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Welcome to the 1st Global Amphibian and Reptile Disease (GARD) Conference!
We welcome everyone to Knoxville, Tennessee (in-person and virtually) and to the 2022 GARD Conference! One commonality unites our purpose for participating – to reduce the
occurrence, rate, and severity of emerging infectious diseases that are plaguing global amphibian and reptile populations. The goal of the
GARD Conference is to bring together students, scientists, veterinarians, natural resource practitioners, policy makers, and other stakeholders from across the globe to discuss various amphibian and reptile diseases,
organize facilitated discussions on the similarities and differences among host-pathogen systems, and identify disease management strategies that can be used to ensure the conservation of herpetofaunal species for
generations to come!
In total, >230 professionals (from 25 countries and 6 continents) are participating in the 1st GARD Conference, with nearly 100 online guests! The program includes
8 keynote addresses, 5 focal talks, 105 oral presentations (24 virtual), and 31 poster presentations (4 virtual). Students are delivering 52% and 70% of the oral and poster presentations, respectively. We are elated to see the interest and enthusiasm of these
young professionals.
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Final Program
In addition to scientific presentations, we are also excited to offer professional and social activities at GARD. We have organized six professional development workshops
taking place on Aug. 4 and Aug. 8, led by ten different experts. We also were able to offer four field trips (one on the evening of 5 August and three on 10 August) to explore the local herpetofauna of eastern Tennessee and southern Appalachia. To help synthesize
ideas presented at the GARD Conference and identify future directions for research, all sessions end with a 20 – 30-minute panel discussion with the keynote speaker and other presenters in that session. One outcome of this conference will be a synthesis paper
that captures thoughts during these discussions. On 9 August, Molly Bletz and Evan Grant will be leading a workshop where in-person participants are organized into discussion groups and design conceptual disease models for major herpetofaunal pathogens, with
the goal of identifying differences in knowledge, processes, and possible management strategies among host-pathogen systems.
Davis Carter and the GARD Student Committee organized various
student activities, and there will be a student-professional mixer held simultaneously with the poster session on 8 August. Online participants will be able to participate in a virtual social and poster session using the application, Gather. The Welcome
Social is the evening of 4 August (6-9 pm) at Zoo Knoxville. Buses will begin leaving UT Conference Center at 5:30 pm and will return between 9-9:30 pm. Heavy hors d'oeuvres will be served in the new Amphibian and Reptile Conservation (ARC) Campus, and two
drink tickets will be provided. GARD Conference name tags will be distributed at registration or while boarding buses to gain free access to the entire zoo! Collectively, we hope the seven days of activities at the GARD Conference will be a professionally
and personally rewarding experience.
We also hope that you will take time to explore
downtown Knoxville and the surrounding area. There are dozens of restaurants, craft breweries, and bars with live music within walking distance of UT Conference Center (concentrated around Market Square, Gay Street, and the Old City). Also, because the
GARD Conference straddles a weekend, there will be various public events including First Friday Art Walk (5 Aug) and the Market Square Farmers Market (6 Aug). For families, we encourage you to visit the fountains (bathing suits allowed) and playground at World’s
Fair Park. The public library also is within walking distance. Of course, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and mountain communities of Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge are only a 30-45 min drive from downtown Knoxville. We hope that you enjoy your stay in
Knoxville and return another time to relax or collaborate with us on research!
Lastly, we endeavored to keep registration and hotel costs low to decrease travel costs and increase in-person participation. This would not have been possible without the
generous donations of over 20 sponsors, totaling over $85,000 USD. We were able to provide 40 travel grants to students and early career professionals from nine countries and 13 U.S. states, which allowed us to enhance diversity, equity and inclusion at the
GARD Conference. We are thankful for our non-profit partner, the Global Ranavirus Consortium, Inc. who managed distribution of these grants. We are grateful to Jeremy Easterday and Mark Russell of the UT Conference Center for helping keep costs low, and for
their tremendous help with conference registration, activities and website development. We also thank all the workshop and field trip coordinators, and the GARD Conference Steering Committee for making the conference a dynamic experience and pleasure to host.
We are excited that you devoted the time and resources to participate in the inaugural GARD Conference! We will distribute a post-conference survey for feedback and to
gauge interest in possibly a 2nd GARD Conference in 2024 or 2025.
All the Best,
The Local Committee
(Matt Gray, Mark Wilber, Deb Miller, Davis Carter, Joe DeMarchi, Ana Towe, and Wesley Sheley)
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