Discussion

Over the last two years, increased attention to inequities in research funding and access as well as increased comfort with virtual engagement have prompted many conferences and professional societies to make changes to become more inclusive and equitable. This session will focus on such efforts in the context of the annual Molecular Parasitology Meeting (MPM), which is traditionally hosted in Massachusetts in the US. Through support from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, we are redesigning MPM as a hybrid meeting with the goal of ensuring that both in-person and virtual attendees have opportunities to share research and build mentoring and collaboration networks through the meeting. I’ll share lessons learned from our 2020 virtual meeting and 2021 hybrid meeting as well as our process and plans for the future. I’ll also talk about our additional work focused on creating new virtual between-meeting science, professional development, and mentoring activities for all trainees in the community.