From the Summer Institute Director

Dear colleagues,

Today, June 1st, is the day the 2020 McGill Summer Institute in Infectious Diseases and Global Health was scheduled to begin. As evidence of the seriousness of the COVID-19 pandemic rose, we were forced to cancel the courses in early spring.

We are already planning for the return of the Summer Institute in the summer of 2021. Participants who applied in 2020 and who are interested in attending in 2021 will have to re-apply when the courses open in fall 2020. For other information about the cancellation, please consult our FAQ page or contact summerinstitute.med@mcgill.ca.

As a way to keep in touch during this time we had hoped to be together, we have curated a brief list of some of the articles and work that course directors of the McGill Summer Institute have recently produced.

We'd also like to hear from you! As a summer program focused on infectious diseases, we have always aimed to offer courses that are highly relevant and timely for the variety of practitioners working in the infectious disease field. Do you have a topic or course idea you'd love to see us cover in 2021? Something you need to fill a gap in your professional development or academic training? A new skill or knowledge you need in the current COVID-19 pandemic context? Click here to send us your ideas for topics or courses in 2021.

I hope you are all well and that we will be able to reconnect in 2021.

Kind regards,
Professor Madhukar Pai, MD, PhD, FCAHS

Director, McGill Summer Institute in Infectious Diseases and Global Health
Canada Research Chair in Epidemiology & Global Health
Director, McGill Global Health Programs
Director, McGill International TB Centre

Our Course Directors and COVID-19

• An appeal for practical social justice in the COVID-19 global response in low-income and middle-income countries (The Lancet Global Health, group commentary)
• AIDS, TB And Malaria Set To Get Deadlier Due To Coronavirus (Forbes)
• A Skeptic’s Guide To Ecologic Studies During A Pandemic (Forbes)
• BCG Against Coronavirus: Less Hype And More Evidence, Please. (Forbes)
• 'Covidisation' of academic research: opportunities and risks (Nature Microbiology Community Blog)
• Can We Reimagine Global Health In The Post-Pandemic World? (Forbes)
• AIDS, TB And Malaria: Coronavirus Threatens The Endgame (Forbes)
• COVID-19 Coronavirus And Tuberculosis: We Need A Damage Control Plan (Forbes)
• Virtual Speaker Series: Gender and Power in COVID-19: Gender & COVID-19: Why Diversity is Critical to Solving Global Health Emergencies with Dr. Ayoade Alakija, Former Chief Humanitarian Coordinator, Nigeria, Dr. Joanne Liu, Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Montreal.
• Use Your Outside Voice: Global Health Webinar March 23, 2020
• COVID-19 and TB: We need a Damage Control Plan Webinar World TB Day March 24, 2020

• COVID-19 and tuberculosis in South Africa: A dangerous combination (South African Medical Journal)
• Solidarity in Global Health Research—Are the Stakes Equal? (American Journal of Bioethics)

• CommunityFirst COVID-19 Roadmap ( A collaboration between SeeChange Initiative, Ilisaqsivik Society, the Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research, and Médicos Sin Fronteras Association in Latin America)
• Inuit communities can beat COVID-19 and tuberculosis (The Lancet Public Health)
• COVID-19 underscores need for community-led approaches to health (Medium)

• Smart Containment: How Low-Income Countries Can Tailor Their COVID-19 Response (World Bank)
• Coronavirus Conversations podcast series (India Centre for Policy Research)
• India’s response to coronavirus can’t be based on existing epidemiological models (The Print)

• Dr. Vlieghe has been advising the Belgian government on its COVID-19 policies as part of the Scientific Committee for Coronavirus. She is also chairing Belgium’s Group of Experts for an Exit Strategy (GEES) tasked with bringing the country out of confinement.
• Coronavirus: experts prepare for a possible second wave (The Brussels Times)
• Exit strategy committee formed to open country back up in stages (Flanders Today)

• Dr. Menzies received funding from the MI4 Emergency COVID-19 Research Funding for the project "Assessing costs and benefits of different testing strategies for COVID-19 in Canada."
  N.B. MI4 is one of the Summer Institute hosting organizations
• Getting ahead of the curve: A comprehensive COVID-19 testing strategy for Canada (Toronto Star)

• Diagnostic Testing for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome–Related Coronavirus-2: A Narrative Review (Annals of Internal Medicine)
• Dr. Yansouni is also a member of the Canadian COVID-19 Immunity Task Force Secretariat.

• Michael Libman recently received $1 million from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to optimize the screening process for COVID-19.

• Coronavirus in context - A timely opportunity to separate facts from fiction with McGill experts  (McGill Alumni webcast series)
• Confronting COVID-19: a special webcast with McGill health experts (McGill Alumni webcast series)
• COVID-19: What makes this virus worse than SARS or H1N1? (CTV News)
• The COVID-19 crisis: At war with a virus (McGill Reporter)
• Head of AIDS research at McGill receives funding to study COVID-19 transmissibility (McGill Research and Innovation)

• Lessons from History: what can past pandemics teach us about COVID-19 (McGill Alumni webcast series)