Call for Abstracts: 2021 FETP International Nights

Overview

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and TEPHINET are co-sponsoring the 2021 FETP International Nights, continuing, in a virtual format this year, the annual event that has become a highly anticipated fixture of the global Field Epidemiology Training Program (FETP) community since the year 2000.

The FETP International Nights traditionally take place during the annual Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) Conference; however, because the 2021 EIS Conference was canceled, this year’s FETP International Nights will be a standalone online event.

The 2021 FETP International Nights will take place on Wednesday, July 14 and Thursday, July 15, 2021. We will announce the exact times of the event at a later date.

Current trainees/fellows and those graduating after January 1, 2020 from Field Epidemiology Training Programs are invited to submit abstracts (in English only) through their program directors for consideration (see details below). Priority will be given to current trainees/fellows.

Abstracts should cover investigations or projects undertaken and completed during training and within the past two years (i.e., no earlier than December 2018). We are interested in abstracts describing outbreak investigations, implementation and evaluation of public health programs or surveillance activities, non-communicable diseases, and other areas in applied epidemiology. In particular, abstracts and presentations should emphasize how the results of the investigation or an analysis were used to direct public health actions, and also describe or estimate the public health impact.

Abstracts submitted for consideration should be original. In particular, the abstract should not represent work already published in peer-reviewed journals or previously accepted and presented to a conference. However, exceptions will be made for abstracts accepted for the 2020 International Nights, because the 2020 event was canceled. Authors who were selected to present in 2020 will be contacted and invited to re-submit for the 2021 conference, provided they have not presented these abstracts somewhere else. Abstracts that were submitted but not selected for the 2020 conference will not be considered for the 2021 conference. Please do not re-submit these abstracts for this year’s conference.

Refer to the attachments at this link for guidance on abstract format, suggestions, and evaluation criteria.

Submission of Abstracts

• Deadline for final abstracts: The deadline for abstracts to be received via Ex Ordo, a platform managed by TEPHINET, is Thursday, April 15, 2021 at 11:59 pm Eastern Daylight Time. There will be NO extension to this deadline. NOTE: Please do not send abstracts for FETP International Night consideration to the EIS office.
• Submission of abstracts: Individuals need to coordinate submissions with their program directors. All abstracts must be submitted by a program director or his/her delegate. Each program is allowed to submit up to four (4) abstracts. Abstracts will be collected at https://fetpintlnights2021.exordo.com. The site will be open to receive submissions in mid-March. Once the site is active, directors will be prompted to create an account and log in. This method is the only submission method acceptable for an abstract to be considered. For questions about using the platform, please contact Elena Atkinson at eatkinson@tephinet.org. NOTE: Any abstract submitted by someone who is not a program director or his/her delegate will NOT be considered for the conference.
• Program Rankings: Because of limited space for presentations and a desire to maintain a broad representation of programs, a maximum of four (4) abstracts can be submitted from any single program and one (1) abstract per person (first authors). The program director (or his/her delegate) must rank abstracts in order of preference from 1-4, with “1” signifying the most preferred abstract and “4” signifying the least preferred abstract. Abstracts submitted without a ranking will NOT be considered. Although the results of the independent peer-review will take precedence, the scientific committee is ultimately responsible for considering all factors, including ranking, to determine abstract acceptance.
• Evaluation: All abstracts submitted for International Night will be reviewed by three independent scientific reviewers.
• Acceptance: Applicants will be notified of abstract(s) acceptances by early May.
• Conflict of interest and biographical information: Authors of selected abstracts will be asked to submit a conflict of interest form. Biographical information will also be collected for event communications.

Additional information: Please see attachments at this link for detailed instructions and suggestions for abstract preparation to share with FETP and FELTP trainees/fellows and graduates.