Dr. Scott Halstead of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland, a leading international figure on dengue research and a member of the World Health Organization Group of Experts on AEFI Surveillance visited RITM on March 14, 2018.

RITM Director Dr. Socorro Lupisan, and members of the RITM Executive Committee Dr. Celia Carlos and Dr. Amado Tandoc, welcomed Dr. Halstead. Staff from the National Reference Laboratory for Dengue and other Arboviruses also joined them in a short meeting.

Dr. Halstead provided some valuable inputs on the tests that the Institute needs to provide in support of the Department of Health’s enhanced surveillance on dengue, as well as other research projects that RITM might wish to undertake on this subject. After the meeting at the Office of the Director, he also toured the serology laboratory of the Virology Department and the Molecular Biology Laboratory.

by Rex Centeno, Virology Department [RITM Web Team]