University of Michigan
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

EEB hosted the seventh Early Career Scientists Symposium on infectious disease ecology and evolution in Ann Arbor, Mich. on Saturday, April 16. The theme was "Infectious disease across scales: the complexity of pathogen ecology and evolution." Eight outstanding early career scientists from across the U.S. and abroad addressed diverse ecological and evolutionary aspects of host-pathogen and -parasite systems from within individual hosts to the broad community of multiple hosts and pathogens. The keynote address was given by Dr. Steven Frank of the University of California at Irvine, who described "Three unsolved puzzles in infectious disease."

“I believe the event showcased the way in which ecology and evolutionary biology can be seamlessly integrated to study infectious diseases,” said Micaela Martinez-Bakker, a graduate student on the symposium committee. “Disease ecology and evolution is a fairly young and exciting field; and as the young scientists demonstrated, the best studies in this field utilize theoretical models, data, and experimentation.”

The topic attracted registrants from across disciplines and from numerous universities. There were over 150 registrants from departments and schools across U-M including the School of Public Health; School of Natural Resources and Environment; Medical School; the Program in the Environment; Departments of EEB, Epidemiology, Chemistry, Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology; Chemical Engineering; and College of Pharmacy. Registrants also hailed from other institutions such as Texas Tech University, University of Windsor, University of Montreal, Columbia University, Indiana University, University of Pittsburgh, Michigan State University and Wayne State University and from a wide variety of fields from computer science to zoology and public policy.

The symposium is made possible by the generous support of alumna Dr. Nancy Williams Walls who received her doctorate degree in microbiology.

Pictured left to right are the speakers: Caroline Buckee, David Kennedy, Laura Pollitt, Sylvie Huijben, Amber Smith, Steven Frank, Thierry Lefevre, Daniel Streicker, Britt Koskella and the organizing committee: Aaron King, Mercedes Pascual, Pej Rohani, Micaela Martinez-Bakker, Andreas Baeza.

Click here to see more photos.