Agenda

Coffee and Registration

9:00 – 9:15 AM

Welcome
Claire Panosian, MD, Co-Director, UCLA Program in Global Health
Matthew Spitzer, MD, President, Medecins Sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders

Opening Address
Video message from Amelia Nascimento, Chagas patient support group, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Speech by Maira Gutierrez, Chagas patient, Los Angeles, CA, USA

National Programs for Chagas Disease in Latin America
James Fitzgerald, PhD, Senior Advisor, Essential Medicines and Biologicals, Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)/World Health Organization (WHO)

Epidemiological Trends of Chagas Disease in the US
Susan P. Montgomery, DVM, MPH, Parasitic Diseases Branch, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

Morning Session I: Challenges of Diagnosing and Treating Chagas Disease

Panel Chair: James Maguire, MD, Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Senior Physician, Division of Infectious Disease, Brigham and Women's Hospital

• Global view of diagnostic testing for Chagas: Myriam Lorca, PhD, Associate Professor, Faculty of Medicine, University of Chile; Technical Director, Laboratoria Campus
• Challenges of diagnostics in resource-poor contexts - MSF field experience: Laurence Flevaud, Laboratory Advisor, Medecins Sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders
• Blood screening and seroprevalence in the US: David A. Leiby, PhD, Head, Transmissible Diseases Department, American Red Cross
• Chagas treatment in Bolivia, the world’s highest endemic country: Tom Ellman, MD, Head of Mission, Bolivia, Medecins Sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders
• Chagas treatment in the US: Sheba Meymandi, MD/Mahmoud Traina, MD, Olive View-UCLA Medical Center

Panel Discussion - First Respondent: Joaquim Gascón, MD, Head of Tropical Section, Hospital Clinic de Barcelona-CRESIB

Coffee Break

Morning Session II: Patient Advocacy and Access to Care - Breaking Through the Barriers

Roundtable on the multilevel barriers hindering patient access to care in Latin America and the US and proposed solutions: Introductions and presentation of issues, followed by group and audience discussion – Moderator: Gemma Ortiz, MSc, Neglected Diseases Senior Advocacy & Liaison Officer, Medecins Sans Frontieres /Doctors Without Borders

• Sergio Sosa-Estani, MD, PhD, MPH, Head, Service of Epidemiology, National Center for Research on Endemic Diseases/ANLIS, Argentina
• Victor Condé, MD, Physician, Bolivia Chagas treatment program, Medecins Sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders
• Eliana T. Loveluck, MSW, Director, Center for Consumers, The National Alliance for Hispanic Health
• Janine Ramsey Willoquet, PhD, Director, Regional Center for Public Health Research, National Institute for Public Health, Mexico
• Maira Gutierrez, Los Angeles-area patient

Lunch

Afternoon Session I: Chagas Disease R&D and Innovation

Panel Chair: Julio Urbina, PhD, Emeritus Investigator, Venezuelan Institute for Scientific Research (IVIC)

• Global drug development pipeline for Chagas disease: Isabela Ribeiro, MD, Senior Project Manager, Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi)
• Improving diagnostic tools: Rick Tarleton, PhD, President, The Chagas Disease Foundation, and Distinguished Research Professor, Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases, University of Georgia
• Search for better Chagas drugs: discovery research efforts: Frederick S. Buckner, MD, Associate Professor, Department of Medicine, University of Washington

Coffee Break

Afternoon Session II: Sustainable Funding and Innovative Financing Mechanisms

Panel Chair: Jana Armstrong, Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi)-North America

• Overview of alternative financing mechanisms: prize funds, advance purchase commitments, patent pools, and voucher systems: Paul Wilson, Assistant Professor of Public Health, Columbia University
• Chagas disease prize fund for the development of new transfers, diagnostics, and vaccines: Erika Dueñas, Charge d’Affaires, Minister Counselor, Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of Bolivia
• Pharmaceutical industry perspective on investing in NTD R&D: Drew Lewis, MD, Head, Infectious Diseases Emerging Markets, Pfizer, Inc.
• Incentivizing Innovative Therapeutics for Chagas Disease: David N. Cook, PhD, BIO Ventures for Global Health
• Private sector incentives for NTD R&D: Hannah Kettler, PhD, Senior Program Officer and Economist, Global Health Policy and Finance, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
  

Wrap-Up – Presentation and discussion of consensus statements and calls for action
Eric Stobbaerts, Policy & Advocacy Coordinator for Chagas Campaign, Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi); and Oliver Yun, Medical Editor, Medecins Sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders

Closing Remarks
Bernard Pecoul, MD, Executive Director, Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi)

Reception