From December 13th to 15th, our faculty had the privilege of participating in the Tuberculosis Trials Consortium (TBTC) Winter Meeting 2023, hosted at Emory University. TBTC is a unique collaboration of researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), domestic and international public health departments and academic medical centers, and selected Veterans Administration medical centers. TBTC’s mission is to conduct programmatically relevant research concerning the diagnosis, clinical management, and prevention of tuberculosis (TB) infection and disease. Participants included Drs. Daniel Fitzgerald, Nao Haba, Jyoti Mathad, and Katey Walsh from Weill Cornell, and Sandra Apollon (lab chief), Reginald Osse (data manager), Drs. Samuel Pierre and Yvetot Joseph from GHESKIO, Haiti.
The meeting kicked off on December 13th, with a series of Working Group Meetings in the morning. These sessions covered a range of critical topics, from sociobehavioral aspects of TB to prevention strategies and addressing the needs of priority populations.
The afternoon was dedicated to the Plenary Session #1, where the community welcomed participants before delving into detailed presentations on ongoing studies. These sessions highlighted the latest advancements in each project. One of the highlights of the update was an announcement that the CRUSH-TB study (S38), which our faculty member Dr. Daniel Fitzgerald leads as a protocol co-chair, has officially launched in November at the first site in Kampala, Uganda. This Phase II platform trial evaluates new and shorter regimens in active TB disease treatments. Also, Dr. Jyoti Mathad, an Associate Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell, gave constructive comments on other studies as a co-leader of a working group on maternal & child TB.
The second day continued with TBTC Plenary Session #2, featuring updates from Working Groups and the Executive Committee, as well as focused discussions on the tolerability of TB treatments, both from clinical and patient perspectives. Insight on qualitative study in TB clinical research from Dr. Amrita Daftary, an Associate Professor at York University, also brought a lot of discussion on how to incorporate qualitative research into TBTC studies. In the afternoon, there were breakout sessions for five ongoing projects. Dr. Fitzgerald, the director of the Center for Global Health at Weill Cornell, led the discussion for CRUSH-TB study, and underscored the importance of continued commitment from all the sites and research groups.
The TBTC Winter Meeting 2023 served as a testament to the global TB community's dedication to eradicating this disease. The discussions and collaborations that took place are hope for the future of TB control and elimination, promising innovative solutions and improved outcomes for those affected by TB worldwide.