• USJCMSP’s 24th EID Conference in Incheon, Korea to gather 220 participants from 11 Pacific Rim countries
• IVI Director General to give talks at EID Conference’s ‘Vaccine Science and Technology’ Session and panel discussion on HIV/AIDS

March 5, 2024, SEOUL, Republic of Korea – The International Vaccine Institute (IVI), based in the Republic of Korea, is participating as the local coordinator in the Joint 24^th International Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases (EID) in the Pacific Rim of the U.S.-Japan Cooperative Medical Sciences Program (USJCMSP) and the 2^nd International Symposium for Infectious Disease Research Institutes Cooperation (IDRIC) of Korea.

The EID Conference will run from March 5 to 8, 2024, at the Grand Hyatt Incheon, Incheon, Korea. This year’s conference focuses on viral diseases of importance in the Asia-Pacific region. Organized by USJCMSP and IDRIC, the event this year is hosted jointly by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) under the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED), and the National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID) under the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

The four-day conference brings together researchers, government and public health officials, and representatives from academia and other public and private organizations from Pacific Rim countries. More than 220 people from 11 countries are taking part this year, with speakers at the opening session including Dr. Hiroshi Kiyono, Distinguished Professor, Future Medicine Education and Research Organization at Chiba University and the chair of the Japanese delegation; and Dr. Diane E. Griffin, University Distinguished Service Professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the chair of the U.S. delegation (virtual), as well as representatives from the embassies of the United States and Japan in Korea.

The EID Conference has addressed major health issues such as new infectious diseases and antibiotic resistance in the Asia-Pacific region annually since 1996. The conference, which circulates throughout Pacific Rim countries, is taking place for the second time in Korea after IVI co-hosted the event in 2017.

This year’s event will delve into the theme “Pandemic Preparedness and the Rapid Emergence of Pathogens Caused by Global Environmental Change,” which underscores the urgent need for international collaboration and research to combat emerging infectious diseases. Session topics will include AI/Data Science-Based Prediction of Emerging Infection, Factors Affecting Virus Emergence and Expansion, Epidemiology and Surveillance, and Strategies for Virus Elimination. Panel discussions will cover HIV/AIDS, acute respiratory infections, hepatitis, immunology, cancer, and viral diseases.

Convened in collaboration with the EID Conference this year, the IDRIC Symposium is an annual scientific meeting hosted by the Council of Infectious Disease Research Institutes of Korea. The council aims to strengthen international cooperation and the role of a hub at the national level by establishing a cooperative system between Korean and foreign institutes, with NIID as the focal point. The symposium will bring together national and international experts and leaders including Dr. Youngmee Jee, Commissioner of KDCA, Dr. Hyun Young Park, Director of the Korea National Institute of Health, and Dr. Hee Chang Jang, Director General of NIID.. The gathering also provides a venue for scientists in infectious diseases, vaccine and drug research to exchange knowledge, views and ideas to accelerate infectious disease research and response efforts.

IVI, as an international organization devoted to the discovery, development and delivery of vaccines for global public health and hosted by Korea, serves as the local coordinator for the EID Conference and the IDRIC Symposium, playing an important role in organizing these scientific gatherings of infectious disease experts. Additionally, Dr. Jerome Kim, Director General of IVI, will deliver two speeches during the conference. He will give a talk entitled ‘From Need to Impact: Cholera Vaccine Development at IVI’ at the EID Conference ‘Session 2: Vaccine Science and Technology’ on March 5 and the other talk on “Beyond the Science: Going from Need to Impact with an HIV Vaccine” at the panel discussion on HIV/AIDS on March 7.

Dr. Jerome Kim, IVI Director General, said, “Korea has significantly increased contributions to global infectious disease and vaccine research. The conference presents a great opportunity for scientists from Korea and across the Asia-Pacific region to share latest research findings on emerging diseases in conjunction with global warming and pandemic preparedness, a timely and pressing topic in global health. As the local coordinator, IVI is proud to contribute once again to this major international scientific conference and looks forward to fruitful discussions and collaborations to advance global efforts in combating emerging diseases and enhancing pandemic preparedness.”

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About the International Vaccine Institute (IVI)
The International Vaccine Institute (IVI) is a non-profit international organization established in 1997 at the initiative of the United Nations Development Programme with a mission to discover, develop, and deliver safe, effective, and affordable vaccines for global health.

IVI’s current portfolio includes vaccines at all stages of pre-clinical and clinical development for infectious diseases that disproportionately affect low- and middle-income countries, such as cholera, typhoid, chikungunya, shigella, salmonella, schistosomiasis, hepatitis E, HPV, COVID-19, and more. IVI developed the world’s first low-cost oral cholera vaccine, pre-qualified by the World Health Organization (WHO), and developed a new-generation typhoid conjugate vaccine that is currently under assessment for WHO PQ.

IVI is headquartered in Seoul, Republic of Korea with a Europe Regional Office in Sweden, a Country Office in Austria, and Collaborating Centers in Ghana, Ethiopia, and Madagascar. 39 countries and the WHO are members of IVI, and the governments of the Republic of Korea, Sweden, India, Finland, and Thailand provide state funding. For more information, please visit https://www.ivi.int.