Considering the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, continued education about infectious diseases is of the utmost important and has never been more prevalent than it is now. In collaboration with the Medical University of Vienna, this week’s Salzburg Weill Cornell Seminar in Infectious Diseases took place for the 21st time from March 27 to April 2, 2022.
Dr. Roy M. Gulick, Professor in Medicine and Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Weill Cornell Medicine, led the seminar and participated in an OMI course for the sixteenth time. Dr. Christoph Steininger, Associate Professor of Medicine at the Medical University of Vienna, co-directed the course and lectured remotely, marking his eighth participation in an OMI seminar. The expert faculty included Dr. Richard Crevenna (Vienna), Dr. Marshall J. Glesby (New York), Dr. Gregor Gorkiewicz (Graz), Dr. Peter Jaksch (Vienna), Dr. Priya Kodiyanplakkal, Dr. Christine M. Salvatore, and Dr. Khanh Pham (all New York).
28 fellows from 21 countries attended the seminar at Schloss Arenberg. Participants had the opportunity to attend 19 state-of-the-art didactic lectures on topics such as Vaccines in Healthy Adults, COVID Treatment and Prevention, Actinomyces, Congenital Infections, HIV Treatment and Prevention, and more. On Monday afternoon, fellows were divided into four groups, in which four different faculty members led a workshop on best practices for how to present a case study. Tuesday and Thursday afternoon were dedicated to fellows’ case presentations, which reflect cases from their own personal work experience. This is often a highlight for both fellows and faculty, providing feedback to one another, having open discussions, learning about which diseases and difficulties are specific to different countries, and sometimes hearing about specific cases for the first time. This week, the faculty selected eight excellent case presentations, all of which will be featured on the OMI Online Case Library.
Wednesday afternoon offered a much-needed break for the faculty and fellows to relax and enjoy some free time. Many fellows took the opportunity to explore the city of Salzburg, experience Austrian culture, or visit a nearby area, and the faculty members had a tour of the salt mines in Hallein. Thursday evening presented a chamber music concert for all seminar attendees at Schloss Arenberg, and Friday evening closed the course with a formal graduation ceremony and dinner.
In 2019, I was selected to participate in an OMI seminar, but the COVID-19 pandemic did not allow for my participation. Fortunately, in March of 2022, I attended the OMI Weill Cornell Seminar in Infectious Diseases. I felt very honored to be at this seminar and learn more about this new, infectious virus and other important infectious diseases. The atmosphere was great, and I was able to meet fellows and faculty members from different parts of the world. We discussed diagnosis, prevention, and other scheduled topics. My professional skills will be increased after participating in this seminar, as I am supposed to teach my team as the head of the Viral Hepatitis Laboratory in Fiocruz (Brazil). I am glad to have had this opportunity and I hope to establish cooperation with the OMI and other professionals that attended this seminar.
