It’s getting very close to the Nov. 9 kick-off of #TropMed25 in Toronto, a meeting that will take place in a vibrant, multi-ethnic city that has embraced cultural diversity and international cooperation as the twin engines of progress. It’s the perfect setting for the world’s largest gathering of global health experts.

Taking a cue from Toronto’s reputation as a foodie paradise, Science Writer and TropMed Blogger Matthew Davis, along with Scientific Program Chair David Hamer, MD, and Associate Program Chair Kristy Murray, MD, DVM, have prepared a small tasting menu to serve as an appetizer for the full conference.

A First Course of Keynotes: This year’s meeting features an opening keynote Sunday from Wafaa El-Sadr, MD, MPH, MPA. Dr. El-Sadr is founder and director of Columbia University’s ICAP global health program, which is staffed by 2,500 people fighting diseases in some 40 countries. Her talk is bookended by a closing plenary Thursday morning from Kelly Chibale, PhD, founder and director of the pioneering African drug discovery center H3D. Other notable speakers include Sten Vermund, MD, PhD, Dean of the University of South Florida College of Public Health, who on Monday morning will deliver the annual Fred L. Soper lecture where he will discuss the value of global health investments to the United States.

Meanwhile, the following are just a few other menu selections from this year’s sumptuous buffet of symposia and scientific sessions.

• Breakthroughs in Battling Drug Resistant Malaria: A symposium Thursday will feature results from a Phase 3 clinical trial testing a drug that combines the medications ganaplacide and lumefantrine to provide a cure for malaria caused by parasites that have varying levels of resistance to artemisinin combination therapies (ACTs). In addition, Wednesday’s “late-breaker” malaria session features results from a trial on Gabon in which patients were treated with a single dose consisting of a novel combination of four existing malaria medications. The approach seeks to short-circuit resistance mechanisms by attacking the parasite from four different angles—while the single-dose approach addresses an underlying cause of drug resistance: patients who fail to complete the standard three-day treatment course.  
  
  

• Amplifying the Impact of an Already Powerful Drug: For several decades, ivermectin has provided a safe, effective and affordable intervention for fighting a host of global health threats, including intestinal worms, scabies, onchocerciasis (river blindness) and malaria. Results from a clinical trial to be presented Monday have the potential to greatly expand the drug’s impact. Researchers in Gambia, Kenya and Brazil have been testing whether ivermectin can be safely given to millions of very young children who long have been excluded from treatment due to concerns that emerged years ago in animal testing.
  
  

• Living in a World Primed for Outbreaks: A special symposium Monday on emerging and re-emerging viruses will examine the many factors working in various combinations—including climate change, deforestation, international travel, vaccine hesitancy and misinformation—to fuel new outbreaks of measles, yellow fever, chikungunya, mpox and Oropouche viruses. The surprising spread of Oropouche virus to several countries in the Americas will also be the focus of a symposium on Wednesday. 
  
  

• Showcasing Resilience of Field Under Fire: #TropMed25 will explore how global health researchers are addressing an unprecedented array of challenges. Miguel Reina Ortiz, director of the doctoral program in global health leadership at Indiana University, and Maria Elena Bottazzi, senior associate dean at Baylor’s National School of Tropical Medicine, lead a symposium Monday to promote what they call “bold diplomacy” for global health causes.  University of Saskatchewan virologist and media-savvy communicator Angela Rasmussen joins David Morens, a long-time senior adviser to Dr. Anthony Fauci, to lead a symposium Monday on how to deal with anti-science abuse and disinformation. There will also be special session Tuesday on “navigating the fallout from U.S. disengagement.”
  
  

• Climate Change Heats Up Arctic Health Threats: Two symposia—one on Tuesday and another on Wednesday—will feature researchers working in the Arctic to identify health risks that could emerge as climate change melts Arctic glaciers and permafrost at an alarming rate. Related: A symposium Wednesday will provide new insights into the many ways climate change could simultaneously increase the burden of NTDs in low-income countries while reducing their capacity to deal with them. And a study to be presented Thursday probes the potential link in Bangladesh between rising temperatures and rising rates of stillbirths.
  
  

• Vaccine Targets Vivax Transmission: Researchers from the University of Oxford and Cambodia’s Pasteur Institute will report results Wednesday from a clinical trial that is the first to conduct human testing with a vaccine candidate designed to block transmission of the vivax malaria parasite. While the falciparum parasite is the dominant cause of malaria in Africa, vivax is the most common cause in the rest of the world.
  
  

• Come Play Fever Feud—a “Family Feud” for Global Health: On Monday evening, #TropMed25 will feature its version of the U.S. television quiz show Family Feud. Fever Feud will be a game in which contestants must guess how their colleagues answered a series of questions on a variety of global health topics. Like the show that inspired it, the challenge in playing Fever Feud is to choose the top answers that were provided on a survey of ASTMH members.