Parasites Without Borders Heads to Toronto

Parasites Without Borders (PWB) attended the 2025 American Society of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene (ASTMH) annual conference from November 9^th to November 13^th in Toronto, Ontario, where they were able to distribute free, science-based textbooks to the medical professionals who need them most. PWB board members Dr. Daniel Griffin, Dr. Charles Knirsch, and Dr. Vincent Racaniello were joined at the conference by This Week in Parasitism co-host Dr. Christine Nuala.

“We’re so proud to support ASTMH as an excellent partner,” says Daniel Griffin, MD, PhD, President of Parasites Without Borders. “Parasites Without Borders has fundraised and donated to the organization for years, assisting with travel fees for some of the brightest up-and-coming minds in medicine. And it’s a real pleasure to attend the conference, give out free textbooks, and converse with our colleagues, old and new, who share our passion for eliminating the devastating physical, social, and economic effects of tropical diseases.”

The ASTMH Annual Meeting was held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The meeting’s presentations and exhibitors showcased a broad range of global health research, covering topics such as malaria, hookworm, global health misinformation, and revisiting past successes to develop roadmaps for future global health threats. This was Parasite Without Borders’ third year attending as an exhibitor. PWB also provides ASTMH Travel Awards scholarships to help cover travel costs for qualified students, early-career investigators, and scientists working in tropical medicine. Over the course of the conference, PWB staff spoke with hundreds of attendees and gave out 200 hard copies of Despommier’s Parasitic Diseases, Eighth Edition. The book provides medical professionals with the latest scientific data on parasites and parasitic infections, which disproportionately affect regions facing economic and political instability and environmental challenges. The textbooks were provided to attendees from more than three dozen countries, including Burkina Faso, Pakistan, Spain, South Korea, Norway, Taiwan, Cape Verde, and Switzerland. The PWB team brought some fun to the table with a “Guess That Life Cycle” game with parasitic disease-themed prizes. They also partnered with MicrobeTV to record live episodes of the podcasts This Week in Parasitism (TWiP) and This Week in Virology (TWiV) Clinical Update with Dr. Daniel Griffin.