TMRC Ilhéus

The weekend before last, I journeyed to Ilhéus, a city in southern Bahia for the 2007 Tropical Medicine Research Center Conference. I learned that I would be presenting at this conference at the very last minute, and so the days leading up to the conference were quite busy in the lab. After a series of flights connecting through Salvador, I arrived in Ilhéus on a Thursday night where we were met at the airport by a shuttle to transport us to the conference. I was traveling with Chris B, Jamilly (a Brazilian medical student), Dr. Guerrant, Dr. Aldo and his life Dr. Noelia, and Dr. Reinaldo and his wife. Since our US PI, Dr. Guerrant, was with us, there was a person waiting at the airport with his name on a sign to meet us and take us to the conference hotel. That's the first time in Brazil that I've arrived at an airport to have someone waiting with transport. It was a relaxing alternative to the usual scramble to find a taxi and to search for a pousada or hotel with a room available.

After a 20 minute drive, we arrived at the "EcoResort" that hosted the conference. We quickly headed to the first conference session which was already underway. The conference was a small conference with about 30-40 attendees which allowed everyone to get to know all of the other participants. We also met up with Tracey, the Salvador Fogarty Fellow who also was attending the conference.

The second day consisted of presentations which focused mostly on Leishmaniasis, as well as a few other miscellaneous presentations including a great talk on study bias and epidemiology. After the presentations concluded in late afternoon, we headed into the town of Ilhéus, and saw a few of the cities most famous sites, including a restaurant where one of Brazil's most famous authors, Jorge Amado, did his writing. Then we headed to a house overlooking the river and ocean from a hill where we were treated to an incredible dinner of shrimp, beef, rice, and many other great foods. Finally we headed back to the conference resort to get some sleep in advance of our presentations.

Saturday morning was the series of talks on diarrheal disease and HIV. I spoke second, following Dr. Guerrant, and I think everyone's talks went pretty well. In the afternoon, after shooting some hoops for the first time in a while, I was invited to play soccer with some Brazilians. I should note that like many pickup soccer games in Brazil, the game was played barefoot. After a couple of hours, I retired to shower with my feet bruised and torn up, but after an incrediblt fun game. Just after my shower, a knock at my door proved to be an invitation to another soccer game, this time wearing shoes with the other conference participants. This proved to be an intense game in which I had a great time, managed to score 3 goals and assist on 3 more to Dr. Reinaldo, although my team ended up losing 10-8. While I've watched a lot of soccer in Brazil, the two games at the conference were the first times that I had stepped on the field to play in quite a while, and while I was tired with some scraped knees and bruised feet, it was quite a fun afternoon.

Sunday, we all headed back to Fortaleza, with a bit of a delay during our connection in Salvador. Chris Brown stayed in the Ilhéus area for a few extra days checking out a nearby surfing location, Itacaré, but now we're all back in Fortaleza sequencing genes, amplifying DNA, and analyzing stool samples... This weekend is another holiday (Easter), and with the lab closed Thursday and Friday, we may finally make our first trip to Jericoacoara Thursday through Saturday. Jericoacoara is known as one of the top 10 beaches in the world, and as the best beach in Ceará. After the weekend, I'll be continuing with sequencing, PCR, and hopefully finally starting my vision study if I receive final approval from the UVA ethical committee this week as expected.

Photos from the TMRC to follow as soon as I get Jamilly and Chris' photos, as I only took a few pictures...