MIDAS 2020 Network Meeting

April 15-17, Seattle WA

"Envisioning the Future of Infectious Disease Modeling"

The MIDAS 2020 Network Meeting has been cancelled.

As many of you have read, the COVID-19 outbreak is spreading around the Seattle area and in the United States. Travel disruptions can be expected in the next months, and as infectious disease modeling community, we don’t want to be contributing the the spread of the outbreak or take people away from important COVID-19 modeling research activities. The King County Health Department also just announced a recommendation against large public gatherings. Many opportunities exist to present and discuss COVID-19 modeling research via video conferencing, and if you would like to stay updated on that, subscribe to the MIDAS Coronavirus mailing list by emailing questions@midasnetwork.us. We also plan to start a monthly webinar series soon that will include a broad range of MIDAS research, both COVID-19 and other research. We will plan the next MIDAS Network Meeting for Spring 2021. Depending on the outbreak situation, we may find another way to meet each other later this year; and we will be exploring options for ad-hoc workshops or parallel meetings to other conferences in the fall.

Welcome Message

The MIDAS Coordination Center is pleased to welcome you to Seattle for the 2020 MIDAS Network Meeting on April 15-17. The MIDAS Network Meeting will be a great opportunity to network with colleagues, form new relationships, and hear about the latest research in infectious disease modeling. The program includes research talks, panel discussions with funding and public health agencies, tutorials, working groups, poster presentations, and networking events. We aim to create an exciting program with a diverse group of presenters, including many students and postdocs.

Also, following MIDAS 2020, the 8^th Annual Disease Modeling Symposium organized by the Institute for Disease Modeling (IDM) takes place in nearby Bellevue on April 20-22. Spend the weekend in Seattle with friends and family and attend both events!

The theme of this year’s MIDAS meeting will be “Envisioning the Future of Infectious Disease Modeling”. Infectious diseases continue to be a threat to public health worldwide, as illustrated by the Ebola and 2019 Novel Coronavirus epidemics. During MIDAS 2020, we will identify innovations in modeling methods, data, and collaboration needed during the next decade to successfully counter existing and new infectious diseases. On April 15, a panel comprised of representatives from the NIH, NSF, and the Gates Foundation, will discuss their vision on the future of infectious disease modeling. On April 16, a panel of public health agencies will discuss anticipated future applications of modeling research to epidemic preparedness and response.

Registration and call for abstracts are now open!

Important Dates

Monday March 9: Abstracts due for oral presentations, tutorials, and working groups
Friday, March 20: Abstracts due for poster presentations
Friday, March 20: Last day to reserve a room at the Grand Hyatt using the MIDAS rate
Wednesday, April 8: Last day to register online to attend the meeting (registration will still be possible on-site, provided space is still available)

Program

Wednesday April 15

- Morning: tutorials (start at 9:00AM)
- Afternoon: Working groups and funding panel discussion where funding agencies will share their vision for the future of infectious disease modeling
  - Confirmed panelists are Dr. Veerasamy “Ravi” Ravichandran of NIGMS, Dr. Zhilan Fang of NSF, and Dr. Jennifer Gardy of the Gates Foundation
- Evening: networking dinner (details forthcoming)

Thursday April 16

- Morning: scientific sessions
- Afternoon: scientific sessions and panel discussion w/ health agencies
  - We will dedicate the plenary session on Thursday afternoon, April 16th, to COVID-19 modeling research. The 2-hour session will include oral presentations followed by a panel of health agencies to share how modeling studies by MIDAS can benefit public health. If you are interested to present your COVID-19 modeling work, submit an abstract for oral presentations.
- Evening: posters and networking reception

Friday April 17

- Morning: scientific sessions
- Afternoon: scientific sessions (end at 4:30PM)

Registration

Registration is required to attend the meeting and is open to the public. There is a cap of 200 participants, so register soon to reserve your place! Please click here to go to the registration website. MIDAS members and collaborators are encouraged to attend. There is no registration fee.

*Note: A networking dinner is being planned for April 15. There may be a cost associated with the dinner, though the conference organizers are aiming for student participation at no charge to them. Further information will be sent out before the conference. You will be asked to indicate your interest in attending the dinner during the registration process.

Venue

All presentations take place at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in downtown Seattle. Attendees can make room reservations using the MIDAS group rate: click here to make a reservation. The hotel is close to public transportation and restaurants and shopping. Visit the Grand Hyatt Hotel website for more details.

Travel Support

The MIDAS Coordination Center will provide travel support for a number of participants who have submitted an abstract. To request travel support, include a justification during the abstract submission process.

The MIDAS Coordination Center is offering travel support to MIDAS 2020 for a small number of undergraduate students interested in infectious disease modeling. Interested students should include a statement of interest during conference registration and send a CV to questions@midasnetwork.us.

Call for Abstracts

We solicit abstracts from participants for tutorials, working groups, oral, and poster presentations. The abstract format is the same for all activities and includes a title and abstract of max. 500 words, to be pasted or typed in designated text boxes during the submission process. The content of abstracts will be slightly different depending on the activity. Students, postdocs, and junior investigators are especially encouraged to submit abstracts. Abstracts for tutorials and working groups will be reviewed and selected by the MIDAS Coordination Center and other abstracts by a review committee of MIDAS members. Abstracts from MIDAS members will be prioritized.

Tutorials (due March 9)

Many MIDAS researchers create data resources or software for infectious disease modeling. Tutorials will take place in the morning of April 15 and will be 1.5 hours each. During tutorials, presenters will be able to demonstrate their data resource or software to participants. There is no prescribed format for tutorials, but we recommend a brief overview of the data resource or software and then a hands-on exercise where participants learn how to use the resource or software. Tutorial abstracts should include: (1) background information about the data resource or software, (2) a description of the activities proposed during the tutorial and who will lead them, and (3) a description of the target audience.

Working groups (due March 9)

We encourage the community to propose working groups that may be of interest to the MIDAS community. Working groups enable a group of researchers, professionals, and/or students to meet and discuss a common interest, such as Ebola, Novel Coronavirus, Forecasting, Guidelines, Grant writing, etc. Working groups will be 2 hours and will take place in the afternoon on April 15. Working group abstracts should include: (1) a description of the topic, (2) a description of the working group format (presentations, group discussions, etc.) and who will lead or moderate the working group, and (3) a description of the target audience.

Oral presentations (due March 9)

We encourage submission of abstracts for oral presentations. Oral talks are a great way to share your latest research findings with the community and receive feedback. Oral talks are also an opportunity for students and postdocs to gain presentation skills and share their research with potential mentors or employers. Oral talks will take place during the scientific sessions on April 16 and 17 and will follow the traditional MIDAS format: each scientific session comprises three 12-minute plenary talks followed by a 30-minute discussion period for each speaker during parallel breakout sessions. Abstracts for oral presentations should include: (1) a description of the research to be presented, and (2) a brief description of the planned format for the discussion period (additional information, Q&A, etc.).

Poster presentations (due March 20)

Poster presentations provide excellent opportunities to share your research with others and for one-on-one interaction with your audience. There will be two types of poster presentations: (1) Data & Software posters, where people can present the data resources or software they created for modeling research; and (2) Modeling posters, for presentation of modeling research. Posters will be on display April 16, with presentation times during breaks, lunch, and the networking reception.

Details about presentations

Oral:

- - Each plenary talk will be 12 minutes duration. There will be three talks per session.
  - Chairpersons will introduce the speakers and keep time to ensure presenters do not go over their time limit.There is no Q&A time during the plenary part of the talks. Following the plenary talks, there will be three parallel 30-minute breakout discussion groups, led by the speaker of each talk. Meeting participants decide which discussion group to attend after hearing all the talks. The discussion groups provide an opportunity to go into more detail and answer any questions. For example, speakers may decide to present more material; give a brief demonstration about tools or software; lead an open discussion; or a combination of these options.

Posters:

- - All posters should be 48” x 36” or smaller. (They can be displayed vertically or horizontally, so 36” x 48” also works.)

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