11th Infectious Diseases in Africa (IDA) Symposium in Stellenbosch, South Africa
In early September 2022 Simon attended and taught as a Faculty member on the 11th Infectious Diseases in Africa (IDA) Symposium in Stellenbosch, South Africa. This year’s theme was “Translating COVID-19 Vaccine Success to the Prevention of HIV, Malaria and TB”. The annual IDA Symposium aims to create knowledge and scientific literacy in Africa by enhancing the knowledge base and skills of basic and clinical immunology research performed by students and early-career African scientists. Its overarching goals are to i) provide cutting-edge knowledge in the fields of HIV, TB and Malaria vaccine research; and ii) to enable scientific thinking and leadership of young scientists on the African continent using innovative learning approaches.
The IDA receives funding support from the NIH, USA, and is led by dedicated PIs based at Duke University, USA and Stellenbosch University, South Africa. Resources are made available afterwards through Immunopaedia.org.
The 11th IDA lived up to expectation with a week of fantastic science, talks, posters and the now famous “grant writing competition”, and excellent engagement from the IDA Scholars who attended from all over Africa. Simon presented talks covering our understanding of natural immunity to malaria, as well as recent advances in malaria vaccines. He looks forward to “Team Malaria” researchers growing from strength to strength in the coming years and developing their careers and research networks across Africa.
Glorious view over Stellenbosch!
