Dear Colleagues,
The first day of the meeting kicked off with 11 training workshops that were fully subscribed and provided great learning opportunities for early career epidemiologists from around the world. Then, the conference officially started with the opening session in the afternoon, including the Richard Doll lecture and the conference’s Keynote address. Here are some images that capture the energy of the meeting.
Early career epidemiologists engaged at the workshop on Foundations of Implementation Science presented by a team from the Schools of Public Health at the University of Cape Town and the University of the Witwatersrand.
Professor Matt Fox from Boston University led a dynamic workshop on “Developing and Administering an Advanced Epidemiology syllabus”
Dr Akin Adebiyi, President of the International Epidemiological Association, introduced the Richard Doll Lecture to a packed auditorium with more than 1500 delegates registered to attend at the Cape Town International Conference Centre.
Professor Deborah Lawlor gave the Richard Doll Lecture, discussing methodological approaches to the evaluation of drug safety in pregnant women. In her opening she remarked on the diversity of the science and audience at WCE2024. She went on to discuss how complex aetiologic questions could be answered through a triangulation approach, using a variety of study designs each with different strengths and limitations.
Professor Jean Nachega delivered the Keynote address for the conference on the past, present and future of epidemiological training and research in Africa. Originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo, he discussed how the paradigm of global epidemiology training programmes has shifted: “Leading epidemiology programmes at institutions such as the University of Cape Town are now drawing students from Europe and North America. These students come to Africa to train where the disease burden is highest, reversing the historical trend of African students travelling abroad for training.”