Congress of the Americas: An opportunity to create stronger equitable ties between North American & Latin American & Caribbean epidemiologists: And an update on conference plans

Since 2001, professional epidemiologic associations in North America have come together in organizing three North American Congresses (2001 in Toronto, 2006 in Seattle, and 2011 in Montreal). In the past, the Society for Epidemiologic Research (SER), the American College of Epidemiology (ACE), the Canadian Society for Epidemiology and Biostatistics (CSEB), and the American Public Health Association (APHA) [Epidemiology Section] have cosponsored these Congresses, with a number of other epidemiology societies participating. In Latin America there was some continental initiatives and the first Latin America Epidemiology meeting was organized in Salvador, Brazil in 1995 organized  by ABRASCO (Brazilian Association of Collective Health) and ALAMES (Latin America Association of Social Medicine) after that, two other Latin America Epidemiology meetings were organized on an irregular basis. In 2016, the North American Associations and the International Epidemiological Association (IEA)  come together a step further and are jointly organizing the Epidemiology Congress of the Americas to be held in Miami, Florida, US in the period June 20-24, 2016.  With the motto “Making a difference across populations” the Congress will be a unique opportunity for North American and Latin American epidemiologists came together to share and discuss their common challenges but also the differences in understanding and explain the health of their societies and populations. An update of the efforts of the different committees involved in the Congress Organization will be presented.