Northeastern Spotlight

Fall 2020 Volume 15 – Number 2

Training Highlights

Participants celebrate the conclusion of the first TB Summit during the conference closing session.

First Annual 2020 TB Summit: Eliminating TB Together
The Global Tuberculosis Institute was invited to participate in the first annual 2020 TB Summit: Eliminating TB Together on November 18-19. This two-day virtual conference focused on outreach to Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities with high TB burdens and highlighted innovative projects and strategies for TB elimination. The training provided an opportunity for participants across the country to connect through networking events and participate in educational presentation sessions. Representatives from the four TB Centers of Excellence (COE) were in attendance, as well as from the National Tuberculosis Controllers Association (NTCA), Centers of Disease Control (CDC), and other regional TB programs.

Several representatives from TB programs in the Northeastern region were highlighted in the Summit , including Ms. Shaila Rao and Dr. Edward Zuroweste. Shaila Rao, Director of Outreach at the New York City Health Department’s Bureau of Tuberculosis Control, presented the conference session “Community and Provider Initiatives towards TB Prevention in NYC” in which she highlighted ways the Bureau of TB Control works collaboratively with non-DOHMH healthcare providers and communities to prevent TB. Shaila and her co-presenter Mon Yuck Yu, MPA, from the Academy of Medical & Public Health Services, discussed how their two organizations collaborated to tackle a Brooklyn TB outbreak in 2015. 

Dr. Edward Zuroweste, founding medical director of the Migrant Clinicians Network, provided the closing remarks for the conference. Dr. Zuroweste provided an overview of the conference and its achievements, thanked speakers and panelists, and emphasized the importance of our continued efforts to eliminate TB. He also announced that the next TB Summit would take place in 2021. 

Learn more about the 2020 TB Summit here and the TB Engagement Network here: https://www.aapcho.org/projects/tb-community-engagement-network/