Join the Emerging Pathogens & Infectious Diseases Consortium (EPIC) and the Canadian One Health Training Program on Emerging Zoonoses (Canopy) for an interactive exercise investigating a hypothetical infectious disease outbreak.
This workshop was originally offered at the Zoonoses, Antimicrobial Resistance and Bioinformatics (ZAMBI) meetings in July 2026, but was not delivered due to unforeseen circumstances. Previous registrants are encouraged to register for this stand-alone workshop!
The Outbreak Investigation Exercise will feature a simulated outbreak scenario designed to encourage building skills in problem-solving and decision-making that are required in outbreak response teams. The workshop includes public health reports, medical information, genomic data, and metagenomic and phylogenetic analysis, with trainees encouraged to work in small groups to respond to each piece of information as it is revealed.
Basic knowledge of microbiology, genomics, phylogenetics would be helpful for this exercise but not required. Participants at each table will have a range of expertise and experiences to draw on, and facilitators will be in available to answer any questions.
The exercise will be delivered both in person and virtually on different dates:
October 2, 2026 — In person at the University of Toronto St. George Campus, 2:00 – 5:00 p.m.
October 30, 2026 — Virtual via Zoom, Time TBD. Registrations for the online event will be capped at 50, and priority will be given to previous ZAMBI registrants.
Ash Porter (they/them) is Postdoctoral Fellow in the Maguire group at Dalhousie University with research interests in wildlife viral evolution, one health, and museomics. They completed their doctoral studies in the Holmes group at University of Sydney and have previously completed postdoctoral work at the Doherty Institute (University of Melbourne) and the Australian National Wildlife Collection (CSIRO) where they were awarded a Fulbright Postdoctoral Fellowship.
Format: In-person
Please register for the event using this form. There is no cost to participate in this workshop. Coffee and light refreshments will be served.