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World TB Day symposium 2026

TB in a changing world

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Join us, in-person or online, for the annual UCL-TB/LSHTM World TB Day symposium.

On 24 March each year, the world commemorates the day in 1882 when Dr Robert Koch announced his discovery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis as the causative agent of tuberculosis (TB).

We have taken this opportunity to host a one-day symposium March every year since 2010, to highlight contemporary TB research, control measures and policy initiatives, and to discuss future challenges.

Our aim is to connect all those who work on, or are affected by, TB: researchers; professionals in public health, surveillance and policy; those involved in clinical care and service delivery; colleagues in diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccine development; and affected patients and communities.

Programme 

08:30 - 09:00: Arrival, registration, refreshments

 

09:00 - 09:15: Welcome and introductory remarks

Chairs: Marc Lipman (UCL), Sedona Sweeney (LSHTM)

  • Ibrahim Abubakar (Vice Provost (Health), UCL)
  • Liam Smeeth (Director, LSHTM)
09:15 - 10:30: Session 1: TB in a changing world - Beyond the lungs

Chairs: Ilaria Motta (UCL), Sedona Sweeney (LSHTM)

  • Blessi Kumar: Lived experience of extrapulmonary TB
  • Conor Tweed (UCL) Lymph Node TB: Important, overlooked, and challenging
  • Marcello Scopazzini (LSHTM) TB and the heart: Updates from the field
  • Katherine Hill (University of St Andrews) Multimorbidity in TB
  • Andres Madriz Montero (LSHTM) Improving costs for TB service scale-up and integration
10:30 - 11:00: Break

 

11:00 - 12:00: Session 2: TB in a changing world - Global trends and health systems

Chairs: Lucy Bell (UCL), Leopold Tientcheu (MRC Gambia at LSHTM)

  • Finn McQuaid (LSHTM) TB and climate change
  • Jess Potter (UCL) TB: An exclusionary politics of care
  • Nicky McCreesh (LSHTM) Are symptoms an adequate classifier of TB disease state?
  • Simon Tiberi (GSK) Long-acting injectables
12:00 - 13:00: TB in a changing world: Panel discussion - "Should high-income country institutions have a declining role in TB research?"

Chair: Helen Stagg (LSHTM), Lele Rangaka (UCL)

Panellists: Thiago Cerqueira Silva (LSHTM), Trinh Duong (UCL), Tim McHugh (UCL), Toyin Togun (LSHTM & MRC Gambia)

13:00 - 14:00 Lunch

 

14:00 - 15:00: Session 3: Early career researcher turbo talks

Chairs: Katherine Horton (LSHTM), Frank Kloprogge (UCL)

Talks TBC

15:00 - 15:30 Break

 

15:30 - 16:30: Session 4: TB in a changing world - The potential for AI to accelerate progress towards ending TB

Chairs: Sanjib Bhakta (UCL/Birkbeck), Maria Ruperez Larrea (LSHTM)

  • Mat Todd (UCL) Ligand-AI: A community call for proteins to kick-start new TB drug discovery projects
  • Sacha Wright (UCL) LLMs to accelerate evidence synthesis - lessons from the TB-BIOATLAS project
  • Asad Zaidi (UCL) Can AI bridge health inequities in TB services for LMICs?
  • Victory Edem (LSHTM) Harnessing AI to support paediatric tuberculosis diagnosis
16:30 - 16:40: UCSF link-up
 

 

16:40 - 17:00: Closing remarks

 

17:00 - 18:30: Reception

 

Event notices

  • Please note that you can join this event in person or you can join the session remotely
  • Please note that registration and event is hosted by a 3rd party, our partner UCL-TB

Admission

Admission
Registration required.

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