Plenary Presentation Title: Defusing the (ticking) bomb: advances in prevention and diagnosis of Lyme disease. Bio: Dr. Linden Hu is the Paul and Elaine Chervinsky Professor of Immunology at Tufts Medical School. Dr. Hu received his A.B. and M.D. from Brown University. He completed training in Infectious Diseases at Tufts Medical Center. His laboratory works on multiple aspects of Lyme disease including vaccine development, new diagnostics and treatments, and understanding interactions between Borrelia burgdorferi and its tick and animal hosts. Most recently, his lab has been researching how the organism evades the host immune response and how human genetic mutations may alter the ability of the bacterial host to control inflammatory responses. The lab is also partnering with other laboratories on strategies to eradicate tick borne pathogens from their wild reservoirs.

10:15-10:30: Mirabelle Kelly: Detection of morules for the diagnosis of anaplasmosis: experience of a community hospital. 10:30-10:45: Vivian Silbiger: Leveraging Bioinformatics to Elucidate the Pathophysiology of Lyme Carditis. 10:45-11:00: Madison Robertson: Understanding the perspectives, experiences, beliefs, and knowledge of healthcare practitioners on the diagnosis and treatment of Lyme disease in Canada. 11:00-11:15: Antonia Di Castri: Shifting paradigms: Patient and public involvement in a co-designed research project toward improved Lyme disease testing in Canada. 11:15-11:30: John Aucott: Prevalence and Clinical Associations of Dysautonomia in Post-Treatment Lyme Disease.

Networking opportunity for students/trainees with scientists

Panel Title: Meaningful Patient Engagement and Policy Making: How might we better integrate patient perspectives into the health care continuum, from research questions to treatment guidelines? Moderator: Dena Palamedes, CLyDRN Patient Partner. Panelists: Dr. Kieran Moore, Physician and Chief Medical Officer of Health for Ontario; Dr. Kerry Robinson, Director General for the Centre for Foodborne, Environmental, and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, Public Health Agency of Canada; Dr. Alison Rebman, Director for Clinical and Epidemiological Research, Johns Hopkins Lyme Disease Research Center. Panel Description: This panel discussion brings together a diversity of perspectives on how health research is done and how health policy is developed. Panelists are invited to share their insights and ideas about how new knowledge and evidence, generated from meaningfully engaged stakeholders, including patients with lived experience, can be better integrated into healthcare policy, practices and systems to benefit patients and improve health outcomes, particularly in tick-borne disease.

14:00-14:15: Emily Kon: Comparison of Lyme Disease Testing Algorithms among Canadian Provincial Laboratories. 14:15-14:30: Kelachi Nsitem: The impact of a new case definition: An analysis of Lyme disease surveillance in Nova Scotia, 2018-2023. 14:30-14:45: Joel Gibson: Natural History Collections as Tick Biodiversity Data Sources and Research Partners. 14:45-15:00: Doris Leung: Vector Vigilance: Uncovering Emerging Disease Threats and Resources.

15:30-15:45: Danny Szaroz: Decoding Lyme Disease Risk: A Scoping Review of Advanced Predictive Methodologies. 15:45-16:00: Stefan Iwasawa: Eco-epidemiology tick-borne pathogens introduced by migratory birds in emerging areas. 16:00-16:15: Kenning Tran: Ixodes scapularis, an East Coast Lyme Disease Vector, Hitchhikes to Vancouver Island on Migratory Birds. 16:15-16:30: Carl Dizon: The Role of Migratory Birds on the Distribution of Ixodes Scapularis in Alberta.