Stay Connected and Up To Date: GI Meetings and Seminars and the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic

Abstract

The novel coronavirus disease 2019 has become an unprecedented global health and societal problem. The rapid spreading of this pandemic, together with the absence of effective treatments or vaccines, has led governments around the world to take drastic actions, including limiting the free movement of citizens, establishing maximum capacities and enforcing social distancing measures, among others. Consequently, major medical congresses, meetings, conferences, and workshops have been either cancelled or delayed. This situation has forced rapid changes in how the medical and scientific communities interact, and they now mainly meet using online technology. While political leaders have closed the borders of their countries as a logical public health measure, we have witnessed medical societies, clinicians, and scientists breaking other barriers and creating a new reality of global technological collaboration unlike anything seen before. An immense variety of webinars, online conferences, podcasts, courses, and many other forms of uploaded content can be seen from the comfort of one's own workplace or home at any time, and this has exponentially increased our reach; however, this great number of possibilities can be overwhelming, and it is more important than ever to separate wheat from chaff when deciding what online event to attend. The purpose of this article is to describe the impact of coronavirus disease 2019 on congresses and meetings, to examine how GI physicians feel about the emerging trend of online initiatives and to offer suggestions on how to balance web-based meetings and daily work.

Scientific seminars in lockdown: Lessons for a post‐pandemic time in defense of a permanent platform for science dissemination in the world

“…We believe that moving from face‐to‐face meetings, conferences and seminars to online meetings will improve science and spread around the world. Other initiatives of dissemination of science in time social isolation emerged, such as, Immunology society seminars, ISEV webinars, Argentina Protozoology Society seminars, Global ImmunoTalks, Immunometabolism Mini‐Symposia series, the scientific organizers of the Transforming Vaccinology Keystone and EcoSeminars at the University of California and others worldwide 5,11,12 …”

“…The online format has the most advantage of high quality accessible to everyone (without the need to be present on site), immediacy, new interactions and contacts, membership of societies or institutions. 5 The benefits of having accessible quality science will be added to a greater mobility of students and researchers from Many changes occurred due to the pandemic, we had to adapt and find new ways to maintain everyday habits. Online learning has become part of our daily lives, so adopting and incorporating these already introduced methodologies means reducing the distance between developed and developing countries.…”

Colorectal Surgery Practice, Training, and Research in Low-Resource Settings

“…An increase in virtual conferences during the COVID-19 pandemic has increased these opportunities for knowledge exchange, and networking may be more equitable since travel to international congresses was financially prohibitive for many LMIC doctors. 51…”

Remote conferences in parasitology and entomology during the pandemic: eliminate or maintain in a post-pandemic world? That is the dilemma!

“…Global initiatives given by traditional scientific communities and societies were organized to maintain their activities remotely. Global ImmunoTalks, Immunometabolism Mini-Symposia series, the scientific organizers of the Transforming Vaccinology Keystone, EcoSeminars at the University of California, and others worldwide allowed the dissemination of science during the pandemic (Albéniz et al, 2021;Houston, 2020;Khan, 2021).…”