next year. Mark your calendars now!

RCISTM5: Asia-Pacific Travel Health Society

May 2012 Singapore

Scheduled for May 2-5, 2012, this meeting will feature a special 90 minute session devoted to nursing issues. NPG has been invited to develop this session and we welcome your ideas for content and presenters. Travel health nursing is still in its infancy in many parts of the world and this meeting will be an excellent opportunity to encourage its development throughout Asia and the Pacific region. Currently this society is offering free membership as well. We encourage every nurse to go to their website and join. It is free, you gain some benefit, but more importantly you increase the numbers of nurses in their society. For membership and information about the conference go to www.apths.org/Pages/Home.aspx

NECTM4: Irish Society of Travel Medicine

June 2012 Dublin

Nurses are actively developing content for this fourth Northern European Conference on Travel Medicine to be held June 6-8, 2012. Council member Claire Wong will be sharing more information about this meeting in a future NewsShare article. For an outline of this program go to www.nathnac.org/pro/documents/NECTMFirstAnnouncement.pdf

We welcome your feedback, ideas, and suggestions for NewsShare content and all NPG efforts.

Please contact us directly:
Chair: Gail Rosselot (United States of America): garosselot@aol.com
Vice-Chair: Lani Ramsey (Australia): ramseylani@hotmail.com

 


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Pharmacist Professional Group

Jeff Goad
Jeff Goad
I'm pleased to announce that the ISTM Pharmacist Professional Group (PPG) has now identified its new Leadership Council. Council Members are listed below:
  • Chair: Jeff Goad, United States of America
  • Immediate Past Chair: Larry Goodyer, United Kingdom
  • Lee Baker, South Africa
  • Karl Hess, United States of America
  • Ian Heslop, Australia
  • Nikolaos Ioannidis, Greece
  • Claudine Leuthold, Switzerland
  • Rick Siemans, Canada
  • Julia Walker, Canada

The new Leadership Council has been working on a number of activities and initiatives, including:

Creating and maintaining a comprehensive bibliography of published books, articles and other items on pharmacy and travel medicine. The bibliography is available for ISTM members to download directly from the PPG page of the ISTM website.

We are also planning to have a booth at the American Pharmacists Association's Annual meeting in March in New Orleans, LA. This should be a great opportunity to educate pharmacists about ISTM and the Pharmacists Professional Group!

The Pharmacist Professional Group (PPG) of the ISTM was created in 2009 to represent pharmacists around the world who practice in travel medicine. Our mission is to promote the role of the pharmacist in the practice of travel medicine and to serve as a resource for those pharmacists are interested or who are in the practice of travel medicine.

If you are an ISTM Pharmacist Member, and have not already done so, please consider joining the PPG.

 


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Destination Community Support Interest Group (DCSIG)

Garth Brink
Garth Brink
I am pleased to report the DCSIG Council has been constituted, and our new Council Members are:
  • Chair: Garth Brink, South Africa
  • Vice-Chair: Sheila Hall, United Kingdom
  • Immediate Past Chair: Assunta Marcolongo, Canada
  • Irmgard Bauer, Australia
  • Santanu Chatterjee, India
  • Martin Haditsch, Austria

A general meeting was held at the recent ISTM Conference where the structure of the Group was outlined as well as the proposed activities of the Group. In summary, the objectives of the Group are:

  • Promote development of travel medicine in developing host countries
  • Identify social, environmental, economical and cultural issues that impact on the traveller and host country communities
  • Develop strategies to protect destination communities
  • Encourage research
  • Collaboration with
    • ISTM committees
    • Travel industry
    • Destination communities

We have just completed a survey of our members and will be reviewing the responses in order to help identify future activities and objectives.

The DCSIG has secured a symposium at the 5th RCISTM Congress to be held in Singapore in May 2012 entitled: How not to MES it up - aspects of medical, eco and sex tourism. Currently we are also reviewing The Responsible Traveler Document and plan to post a number of translated versions on the ISTM website very soon.

If you have an interest in promoting the development of travel medicine in developing host countries and have not yet joined our group, please considering doing so. There is no additional cost to join, and we would welcome your contributions.

Garth Brink, Chair, ISTM DCSIG

 


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Pediatric Interest Group

Phillip Fischer
Philip Fischer
The ISTM's Pediatric Interest Group was conceived in 2010 and born in 2011. It has already grown to 267 members.

The Pediatrics Interest Group Website page on the ISTM website at www.ISTM.org is being developed to serve as a resource to ISTM members providing travel medicine services to children and adolescents. An annotated bibliography of useful articles has been prepared and is available to ISTM Members on the website page. Other resources are being organized and outreach is in process to identify members interested in working with the Group on a number of new initiatives.

 

 


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Vale: Susan Stokes, ISTM Administrative Director, 1991-2003

Susan Stokes

Peter Leggat

It is with much regret that we announce the recent death of Susan Stokes. We have received many tributes from ISTM Colleagues including almost all the Past-Presidents and Secretary-Treasurers, which are too numerous to publish here. What is clear from these recollections was that Susan was instrumental in shepherding the ISTM from its fragile beginnings through to the strong society it remains today, much of this in a voluntary capacity. She was said to have a wonderful strength of personality, which many of the founding members will know well. I have published below an insightful tribute by David O. Freedman concerning Susan and have excerpted the official CDC Obituary, courtesy of Phyllis Kozarsky.

Tribute to Susan Stokes from the ISTM Secretary/Treasurer

David O. Freedman

Although many of the remembrances received allude to Susan's role, it may not be clear that Susan was the de Facto Executive Director of ISTM from inception until 2003. She carried the title of Administrative Director, but she was more than that. She carried the continuity and history with her as really the only one, except maybe for Robert Steffen, who was at essentially every ISTM event and Board meeting for all those early years. Many remember Brenda's role and dedication as the face of ISTM in the early years, but behind the scenes was Susan running most of the show. Unlike most nascent societies like this we were actually a legal entity from the outset thanks to Susan and remarkably were incorporated and achieved legal status as a non-profit charity within months of the 1991 founding meeting. The result was that from the outset mundane things like filing tax returns and legal compliance had to be done, even though we didn't have any kind of office or paid full time staff. She did this in her "spare time" nights and weekends between her already long hours working for CDC. She was an unpaid volunteer, whose reward was the results of her work, the ISTM and the ISTM related travel and camaraderie with a unique group of very culturally distinct people.

Obituary (excerpts courtesy of CDC)

After her years with the CDC Drug Service where among other things, she shipped emergency parasitic drug releases on nights and weekends, she became a Human Subjects Review Specialist, working on some very high profile protocols, helping initiate policy and guidelines, and bringing CDC into full compliance with human subjects' regulations.

In 1998 she joined the Office of the Director, where she assumed increasing responsibility for all of the complex and challenging human subjects research issues domestically and internationally. Among others, she handled emergency protocols during some of our most high profile events, including anthrax, smallpox vaccine and antiviral medications, SARS, monkeypox, West Nile virus, and influenza vaccine shortages.

Susan had tremendous analytic skills, capacity, and unbounded integrity to critically review circumstances within the context of ethical guidance; she had a unique mix of critical thinking, wisdom, outrage, and humor that proved a recipe for solving even the most thorny problems. She had a wonderful ability to find ways to navigate the tricky balance between following the rules, ensuring respect for individual rights, and protecting the collective good. In addition, she was proud of working hard to help scientists find "an ethical way to get to 'yes.'"