Recently Dr Georgia Richards (2nd from left) travelled to Banff, along with colleagues from the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine (CEBM), to attend the inaugural conference: ‘Looking at the Pandemic in the Rear-view Mirror: Successes, Failures and Unexpected Consequences’. Also in attendance were EBHC students Marc Chretien and Dr Emily Groot. Here are their reflections:
'One of my highlights of the week, aside from the incredible location and hospitality, was the coming together of people from so many different disciplines, backgrounds and career stages, and having these different disciplines speak together in the same sessions and panels rather than being siloed or hierarchical. We heard perspectives and the incredible work happening from the lab to the bedside, as well as from methodologists, systematic reviewers, epidemiologists, statisticians, health economists, and social scientists. This highlights the importance and uniqueness of the Pandemic EVIDENCE Collaboration, which should be harnessed when looking to the future.
The entire group of conference attendees
The second theme that emerged during the conference was the importance and need for effective communication with the public, using lay language, beyond academic publications. And finally, it was amazing to see so many examples of the direct impact that people's research had during the pandemic, including changing government policies, as well as the ongoing research that is underway to develop the evidence for future pandemics.'
Dr Georgia Richards
'Attending the conference proved stimulating on many fronts. Whereas the mountain weather was overcast and chilled, the presentations in the Banff Centre were radiant and inspiring. Regrettably, attending all sessions proved impossible. All the while, I greatly enjoyed attending workshops and seminar sessions of personal interest and exploring projects with authors during poster viewing sessions.
Looking back, I enjoyed and learned most from expert panel presentations and discussions, including the challenges and rewards of work with non-pharmaceutical interventions at the intersection of theory and practice. Delivering the conference thematically according to research pillars (Diagnostics and Transmission, Interventions and Evidence, Practice and Policy) facilitated orientation and engagement.
Importantly, personal exchanges continued over tasty meals in the Vistas Dining Room overlooking the mountains and during hikes in the mountains and valleys around Banff. I look forward to hearing updates and re-engaging colleagues at next year’s conference in Oxford.'
Marc Chretien
Marc (3rd from left) with Annette, Carl and Igho
'It was personally and professionally gratifying to hear about the work going on around the world to improve the evidence base for pandemic response. As a public health physician practising during the pandemic, I often had to turn to evidence derived from other infectious diseases or single case studies or modelling to inform my decisions. I am hopeful that this collaboration—both the relationships and research strategies—will better prepare us for coming public health emergencies.'
Dr Emily Groot
Find out more about the programmes Dr Richards teaches and supervises on, and Emily and Marc study on here.