Prof. Eli Schwartz, MD,,  DTMH, FISTM, FASTM 

• Full Professor (clinical) at Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University.
• The Founder and past Director of the Institute of Geographic Medicine & Tropical Diseases at Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, Israel.
• The President of the Israeli society of Parasitology, & Tropical   diseases.
• The past- President of the Asia-Pacific Travel health (APTH) society.

• Head of the Molecular Lab. for Tropical Diseases at Sheba Medical Ctr.

 Eli Schwartz is deeply involved in Tropical and Travel Medicine since 1987. He gained his field experience while working for several years in Asia and Africa. Ei Schwartz's main expertise is clinical tropical medicine. He published several books and more than 400 articles and chapters in the medical literature on travel and tropical diseases.

The list of publications can be seen in my Google Scholar site: http://scholar.google.co.il/ci...

 His textbook “Tropical Diseases in Travelers” (Wiley-Blackwell) was published in 2009.

His book (co-authored with Orna Schatz-Oppenheimer) "A Hidden Traveler"; Narrative of travelers with Tropical Diseases was published 2009 (Ramot, Tel-Aviv University press)

Dr. Emmanuel Taban – From Refugee to Renowned Pulmonologist

Born in a small village in South Sudan, Dr. Emmanuel Taban endured a childhood marked by unimaginable hardship. Raised by a single mother alongside four siblings, he was arrested at 14 by the military, falsely accused of being a rebel spy, and suffered incarceration and torture. After fleeing to Eritrea and facing further imprisonment, he embarked on an epic 3,000km journey to Nairobi, Kenya — and, after being turned away by family, travelled another 3,000km alone to South Africa, inspired simply by a label on a soda can.

 Despite these challenges, he defied the odds. In 2004, Dr. Taban graduated with a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery. He completed his Internal Medicine training at the University of Pretoria in 2011 and later qualified as a Pulmonologist in 2018. He earned recognition as a European Respiratory Society diplomat in 2019 and underwent advanced bronchoscopic training in the Netherlands.

 During the COVID-19 pandemic, working at Mediclinic Midstream in Pretoria, Dr. Taban pioneered a groundbreaking mucus extraction technique that saved countless lives. His innovative work and remarkable life story earned him recognition as one of the 100 Most Influential Africans (2020) by New African Magazine, African Person of the Year (2021) by Daily Maverick, and recipient of the prestigious Paul Harris Award by Rotary International (2024). He was also nominated for the Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity and is now an Aurora Luminary.

 Dr. Taban is the author of the best-selling memoir “The Boy Who Never Gave Up”, also available in Spanish. He is a passionate advocate for education as a pathway out of poverty — a belief that fuels his ongoing mission. As patron of the Emmanuel Taban Foundation (Reg. 263-302 NPO), and ambassador for Rally to Read and the Ruth First Scholarship for Girls, he is actively working to uplift underprivileged youth through quality education and skills development.

 Today, Dr. Taban continues to serve patients at Mediclinic Midstream in Centurion, South Africa — a living embodiment of resilience, compassion, and excellence in medicine.

Dr. McCarthy is the President-elect of the International Society of Travel Medicine. She is past Chair of Canada’s Committee to Advise on Tropical Medicine and Travel, as well as the Clinical Group of the American Society of Tropical Medicine. She is a course director of the Asian Clinical Tropical Medicine Course that takes place every 2 years in Thailand and Cambodia.

 Anne spent her early career in the Canadian Military, serving 20 years. During this time she deployed to Rwanda, Haiti and Cambodia, which provided real life clinical experience with many tropical diseases and drove home the need to prevent these illnesses in military members and travelers.

 She is Professor of Medicine at University of Ottawa and Infectious Disease Physician at the Ottawa Hospital, where she is an Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine Clinician. She is also a Site Director for the GeoSentinel Surveillance Network and member of CanTravNet.

 Her research includes medical education, and clinical studies related to infectious disease, travel medicine, malaria, migrant health, and global health.

Lin H. Chen, MD, FACP, FASTMH, FISTM, is Past President of the International Society of Travel Medicine (2019-2021). She is Director of the Travel Medicine Center at Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Chen is a graduate of Harvard University and Jefferson Medical College and trained at New England Deaconess Hospital (Internal Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center) and Yale-New Haven Hospital (Infectious Diseases). She is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians (ACP), the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH), and International Society of Travel Medicine (ISTM).

She has directed the ISTM Travel Medicine Review and Update Course, served on the Research Committee and the Executive Board as a Counsellor. She served on the ASTMH Certificate Examination Committee, Education Committee, Nomination Committee, and also on Work Groups of the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.

Her editorial roles include the Journal of Travel Medicine, Current Infectious Disease Reports, Travel Medicine and Infectious Diseases, and Infectious Diseases: A Geographic Guide. She has authored chapters in CDC’s Health Information for International Travel (Yellow Book) for over a decade. She served on past scientific program committees of International Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases and ISTM Conferences. She is a site director for the GeoSentinel Surveillance Network and Global Travel Epidemiology Network. Her clinical research focuses on travelers’ health, including vector-borne diseases, immunizations, emerging infections, and cross-border healthcare.