Deans' Message

On behalf of the Virginia Tech Council of Deans, we extend our thanks to the faculty, staff, students and guests who participated in the Deans’ Forum on Infectious Diseases. We consider this event a resounding success. This was the fourth in a series of forums intended to showcase activities within the University targeted at issues of topical interest to society. Previous forums focused on energy and sustainability, on the environment, and on health, food and nutrition.

The topic for this forum was significant aspects of infectious diseases, including prevention and control, infectious diseases ecology and epidemiology, molecular pathogenesis, and host-pathogen interactions. The primary components of the forum included:

• Keynote Address: An address entitled "One Health" was presented by the keynote speaker, Dr. Lonnie King from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, on Sunday, September 28.
  Please note: Dr. King's presentation is available in audio slideshow, powerpoint and mp3 formats to Virginia Tech community members using a pid and password.
• Scientific & Poster Sessions: Plenary talks and poster sessions were held on Monday, September 29.
• Book of Abstracts: The book of abstracts contains over 100 abstracts submitted by faculty, staff, students, and guests of the university. Contact information for the primary author of every abstract can be found in the back of the book.
• Website: An ongoing resource for information exchange in the Infectious Diseases scholarship domain.

Please continue to use the information provided by the forum presentations, book of abstracts and website as a resource to further foster intercollege partnerships in learning, discovery and engagement. We encourage the broader dissemination of ideas and collaborations which can only lead to a more rapid and effective means of reaching our research goals.

Lay Nam Chang
Dean, College of Science

Gerhardt G. Schurig
Dean, Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine