SER President Message

Hello SER friends! I am thrilled that our annual meeting is just around the corner in Chicago – June 14-17, 2022. I look forward to seeing all of you in person. The SER Executive Committee has been working hard to put together an interesting and thought-provoking program. We have some fantastic plenary speakers: Dr. Zeynep Tufekci who will share her perspectives on the Covid-19 pandemic, Dr. Michael Mina who will discuss SARS-CoV-2 testing, and Dr. Joseph L. Graves who will provide critical perspectives on race, ancestry, genetics and disease. We will be honoring an impressive set of SER award winners. It is not too late to register – if you are starting to feel some FOMO, join us. For those who are unable to attend in person due to health or other considerations, I look forward to catching up with you in the future. We apologize that we are unable to offer a hybrid option for this 2022 annual meeting – the logistics, costs, and hotel obligations unfortunately made this impossible.

We have been closely watching the pandemic conditions, and just updated the conference safety protocol on June 1, 2022. Due to high rates and transmissibility of the circulating variants of SARS-CoV-2, we made a shift to requiring high-quality masks in the conference rooms – please take a look at all of the details in the safety protocol. Also, please remember to use your eMed rapid test to document a negative SARS-CoV-2 test result within 24 hours of when you check in for the conference. The eMed service will proctor the test (available 24/7), and provide you with an official test result report. A negative eMed lab report or comparable official report will be required for check in at the conference. If you forgot to sign up to have a test mailed to you at home before the conference, please stop by the conference desk when you arrive at the hotel to pick up a test that you can use before registering (the process of testing and receiving result confirmation takes about 20-25 minutes).

This is my last newsletter message to you as SER President. What a wild ride it has been through these pandemic years! It has been an honor to serve. Your continued creativity, engagement, and enthusiasm for SER activities, whether virtual, hybrid or in person has helped sustain our community. Thank you, and I will see you soon!